Dream Dinners Franchise Overview

About Dream Dinners

Founded in 2002, Dream Dinners’ mission is to make gathering around the family table a cornerstone of daily life. Dream Dinners guests choose from seasonal, rotating monthly menus, with meal kits prepared locally for pickup or delivery. They are then frozen until cooked, with most meals prepared in less than an hour. A meal kit industry pioneer and leader, Dream Dinners brings “Homemade, Made Easy” to local communities through 69 retail locations across the U.S. A limited online menu also is available for delivery to areas of Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina with more states being added in August.

Franchise History

Created by working mothers Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna, the Snohomish, Washington-based company was the first to roll out this timesaving concept on a national scale. Dream Dinners evolved from the homegrown practice of co-founder Stephanie Allen, a working mother who began making fix-and-freeze meals for her family in 1986. By preparing and freezing entrees using fresh raw ingredients, Allen improved on traditional pre-cooked methods, resulting in better tasting meals. She refined the process for efficiency and began developing a collection of specialized recipes. Allen was showered with requests to share her secret method for timesaving meal preparation. When the demand became overwhelming, Allen enlisted the help of long-time friend and experienced business manager Tina Kuna. The partners hosted the first series of large-scale meal assembly sessions in March 2002, which became the catalyst for opening the first Dream Dinners store three months later. Within six months, the company expanded to two new Seattle-area locations. By early 2003, the Dream Dinners concept attracted national media coverage, and the company began receiving thousands of unsolicited franchise inquiries from potential owners across the country. The partners expanded their business model and established a national franchise in June 2003. Allen and Kuna signed 35 new stores in the first six months, selecting from more than 6,800 applications. In less than three years, Dream Dinners rocketed from a smart concept to a thriving national brand. The company is driven by Allen and Kuna's commitment to make people's lives easier and restore the tradition of family meals together around the dinner table.