New York's high-priced retail real estate property has spawned a new type of Easy Meal Prep kitchen. Really Cool Foods calls it "Component Cooking", and the premise is simple. Customers come in, select a recipe, and then grab the colour-coded components. These component ingredients are combined for the final result, which takes twenty minutes or less.

The Component Cooking kitchen also serves as a high-end grocery store and delivery service, providing everything from organic oils and vinegars to gourmet baby food. The market is aimed at busy-but-affluent people who want to eat good, organic food and don't mind the extra cost.

This more urban concept suits the lifestyles of Yaletowners or Upper Easy Side New Yorkers, turning the June Cleaver Easy Meal Assembly idea on its head. Customize your business any way you like with EATS - check out our features.

Vancouver's The Georgia Straight, a weekly free magazine-newspaper blend, included a great article on Easy Meal Assembly Kitchens in its May 4, 2006 issue. Profiling Vancouver's DinnerWorks kitchen, The Straight praised the Easy Meal Prep process.

"...our culture is almost pathologically obsessed with food and we know we should eat fresh and homemade all the time, [but] the irony is that there’s no one at home to make it, which is why — pause to draw breath — the meal-assembly centre is a concept whose time has come."

Interestingly, The Straight provides that while the American Easy Meal Assembly business focuses on "bringing the family back to the dinner table," the customer base is far more varied in Vancouver.

"Instead, it's BCIT and UBC students, Yaletowners in their 20s, the broad sweep of ethnic communities that typifies this city, clients from as far afield as Squamish and Abbotsford, and corporate groups who use meal assembly as a team-building exercise."

It is clear that meal assembly is not as much of a niche market as early projections assumed; it's for everyone, from the starving student with few kitchen supplies to the office team looking for a practical and social atmosphere in which to bond. These atypical customers, as well, do not have the same access to large kitchens and large amounts of freezer space as the typical American family; as a result, Easy Meal Prep businesses are starting to offer meals in singles.

Traditionally the Easy Meal Assembly Kitchen sells meals only by the family size -- four to six entrees per meal. This doesn't work so well for a bachelor in a 500 square foot apartment with only the smallest of freezers in which to keep the meals. The businesses have had to scale down to match their client base.

As with most logical arguments, the Straight finishes with finances.

"Even the math makes sense. Most dishes cost $30 plus GST for six servings. (Staff will also assemble and deliver for an extra charge.) Granted, you sometimes need a starch or a loaf of bread and a green salad to round out the meal. But even so, divide it by six - four if you're greedy - and the cost per person is still below ordering in pizza or Chinese. What's more, and this to me is the critical selling feature, you know exactly what's in it."

An article we found in Business Edge, a Canadian business magazine, mentions the very first EATS company -- Sensational Suppers. The article focuses on Canadian meal assembly business, which, it claims, are becoming the next big thing in Canada.

In the United States, big companies like Dream Dinners and Super Suppers have over one hundred franchise locations each; there is definitely potential for the same to happen in Canada. At the time the article was written, only nine Easy Meal Assembly business existed in Canada -- four in Alberta, four in British Columbia and one in Ontario. The wild success enjoyed by these business in the USA is inspiring Canadian entrepreneurs, including Sensational Suppers' Dean Mallel and Karen Dietz, who are quoted in the article.

"In Vancouver, Sensational Suppers CEO Dean Mallel also envisions growing past the one store he and company president Karen Dietz now operate.

'The dream would be (to expand) across the country,' says Mallel, who brings restaurant industry experience to the venture. 'I think it's a phenomenal prospect for franchising. The industry is so absolutely needed. This is something I'm into doing not only because I believe it's sound business, it's the most remarkable thing that I've ever seen.'"

You can read the full article here, at Business Edge's website. Don't worry -- there's still lots of room for new businesses in the Easy Meal Prep industry, whether in Canada, the United States, or overseas. Check out EATS now!

A site called SuperMarket Guru posted an article in May, 2006 about the economy of the Easy Meal Prep business. Using statistics gathered by the US Government, they calculated the average price per dinner serving for a member of a four-person family unit, and then compared that to the price per serving offered by several different Easy Meal Prep businesses.

"According to U.S. government statistics, a family of four spends about $4,800 per year on "Food at Home" and another $3,360 on "Dining Out." Add those figures together for the total amount that 4-person families spend on meals, divide by 365 days, and that comes to $22.36 per day. If we allocate 50% of that cost to dinner, figuring that's the most expensive meal of the day, that's $11.18. Divide that by four people and you get $2.80 per serving."

The result? Not too surprising. Cooking with Easy Meal Prep costs about the same amount as cooking from scratch, give or take a little. The Easy Meal Prep companies surveyed averaged out at $2.50 to $2.80 per serving -- but not all of those meals included vegetable side dishes or desserts.

However, the article also mentions that the time customers can save on shopping for ingredients and preparing meals, as well as the quality time friends can spend together if they attend the same prep session, makes up for it. After all, every family could do with a little more conversation and a little less running around.

Rachael Ray is a TV food show host whose thirty-minute meals are always a hit. Her magazine, product endorsements and television show are wildly successful and her fan base is mad for her. So, it is not surprising that a blog about her, Everything Rachael Ray, might have a bit of a following as well. The blog is written by Madeline Miller.

In a recent post, Madeline talked about a meal she prepared with an Easy Meal Prep business. She mentioned that the Easy Meal Prep meals might be popular with fans of Rachael Ray's thirty-minute meals. Her endorsement was strong: the meals are quick and easy, taste great, and are a great alternative to the unhealthy, nutrient-devoid fast food we force ourselves to eat so often.

"It just required the 24 hours of defrosting, then sauteeing it in 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil on each side for 6 minutes. Then as the pork chops rested for a few minutes, I dumped the veggies in with a drizzle of EVOO and cooked them for just a few minutes with a couple drops of sesame oil. Turned out pretty darn well and it is a wonderful alternative to fast food."

Give it a try. No Easy Meal Prep business in your area? Start your own with EATS! Check out our great features.