Dream Dinners is a business in Torrance that embraces a core family value which is often put aside due to time constraints and busy schedules. “The mission of Dream Dinners is to make gathering around the family table a cornerstone of daily life.”
Arriving at Dream Dinners, owners Beverly Wurth and Duffy Humbert welcomed me. After introduced to several staff, I was invited to sit in an area called their living room to learn more about their business. The living room is nicely arranged and is utilized by customers before or after their meals are assembled, or simply to have conversation and sip a cup of coffee while eating a scone.
Dream Dinners has been living its mission of growing great kids and strong families long before its origin in 2002. The co-founder, Stephanie Allen, began creating fix-and-freeze meals as a solution to her family’s busy lifestyle since 1986. As she began helping and coaching her friends create their own meals, Stephanie enlisted the help and expertise of Tina Kuna, a long-time friend and experienced business manager, to create a business strategy that would help working mothers like themselves have access to fresh and healthy meals. Together, Stephanie and Tina rose to action and began streamlining the process of taking raw fresh ingredients and creating healthy freeze ahead meals that were tasty and easy to make at home.
Three months after hosting their first large-scale meal assembly session, the partners opened their first Dream Dinners store in Everett, Washington. Within six months, the company opened two more Washington-based locations and began receiving nationwide recognition and interest. By early 2003, Dream Dinners opened its model to expansion and received more than 6,800 applications from potential franchise owners wanting to bring the Dream Dinners lifestyle into their own communities.
As Beverly and Duffy provided a tour of their location, I learned that they have known each other since 1990 and purchased this Dream Dinner franchise location in 2013. “The past two years has been difficult, but the longevity of staff and support of our customers have been very nice,” said Beverly.
Duffy explained that ordering a meal is a simple four step process. Step 1 is ordering online; Step 2 is meals are prepped which means the shopping, chopping, prep and clean up are taken care of, so you can enjoy meals at home; Step 3 meals are cooked at home and Step 4 is enjoying the meal and sharing time with your family.
Dream Dinners has a Meal Prep Starter Pack that is available with up to six family-style dinners for just $99. The Meal Prep Starter Pack is chef-created family friendly recipes prepped in Dream Dinners assembly kitchens, ready-to-cook frozen dinners leave you prepared for dinner and easy to follow instruction make both cooking and clean up simple and stress free.
The Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce thanks Dream Dinners for being a member. Dream Dinners is located at 22226 Palos Verdes Blvd., Torrance, 310.792.0055.