Category Archives: The Dish On

We appreciate your feedback!

As regular dishers know, we send a survey to every customer following their In-Store, Dish-n-Dash or DishDelivery session.  You may not realize that we get over 1000 completed surveys each month… and we read every single one!  Your feedback has been essential in helping us develop some of our new services and programs, including:

And you bring up questions that make us think:  Should crying babies be permitted at sessions?  Could you have splitters’ utensils at the stations instead of just “fulls”?  How much more would it cost to provide all (or some) organic ingredients?  [Feel free to post a comment on these — or other — issues below].

But we have to admit, our favorite part of reading comments is seeing how important our service is in making your busy lives a little easier, healthier or simply more pleasant.  Just look at a few of the actual, unedited comments that came in this week:

  • “I’m so glad a friend took me to ‘Let’s Dish!’ As a working mother with two small children this has made our evenings less stressful and more enjoyable. My husband likes the meals and I like that everything’s already done. I wish I would have known about this when I was pregnant!” - Amanda
  • “I’ve only been in twice and both times have been phenomenal!  I told the staff that my dishing experience was quickly becoming the highlight of my month.  The food is fabulous and requires so little thought on my part - which is wonderful when entertaining - and every time I go, I am greeted with such a friendly staff and a fun experience.      Let’s Dish is the greatest invention ever!!!” - Savannah
  • “I am a total convert- love how this simplies my life at dinner time every day and frees me up to spend more time with my kids! ” - Chari

So please keep the feedback coming.  What we’re doing well, we’ll strive to do more of.  And where we drop the ball, we appreciate your letting us know!

About Jeremy

Customer entering ratings

Check out the new letsdish.com!

Our website is brand new! A large, scrolling, clickable window (snapshot below) allows you to see vibrant images of our latest menu and promos. We’ve got video featuring a local family enjoying the benefits of our many services. And we’ve made signing up for a session easier than ever (hint: just click one of the large “sign up” buttons on the front page). Check it out… and more importantly, tell us what you think. Please add your comment below.

Happy dishing,

About Jeremy

homepage

RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> DishDelivery to the Summer Vacation Rescue
> Bring your kids to dish with you to dish this summer
> Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.


The in”side” Dish on side-dishes

Sides, sides everywhere!

The customer feedback has come in loud and clear. Sugar Snap Peas, Sweet Potato Fries, Exotic Grains and Fire Roasted Vegetables. You love our sides, and you want more of them.

We hear you.   And we’ve responded by including more sides as part of the regular Let’s Dish! menu.   We’ve added Sugar Snap Peas to our Marinated Flank Steak, Sweet Potato Fries to our Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops,  Jasmine Rice to our Savory Apricot Crusted Salmon, and more!

Plus: We’ve extended our special sides offer through the fall, meaning you can choose 4 family-sized sides for $20!

So sign up for a session today, and you’ll see we are filling your family’s plates with more deliciousness than ever before!

About Jeremy

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RECOMMENDED LINKS
>
1 Dish? 6 Dishes? 11 Dishes? We’re Flexible.
> Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!

Click to continue reading “The in”side” Dish on side-dishes”

If You Love a Meal… Dish More of It!

Relax-the-max on most Let’s Dish! meals

Due to popular demand (i.e., yours!) we have relaxed our limits on the maximum quantity of any individual meal you can order at a session. 

For many meals, we have set the max at 4 (or 8 splits).  A few meals have lower maximums, either because they take longer to dish or have excessively high cost-of-ingredients (as much as we’d love to offer 8 salmons, we have to pay rent!). 

So check out our new menus, and (for the most part) dish as much as you want of any meal! 

Happy dishing!

About Jeremy

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RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> 1 Dish? 6 Dishes? 11 Dishes?

Click to continue reading “If You Love a Meal… Dish More of It!”

Now More Ways to Get a FREE Dish!

Introducing DishPointsYou know about DishRewards. That’s the program we launched this spring, where you earn DishPoints (good as cash on www.letsdish.com) for doing all the things you love: dishing, recommending Let’s Dish! to friends, hosting parties, dishing some more, etc. DishPoints stack up quickly (we’ve already given away well over a million of them!). Real customers like yourself are earning $40, $50, even $60 OFF their sessions. In fact, you probably already have some DishPoints. Log in to letsdish.com and check your balance today!*

But what about our Ready Made customers? If you shop the convenience of our retail freezer, you probably want in on the action too. That’s why we created the Ready Made Rewards Card. For every purchase of $25 or more, you get a dish stamp. 10 stamps and you get a FREE dish. Essentially, it’s a Buy 10, Get 1 FREE offer! You can even see a menu sampler of dishes available in the ReadyMade freezer online. Check out the details in store and grab your card today!

