"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
...
> One more group we haven't considered who might use this sort of service:
> dieters.
>
>
> Me, I'm someone who eats, gets full, and stops eating. Wait until hungry
> again, and repeat process. Eat more than usual at one meal; eat less at
> next. This is so normal and obvious to me that I was surprised to learn
> that there are people for whom it isn't that easy. They genuninely have
> trouble knowing how much is the right amount and when to stop eating.
>
>
> The diet industry thrives on these people. Jenny Craig type places are
> one more example of a business that I wouldn't have thought stood a chance
> of succeeding but that has. (In a limited way; it was a fad that had a
> good run. It didn't last forever, but you can't say that it didn't make
> money.) If you'd told me the business plan, I would have laughed at its
> stupidity. You mean you're really going to get women to pay money to have
> people "counsel" them to buy frozen meals which they're to take home,
> reheat, and eat? And yet it was exactly the pre-measuredness of the meals
> that made the plan work.
>
>
> Any one of those dieters could have bought frozen meals at the supermarket
> or prepared far better meals from scratch at home, measure the appropriate
> amounts to eat, figure calories, etc. But if it were that easy for them,
> they'd be people who naturally knew when to stop eating as I do. They're
> not.
>
>
> That could be exactly the hook that could make cooking at an off-site
> kitchen work. You'd prep the meals yourself so you could tweak the
> seasoning, but someone else would do the planning and most of the
> measuring. In other words, I don't think it is that hard to serve a meat
> and 2 vegetables for dinner or a meat, a starch and a vegetable, but that
> might be a difficult thing for someone with a history of diet and eating
> disorder-type problems. With this plan, you have someone else doing that
> part of the thinking for you.
>

Except that for the places like this that I've looked at menus/cooking
directions for, they don't seem to be selling full meals, they're just
selling the entrees. If it's a pasta dish, you get the starch of course, but
a lot are just meat and spices or meat and a sauce. So if someone actually
wanted veggies or other side dishes, they'd still have to figure out that
part of it on their own. Not to mention salad, condiments, etc. that might
be appropriate with the meal.

I'm sure there are SOME people that will go to a business like this as it is
organized, but I just wonder if there are enough to make it a viable
business, long-term. But there are things they could do to tweak it that
could make it a lot better. Like include veggies. Or have a selection of
dishes that could be cooked from frozen and done in a half-hour for the busy
moms who don't have time to cook after work. Then they could have another
selection for people who are okay with boiling, frying, and spending some
time in the kitchen to prepare the meal.

I'm going to make it a point to go to the one here in town (different chain)
and see who their customers are. Could be enlightening.

Donna