(FranchisePick.com Franchise Blog) Related stories: Make & Take Gourmet: Meal Prep Franchisor Takes Failures in Stride, Patrons of Failed Franchise Blast Make and Take Gourmet Franchisor Bellso, Meal Prep Franchisor Blames Franchisees…
What a difference two months makes!
Back in June, Make & Take Gourmet franchise founder Michele Bellso was claiming that the tiny NY meal assembly franchise company was thriving. An Unhappy Franchisee post on Make & Take Gourmet quoted Bellso’s aggressive growth plans:
Michele Bellso, founder and president of Make & Take Gourmet, says the company isn’t even close to reaching its full potential. Since May 2006, …read more

Required reading:
Can Botox Parties Save the Meal Prep Franchises? (Part 1)
Can Botox Parties Save the Meal Prep Franchises? (Part 3) (FranchisePick.Com) Related posts: Can Botox Parties Save the Meal Prep Franchises? (Part 1), First Meal Assembly & Cosmetic Surgery Kitchen Franchise Debuts (FranWorst.com)
Attention ladies: You CAN have it all! That’s right: Now you have time to look your best AND to cook your best… thanks to the new Meal Preparation and Botox Injection parties being kicked off by our new favorite surrealist franchise company, Make & Take Gourmet.
Auburnpub.com announced one such culinary and cosmetic gala …read more

Required reading:
Can Botox Parties Save the Meal Prep Franchises? (Part 2)
Can Botox Parties Save the Meal Prep Franchises? (Part 3) (FranchisePick.Com) The pioneers of the Meal Assembly Kitchen (aka MAK, aka Meal Prep Kitchen) concept were perplexed.
They’d been certain that crowds of people would jump at the chance to spend several hundred dollars to congregate with strangers and make their own food to freeze for later.
But they didn’t.
What are we missing? asked the Meal Preppies.
As Meal Prep store sales plummeted and their comrades fell around them, the Meal Assemblers assembled to figure out a marketing gimmick that would …read more

There are franchise opportunities that enable thousands to live the American dream of business ownership and financial independence. There are others that entrap would-be entrepreneurs into their worst nightmares, costing them their savings, homes, reputations, marriages, and more. How can you tell the difference?

(FranchisePick.Com) Related Articles: Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers, Cena Meal Prep Franchise Boasts Slump-Defying Sales Model, Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers
Cena, a growing meal prep (”Meal Assembly Kitchen”) franchise opportunity was founded by foreign language teacher Tammy Badinger, who opened her first unit in 2005 and began offering franchises within less than a year. Unlike many others in the industry, Badinger is pretty proud of her numbers. We’ve extracted the Cena franchise and industry numbers from a recent article (Meal-prep chain serves up success) in the Spokane Journal, transposed them for no good reason, …read more

(FranchisePick.Com) Related Articles: Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers, Cena Meal Prep Franchise Boasts Slump-Defying Sales Model, Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers
When other “meal prep” or “meal assembly kitchen” franchises seem concerned with holding on to what they’ve got, meal prep franchise Cena is planning to increase corporate revenue by 20% in 2008. Cena Franchising Founder Tammy Badinger plans to open 7 new franchise locations in the next month, and 17 total this year. Cena’s founder claims they know how to get customers in the door, and maximize their revenue by offering a variety of …read more

(FranchisePick.Com) Related Articles: Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers, Cena Meal Prep Franchise Boasts Slump-Defying Sales Model, Cena Meal Prep Franchise by the Numbers
Despite reports of slowing sales, franchisees in distress and the cooling of the “meal assembly kitchen” franchise before it finished preheating, the founders of meal prep franchise Cena are bullish on growth, according to this article in the Spokane Journal:
Meal-prep chain serves up success
Spokane-based Cena has sold franchise rights for 33 outlets
What began here as a single meal-preparation store on the North Side in 2004 has quietly become a fast-growing franchisor with 23 outlets in …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)  See related story:  Is Super Suppers for Stupid Suckers? And Other Meal Prep Franchise ???s
A common new business pitfall is the entrepreneurial tendency to become enamored so with a “solution” that one forgets to make sure it’s preceded by an actual need… and a need great enough to support multiple competitors who are also enamored with said solution.
Case in point:  “Meal prep” or “meal assembly” kitchen franchises.  This is where, to my hazy understanding,  ex-yuppie soccer moms with more money than time can go and slurp Merlot with other ex-yuppie soccer moms while assembling meals to bring home, freeze, and serve later to their families as …read more

(FranchisePick.Com)  Read related story:  NYT on the Meal Prep Franchise: Hot Concept Gone Cold?.  Get franchise information and review franchise opportunities at FranBest.com.
Do franchisees of Super Suppers feel like Stupid Suckers?  Has Dream Dinners become the Nightmare on Elm Street?  Will My Girlfriend soon be getting back her Kitchen?  Has time run out for Supper Thyme USA?  Will Pass Your Plate soon be passing THE plate?
Can the “Meal Prep,” or “Meal Assembly Kitchen,” or “Make It & Take It” franchise concept fail before we’ve decided what to call it?  Meal Prep franchise companies such as Entrée Vous!, Entrees Made Easy, Mr. Food, …read more