Special delivery: companies that provide home-cooked meals - without the hassle of home cooking-heat up - includes information on two food service organizations - What's Hot

Entrepreneur, Sept, 1996 by Debra Phillips

"WHAT'S FOR DINNER?" Is there a more-asked, more-evaded, more-dreaded question in today's society than this simple inquiry into the evening meal? With time at a premium, cooking anything more advanced than microwaveable frozen meals is deemed by working professionals to be unappealing, unrealistic or both. What's a country of busy, hungry people to do?

Turn to the home-meal replacement industry. "Homemeal replacement is not a luxury today--it's a necessity," insists Steven Johnson president of Foodservice Solutions, a Tacoma, Washington, hospitality consulting firm. "In the old days, you'd come home and your mom would say, `This is what I cooked for dinner. We're eating at 6 o'clock'--and that was it. Nowadays, there are choices."

And how. According to the United States Personal Chef Association (USPCA), there are approximately 1,000 personal chef businesses in the United States and Canada. Combine that with the growing number of grocery stores and restaurants offering prepared meals for home consumption, and you've got a recipe for prosperity.

* SOMEONE'S IN THE KITCHEN

As veterans of the notoriously demanding restaurant industry, husband and wife Dodd and Michelle Aldred realized firsthand how difficult it was to work long hours and still allow time for the preparation of home-cooked meals. Naturally, they figured they weren't alone.

"We knew that if we had the need [for home-meal replacement], so did other people," says Michelle, 30.

With that in mind, the couple launched Chefs Unlimited, a Raleigh, North Carolina, personal chef service, four years ago. "Because the concept was so new, people were a little leery of [our service] at first," acknowledges Michelle. "We'd go to their homes and have consultations with them to make them feel better."

Perhaps the biggest misconception clients had was that personal chefs were an extravagance restricted to the rich. Not so, say the Aldreds. "We [serve] all levels of income," Michelle attests, "everyone from wealthy [clients] to single mothers."

When clients sign up with Chefs Unlimited, they order entrees for either a one- or two-week period. The Aldreds, who do all their cooking in a 3,000-square-foot commercial kitchen, deliver meals to clients for subsequent reheating. But these are no ordinary frozen dinners: "We cook food differently knowing it's going to be reheated," explains Dodd, 29. "We bring it to a point where it's fully cooked [and then] package and freeze it immediately."

And yes, the couple's some 200 clients are appreciative of the results. Says Dodd, "One of my clients [told me] they consider our dinners in the freezer as good as money in the bank."

* A MATTER OF TASTE

But can you bank on continued demand in the home-meal replacement industry? Tom Manning and Nadine Gould, founders of Truly Unique Personal Chef Service in Newport Beach, California, certainly think so. "Service is everything now," says Manning, 32. "I think [the industry] is going to continue to grow."

Manning and Gould, who started Truly Unique in 1992, estimate their business has grown 10 percent to 15 percent every year. "A lot of our clients were actually getting bored with going out to restaurants," reveals Manning. "They said, `We're sick of it. We want something different.'"

Something different, in this case, turned out to be Truly Unique--a service that, unlike Chefs Unlimited, does its cooking in clients' homes. "As soon as we explain what we do, the response is really positive," says Gould, 28. "[Clients] are excited about someone coming in and cooking for them but not [being a live-in chef]."

Convenience isn't the only selling point for personal chef services, however. There is also the benefit of meals customized to personal tastes. Sharon Reitman and Inger Hoovestol-Smith founded a Houston-based food delivery service that specializes in low-fat, nutritional fare. "[Clients] can tell us how much protein and how much carbohydrates they want in each meal," explains Reitman, 32.

Reitman and Hoovestol-Smith's Smart Meals--which now serves more than 800 clients--has carved out a niche with its low-fat approach. It helps them stand out in a field that, the partners say, is rapidly becoming crowded.

"In 1994, when we started, there was only one [local] company doing this," says Hoovestol-Smith, 31. "Now there are tons. So we got in on the ground floor--which is nice." Nice enough to keep the two chefs busy preparing (and delivering) a staggering 800 to 1,000 meals every week.

* WHAT'S IN STORE

The good news for personal chef services is that there are lots of mouths to feed. According to Technomic Inc., a food industry consulting firm in Chicago, a little more than half of consumer food dollars are spent on meals prepared away from home.

"People don't want to take the time to cook; they have too many other things to do," says Johnson.

Which opens the door for services the likes of Chefs Unlimited. Truly Unique and Smart Meals. What's more restaurateurs like Marcia Bond--who launched her Spokane, Washington Luna restaurant in 1993--are feasting their eyes on the home-meal replacement market as well. "[Business] is increasing each month," says Bond, 54, whose clientele has the option of purchasing main-course entrees out of a self-serve freezer. Soups, salads and desserts are other take-home items. "Life is just busier," says Bond. "I think [the home-meal replacement trend] has no boundaries."