Meals like home in a lickety-split

What's for dinner?

The question is a plague, fought daily by mothers and fathers, partners and singles alike. Can you find something quick? Can you cheat, again, with a quick detour through a greasy spoon drive-through? Or grab a frozen "meal" at the grocery store?

Two Utah companies are trying to help rushed consumers answer the dreaded daily question, with the goal of bringing home-cooked meals back home — a restaurant-quality meal, without the restaurant.

On a typical day in 2003, the National Restaurant Association estimates that the restaurant industry posts average sales of $1.2 billion. In 2000, the association reported that the average annual household expenditure for food away from home was $2,137, or $855 per person.

The rise of two-income households, and the generally pervasive sense that there is not enough time in the day to accomplish everything on the "to-do" list, has driven many Utahns to fast-food and quick-serve restaurants, or the frozen-food section of the local market.

Secret Dinners, which celebrated its grand opening Saturday, says it offers an alternative.

"It was an idea that my wife and I toyed with a couple of years ago, when our first child was born," said owner David Baird. "We were both working, and we'd come home at night so tired. Then we'd have to sit down and wonder what we'd cook for dinner, when what we wanted to do was spend more quality time with our kid."

From a 15-item menu created in collaboration with the owners of Heritage Gardens Reception Center, the Heritage at the Devereaux and the Carriage Cafe, customers may choose up to 12 selections. Secret Dinners, located at 3225 E. 3300 South, prepares the ingredients and makes the sauces. Customers have only to schedule a time to come in (though walk-ins are accommodated on a space-available basis) and assemble the meal, which they can take home and pop in the oven, or freeze for later. The whole process, Baird said, can take as little as 15 minutes. To assemble all 12 meals, bet on about an hour, and $175. Three menu selections (15-18 servings) is $45. Six dinners is $88. Super-size versions are also available.

"We're going to take care of everybody, from a larger family all the way down to a single person," Baird said. "All of our recipes can be divided into smaller packaging, so people don't need to overcook. We think the concept makes sense. We're providing people with a good, quality product at a reasonable price, and saving them time — something no one has enough of."

The same concept emerged about a year ago in Park City, at a play group marshalled by a handful of young mothers.