Friend That Cooks Personal Chefs

Rapidly Expanding Meal Prep Service Hits Chicago

Kansas City to Chicago expansion is underway, with plans for St. Louis, Des Moines, Omaha and possibly Atlanta.

 

Chicago, IL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 01/28/2015 --Friend That Cooks Personal Chefs have expanded their Kansas City based weekly meal prep service into Chicago as of January 1, 2015.

Owner, Brandon O'Dell, claims Kansas City sales have increased 50% annually each of the last three years. "We are budgeting a 100% sales increase for 2015 with our expansion into Chicago, and hope to maintain or beat that trend each year for years to come by continuing our expansion into St. Louis, Omaha, Des Moines, and maybe even Atlanta," he says. "We would love to be nationwide 10 years from now."

The meal replacement market segment has been increasing steadily in size for two decades, with retail meal preparation chains like Super Suppers or Dream Dinners popping up everywhere, only to be replaced by meal services that deliver food to your door, or services like Friend That Cooks that take the personal aspect one step further and deliver the actual chef to prepare food in your home.

O'Dell, who started his personal chef business as an attempt to provide his own part-time work while building a consulting business, didn't realize he was stepping into a growing trend. "What we do differently is to focus our service on making personal chefs more affordable than they have been traditionally," O'Dell explains. "I believe this, and our dedication to finding the best people to work for us, has made us successful to a degree that I never expected. We prepare an entire week's worth of meals for a family of four in only half a day of service. They pay a reasonable hourly rate, plus the cost of groceries. This allows more people to afford our service than have ever been able to use a personal chef previously."

Friend That Cooks claims to be the most affordable service of its kind in each of the metros where they offer service. They say they don't try to compete on price with the delivery services which seem to be duplicating at the rate the retail meal preparation businesses did in the last decade. Instead, they focus on offering more value than other personal chefs or caterers who prepare food on-site, in the homes of their customers.

"We would love to see our service in Chicago grow as fast as it is growing in Kansas City," Brandon hopes. "In a market this size, the potential is huge."

If you or a friend or family member in Chicago is interested in learning whether Friend That Cooks weekly meal prep service is right for you, visit their website at www.friendthatcookschicago.com. You'll also find them on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest. Search for "friendthatcooks".