Ready Made Rewards CardAbout Jeremy

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*You do need your own Let’s Dish! account to have your qualify for DishPoints and the DishRewards program. An account will automatically be created for you when you place an order under your own name and email. If you don’t have one, you can sign up in less than a minute, click here to get started!

RELATED LINKS:
> Learn more about DishRewards
> Log in and check your DishPoints balance
> Visit the Ready Made menu sampler to see the delicious Let’s Dish! meals available right now!

1 Dish? 6 Dishes? 11 Dishes? We’re Flexible.

It started out as “8 or 12″ dishes per Let’s Dish! session. Then, with much fanfare, we added 4-meal sessions. And this spring, SingleDish Trials.

And now, welcome to the final frontier of session flexibility. Dish however many meals you want: 1, 3, 7, 14 or anything in between. OK, our technology is limited, so you still have to sign up online for SingleDish or a 4-, 8- or 12- meal session. But you can add meals to your order, quickly and easily, once in a Let’s Dish! store - usually for just $23 each. Just ask a host and we’ll take care of the rest. Want to dish 3 meals? Sign up for SingleDish and add on 2 meals Session Flexibilityin-store. Six meals your cup of tea? Sign up for 4 and add two during your session.

OK, we might not be able to touch our toes (even with the benefit of a Spoodle). But when it comes to dishing your preferred number of meals, we’re flexible.

Rick’s Signature

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RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> DishDelivery to the Summer Vacation Rescue
> Bring your kids to dish with you to dish this summer
> Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.

You Help Make Our Menus So Wonderful

Customer entering ratingsHow do we create such fantastic menus? Well, our talented food team is always cooking up the best recipes months in advance. But did you know our customers play a big role as well?

Through the “My Orders” link once you log in to letsdish.com, customers can rate the meals they’ve dished [1 star (not for me) to 5 stars (love it!)], and can also make comments [”a little salty for my tastes” or “you guys are geniuses”]. Every rating goes into our database, which is a key determinant of which meals return to our menus… and which meals go to “dish heaven”. Even more important, your comments. We read every single one, and tweak our recipes accordingly
So next time you’re asking, “who makes these menus so delicious?”, the answer is you.We Recommend

About Jeremy

p.s. You do need your own Let’s Dish! account to add your ratings online. An account will automatically be created for you when you place an order under your own name and email. If you don’t have one, you can sign up in less than a minute, click here to get started!
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RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> “Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9â€
> “Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!â€

Bring your kids with you to dish this summer!

Kids like cooking?  Take ‘em dishing!School’s out, now what?

That’s the question on many parents’ lips this time of year. Camp, the pool, vacations, etc., are all fantastic ways to spend your summer. But what about those times when the kids are out of camp and tired of the pool or god forbid it’s raining? Why not bring your child with you to Let’s Dish!?

Dishing is a great way for kids to learn about the things they eat and feel more involved in dinner time. It may also help those picky eaters to try new things. They can pick out dinners from our monthly menu and then help to make and cook them! Dishing can also be a fun bonding experience for the both of you.

This summer, we’re adding more “Parent/Kid Sessions” (specially marked as such) to our calendar for you to choose from. Kids 8 years of age and older are encouraged to come to these sessions and dish with a parent. We ask that you help ensure that your child is well behaved and mature enough to handle basic food safety procedures (hand washing, etc) while in the session. Children must be accompanied by a parent at the food stations while dishing. If you have any specific questions about brining your child to dish, contact your nearest Let’s Dish! store.

This summer, when that inevitable question of “what else is there to do?” comes up, you’ll be ready!

About Emily

RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> “Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.
> “Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9â€
> “Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!
> “FREE Delivery for New Moms!

Let’s Dish!: The savings might surprise you.

Boston Globe: Rising Cost of Groceries GraphicGas station. Coffeeshop. Dry cleaners. Just about any place you open your purse or wallet these days, you’re spending more than ever. This is especially true when it comes to shopping for food. According to a report from the Department of Labor (cited in the Boston Globe), a year-on-year increase in food prices like this hasn’t been seen in nearly two decades. Eggs are up 60%, pasta 30%, fruits 20%, and vegetables 20% versus last year – just to name a few examples.

So where does a family turn when faced with these economic challenges at the dinner table? Let’s Dish! is part of the solution. When you compare our costs to what you’d spend at grocery, you’ll find that the more you dish, the more you save. In fact, to illustrate just how much we save our dishers, we recently did a comparison of grocery costs vs. dishing costs for two of our most popular menu items (cited in a previous blog): Thai-Marinated Flank Steak and Mahi Mahi with Red Ancho Marinade.

