Entrees Made Easy helps its customers assemble healthy, family style meals to take home and cook when needed.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan was quoted as saying “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” But, with the fast-paced lifestyle many people lead, finding time to sit at the dinner table is not always easy. However, Entrees Made Easy has made it a corporate mission to create more time for friends and families to spend together and less time spent cooking in the kitchen.

The Mesa, Ariz.-based franchise helps its customers assemble healthy, family style meals to take home and cook when needed. Customers spend roughly two hours building up to 12 entrees at an average price of $3.50 per serving. In-house chefs shop for ingredients and prepare everything necessary for each meal.

According to Vice President of Operations Lisa Stroud, the staff also prepares spice blends, sauces from scratch and fabricates all proteins in-house. “Customers will only get the amount of each ingredient that they actually need for the meal,” Stroud says. “This is great, because not only can they try something new, but they don’t waste anything.”

The company changes its menu monthly, offering seasonal options along with traditional crowd-pleasers. Its new menu offerings are often inspired by the experiences and travels of its corporate chefs. “Our chefs are always putting together new recipes from different regions around the world,” Stroud says.

Each store features a full kitchen, as well, so in-store chefs are able to more easily adapt recipes to fit the needs of customers. “In order to stay ahead of the culinary trends and serve the freshest food possible, we knew this was the way to go.”                 

Client-Friendly Store to Open
This year, Entrees Made Easy is launching a new store prototype that reduces the average store size from 1,800 to 1,500 square feet. However, this new store is designed to add more space for customers to prepare their meals and socialize. “In this new concept, we are creating a more roomy, community atmosphere,” Stroud explains. “The back-of-the-house is much smaller, because we want to be as customer-friendly as we can.”  

This will create the ideal atmosphere where guests can involve friends and family members in the overall experience. Although Entrees Made Easy accepts reservations, it also reserves space for walk-ins, as well. “We may have an entire day that’s reserved, but even if that happens, we try to make room for anyone that wants to come in and see what we’re all about.”