April 7, 2006

Dream Dinners opens in San Jose

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

In the length of time it takes you to prepare two dinners, you can put together a minimum of 12 full meals and stick them in your freezer for use throughout the month. And, even more important, this will allow you to arrange for your family to eat dinner together more than once a week!

People were lined up out the door at San Jose Dream Dinner’s grand opening. The large crowd was feted to a number of different dinners as well as Rasberry Stuffed French Toast and also received a free flank steak already prepared for their freezer.

Don’t buy it? Well, just check out the first Dream Dinners in the San Jose area. For no more than $250 per month and less than two hours, you’re invited to Dream Dinners to put together 12 dinners for your family. You go to the Web site, pick your menu and go to the store.

Once there, you don an apron and receive a recipe card. The folks at Dream Dinners already have done the shopping and chopping. You follow the step by step assembly directions and take home and freeze your dinners. Depending on what you like to eat, chicken is less expensive than steak for example, you pay $225 to $250 per month for 12-full-size, six-portion family dinners.

Menu items include a dozen different dinners each month along with one breakfast or dessert. Menus are listed on the Internet and each comes with a description. For example Southwest Steaks includes “six juicy steaks, rubbed with a flavorful blend of cumin, chili powder, garlic, brown sugar and fresh cilantro. The flavors are bold but not spicy hot, and they really complement the flavor of the steaks.” Dream Dinners also provides a zippered freezer bag for the dinner.

Grand opening crowds sample different dinners.

Chris Jacobsen, from Blossom Valley, behind the children, brought her carpool to Dream Dinners grand opening. Standing in front of Chris are 8-year old Brooke Panian, 6-year old Philip Schremp, 6-year old Tyler Jacobsen, and 6-year old Blake Panian.

Since the shop opened in early March, about 350 people have signed up, according to LeAnne Varenkamp, the co-owner with her father John Wei. “It’s going very well. We’ve had a tremendous community response and our customers have given us a positive response after making the dinners,” Varenkamp said.

Two working mothers, Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna who live in Washington State created the 12 frozen dinner concept. Allen had been making and freezing meals as a working mom. As she cooked she refined the process and began amassing a recipe collection. As word got around, and demand for the recipes became too much, Kuna joined the business. The two hosted a series of meal assembly sessions in 2002. They opened their first Dream Dinners store three months later. By 2003, the two had expanded to 35 new stores.

Now San Jose has one. The one and only location is at 5685 Cottle Road, near Highways 85 and 87. Besides helping you out, Dream Dinners offers a Sneak Peek, which is a party that allows you to invite a minimum of eight people to taste sample dinners and assemble a free dinner to take home. The shop provides everything from invitations to ingredients. But, everyone “must agree to have a good time for 45-60 minutes.”

The shop is also available for private sessions. Groups of 10 to 12 people can get a session at no extra charge. Dream Dinners also offers gift certificates available in any amount.

Dream Dinners is located at 5685 Cottle Road in San Jose, across from Hitachi and the former IBM campus, on the left side of the OSH parking lot. To call, phone (408) 363-3968 or check out www.dreamdinners.com. You can also e-mail them at SanJoseCA@dreamdinners.com.