The savings might surprise you. Here are some of the highlights:

  • If you bought all the ingredients at a grocery chain, you’d spend up to 7% more per serving than you do at a Let’s Dish! in-store session.
  • Those leftover ingredients not only clutter your pantry but they create additional costs. That Red Ancho Marinade, for example… you only need $0.69 worth (or 2 TBS) but the grocery store charges $9.95 for one 14.4 oz jar!
  • Check the price of flank steak recently? We can offer you the entire, marinated meal for close to the same price as steak alone!

Accounting for waste, Let’s Dish! can save you almost 50% vs making it yourself. And who wants to go through all that shopping and chopping hassle, just to spend more money than you would by dishing?! Check out the numbers for yourself. We think you’ll agree there’s no better (or more economical) way to put dinner on the table than with Let’s Dish!.

Don’t let rising food costs force your family into unhealthy dinner choices. Let’s Dish! is convenient, healthy, and always a great value.

Jeremy’s Signature

RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> “Surging costs of groceries hit home“: Boston Globe article cited above. Graphic (right) in post courtesy of the Globe.
> “More time and money are just a dish away

> Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9

FREE Delivery for New Moms!

Let’s Dish! bibLet’s face it - when you are a new mom, the first three months are bliss and a blur, full of sweet cuddles and sleep deprivation. That special time with your new baby is wonderful - but, unbelievably, the rest of the world keeps on moving and expects you to keep up! You’ve got a house to keep in order, a family to feed and take care of (especially if there are other kids), shopping and errands to do, outside responsibilities to fulfill (which may include a job!) and - oh, yes - that sweet new baby to tend to every minute of the day - whew! This hazy period of my life solidified my overarching philosophy on motherhood (sorry, Nietzsche!) : “That which does not kill you makes you a better mom!”

So, new Moms, would you like some help with dinner? Or, how about with three months of dinner? Here’s a special offer from Let’s Dish! just for you.

FREE Delivery from Let’s Dish! for new moms
Let’s Dish!
has a special delivery for new mothers: FREE DishDelivery for three months after your baby is born! That’s right, with our “You Deliver, DishDelivers! offer, we’ll waive all delivery fees on 8-meal DishDelivery orders placed within the first three months after you have a baby. You can select your meals from our monthly menu and order from all Let’s Dish! locations in Maryland and Northern Virginia - then, the meals are delivered right to your door.*

Eight (or more) easy and delicious meals without leaving the house - now that’s a new mom’s dream come true! Here’s how to qualify for our “You Deliver, DishDelivers” offer:

  • Simply email newmoms@letsdish.net to set up your own unique promotional code that will waive the delivery fee.
  • New moms must provide proof of baby’s birth date (via email or brought into your nearest Let’s Dish! store) to qualify for the promotion.
  • This offer is valid for 90 days from your baby’s date of birth. (So, don’t delay in emailing us - it is three months from your baby’s birthdate, not three months from when you contact us. So, ask your friends, family and “baby daddy” to remind you - it’s worth the effort!)
  • This offer applies to 8-meal DishDelivery sessions only and is a savings of $25 on every order!

We know our healthy, delicious meals are a help during challenging times - and let’s face it, new moms need all the help they can get!

ShareThisSpread the word! Pass this offer on to other new moms - Email This Post Email This Post or use our ShareThis tool below and share the offer on all your favorite social-networking sites!

Corcoran FamilyAs a co-owner of Let’s Dish! and mother of two, I hope all you new moms in the mid-Atlantic can take advantage of this special offer. Speaking from experience, I barely remember stumbling through those first months - and we had not yet opened our Let’s Dish! stores so I was in the same boat as everyone else! I’d try to look and act like a coherent, put-together woman instead of the exhausted, two-under-two-mom I was. And, when my second decided she wouldn’t sleep through the night until she was eight-months old, to say I missed sleep is a massive understatement. Hibernating bears would have nothing on me if I could have found a dark room and a “Do Not Disturb” sign. Here’s a pic of me on *the day* I would have contacted Let’s Dish! for my much-needed You Deliver, DishDelivers offer! :-)

Wishing you a doorstep full of DishDelivery and as many hours of sleep as you can get - and look forward to dishing with for you soon!

Alexa’s Signature

RECOMMENDED LINKS:
> Kid-Friendly Let’s Dish! Meals featured on WUSA9
> See the Let’s Dish! Menus and Sign up for DishDelivery today!
> Wow the crowds at home and on vacation
>
DishDelivery to the Summer Vacation Rescue!

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*Offer not valid on in-store or Dish-n-Dash sessions. Offer valid for exactly 90 days from baby’s birth date. No exceptions or extensions will be made. You Deliver, DishDelivers promotion launches June 3rd, 2008. Babies born more than 90 days prior to June 3rd are not eligible. Offer cannot be applied to previously-booked sessions or combined with other offers. Delivery fee covers cost of delivery within the Mid-Atlantic covered zones covered by DishDelivery only. Visit letsdish.com for details on eligible delivery areas.