A new dining concept is carving its own niche in Canada's food service industry - the joy of not cooking.

Forget about restaurants, traditional take-out or even frozen pizzas when hunger strikes at the supper hour. Meal assembly, a concept that has picked up steam south of the border, is now starting to emerge as a thriving business in Canada with outlets open at least three provinces.

Meal assembly takes the cooking out of the kitchen and serves up a freshly prepared dish that is taken out of the freezer and popped in the oven.

Think Ikea, but instead of customers building their own furniture to save money, they build meals from pre-selected recipes in a community-type kitchen.

Brennan O'Connor, Business Edge
SupperWorks co-owner Chris Wood wants to show her company can provide quality dinner offerings in a franchise setting.

Operations and menus vary in size and choices, but all share the same concept: In today's increasingly busy world and with more and more to do by the minute, there has to be a better way to prepare dinner, save money and free up time.

The meal-assembly business operators do practically all the work. They plan the menus, shop for the ingredients, do the washing, chopping, grating, and slicing. The customer leaves the grocery store lineups behind and just follows the recipes, assembles the fresh meals and puts them into the provided packaging to be taken home.

Depending on the number of meals made, enough food can be prepared to last at least a week. They even do the cleanup.

"Our mission is to liberate busy individuals and families from the stress of the dinner- time dilemma by reducing the time it takes to put dinner on the table without sacrificing quality and nutrition," says Andrew Hewson, chef and owner of the Liberated Cook Inc., a new meal-assembly company in Calgary.

"It's the evolution of the home-meal replacement market, which has been around for awhile," Hewson adds. "People know what's going into the dish they're making. They can see it's fresh and there's no processed food. It's about appealing to the lifestyle of people who want healthy alternative meal options but can't afford a personal chef."

The Ontario Farm Products Marketing Commission has reported that at 5:45 p.m., approximately 70 per cent of the people responsible for making dinner do not know what they will serve, he notes.

In the United States, where the movement began at the start of the decade, there were 561 meal-assembly outlets at the end of 2005. That number is expected to reach market saturation and grow to 11,000 by 2010, according to the Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Easy Meal Prep Association (EMPA).

Industry revenue has risen from $7.2 million US in 2003 to $117 million US last year. EMPA projections for 2006 call for revenues to reach $270 million US and to soar to $504 million in 2007.

The association, which also includes members from Canada - currently four in Alberta, four in B.C., and one in Ontario - has more than 100 members, primarily from the U.S., though the trend is also taking root in Australia and France, says EMPA spokeswoman Amy Vasquez.

"It's a relatively new business concept that is coming in to give another option for dinner time, it's a choice to bring dinner back to the family table without all the time-intensive parts of doing dinner," says Vasquez.

"The draw is that it provides really good food for your family. You take the (assembled) food out of the freezer and have a high-quality dinner for your family in a small amount of time."

It was through the EMPA that Chris Wood and Joni Lien of Oakville, Ont., were able to get some pointers on opening their SupperWorks meal-assembly operation.

Wood, laid off from her e-business insurance job, was looking for a new career. She found in an article about meal assembly in an issue of O, The Oprah Magazine. Before she could cook the next day's dinner, she and her friend (now business partner) Lien were on their way to opening Ontario's first meal-assembly operation.

From their initial reaction of, 'What the heck is a meal preparation kitchen?' to taking their operation into franchising, Wood says she has found the job she wanted.

"When I first looked online, my jaw just dropped. I loved this concept," says Wood. "I said: 'How fantastic is that!' " SupperWorks opened its first outlet last fall, and a second just opened in Newmarket, Ont.

Further expansion plans include Toronto later this year, with others in the works.

"We initially looked into opening a franchise. It's certainly safer that way," says Lien. "Chris approached one of the big players in the U.S., but they were so busy with their own market they weren't ready to go into Canada."

SupperWorks won't have the Canadian meal-assembly market to itself. Even though he just opened his doors, Hewson is looking at expanding the Liberated Cook via franchises or company-owned operations. 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."

SupperWorks' Lien agrees.

"It was an exciting prospect, because cooking and meal prep had become such a negative thing in my own life (staying at home raising children for 10 years)," she says, "and if I'm this excited about it, I thought others would be excited, too."

Her business partner Wood believes that there is plenty of room for competition.

"We see ourselves going across Canada," she says. "Based on what we've seen happen in the States, there's definitely a lot of room for other players. We don't want to be afraid of the competition, we want to embrace the competition and the more of these businesses that open, the more the word is going to spread. Because the industry is so new, the education process will all work to the greater good."

Dishing it Out

* Meal assembly is the latest take on providing quality dinner offerings to a time-pressed society.

* Still in its infancy in Canada, the industry is growing quickly with new players already looking to franchise their operations. Most Canadian operators have just one or two outlets at the moment.

* In the U.S., where the sector is only slightly older, two operators, Dream Dinners (first opened in August 2002) and Super Suppers (first opened in August 2003) now have 107 outlets each.

* The meal assembly process is simple. Patrons choose their meals - menus can be found online with choices such as Garlic Shrimp in White Wine Sauce or Grilled Herb Chicken - and then make room in their freezers to store the meals they'll be bringing home.

* Customers decide how many meals they want or need - each company offers different options - and book a time slot, either one to two hours, depending on the number of meals to be assembled. Some will offer side dishes and dessert options, others may not.

* Most try to emphasize fresh foods and minimize any canned or processed items.

* Generally, free parking is available.

* Costs per serving vary by operation and dishes chosen, but expect to pay in the vicinity of $4 to $5 per serving.

* As the industry starts to grow, meal-assembly operations are getting more elaborate with a greater emphasis on décor and ambience, and meal-assembly outings are starting to become more of a social gathering.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)