Let’s Dish! Food for Thought

Tag Archives: 123

August 25, 2008 – 10:24 am

Providing even more variety?

As you know, we get tons of feedback each month. One common request has been for us to offer 4, 8 or 12 ”half-meals” at a Let’s Dish! session. Unlike traditional “splitting”, where dishers get two of each half-sized meal, “halving” (so to speak) would provide more variety by allowing dishers to make just one half (not two halves) of a regular, full-sized meal.

We’re all for variety, and this seems like a pretty good way to achieve it. But halving is not without its potential snafus, as our whole operating systems (online and in-store) revolve around a meal for 4-6. (For example, there is no place on line to indicate you want to make half-meals, and once in stores you’ll see our chicken breasts come 6-to-a-bag).

But we’re currently developing a “work-around” test, i.e., a relatively simple way to accomplish our objective of increased variety. Our tentative plan (probably to start in November) is to create a “promo code” (likely “HALVES”) that customers enter on checkout at letsdish.com. It will “discount” a traditional 4, 8 or 12 meal session to just $13.50 per dish. Once in store, customers will dish half-meals, rather than splits or fulls. They’ll have to ask staff to help them split some of the proteins, but hopefully that help will be provided quickly and efficiently. Most other ingredients (veggies, breads, etc) can be halved easily by the disher.

We’ll start this as an experiment (more info forthcoming), in hopes that it will give dishers a chance to “halve” your cake and eat it too!

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas | Also tagged Culinary Inspiration, dinner, health, jeremy kugel, kitchen, Let's Dish!, organizing, parenting, The Dish On | Comments (0)

August 18, 2008 – 2:58 pm

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:

Freezer Freedom: Our newsletter for those who prefer to “cook from frozen”
You Deliver, Dish Delivers: Our free delivery program for new moms
Dishing flexibility and Walk-in Wednesdays

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!

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas, The Dish On | Also tagged children, cook, cooking, feedback, kitchen, Let's Dish!, meal preparation, mom, recipes, survey | Comments (3)

July 28, 2008 – 2:14 pm

Which Pie’s For You? Buy One / Try One at 50% OFF

Man, we love getting emails like the one below. While I personally am a documented aficionado of our S’mores Pie, Julie W makes a strong case for the creamy cool richness of Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie. Which is better? See for yourself! Just print this blog post and bring it into any MD or No. VA Let’s Dish! location and get 50% OFF any pie when you buy a pie at regular price.

Dear Let’s Dish!,

Your Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie is the bomb! I served that wonderful pie of yours to my parents last night for dessert and they were practically licking their plates clean! I think that Let’s Dish! needs to rename this desert as Awesome Frozen Strawberry Margarita Pie because it’s so delicious! Thank you again for sharing this wonderful and yummy desert with me and my family! It was a big hit!

Cheers, Julie W.

Let us know which summery pie you like best — make a comment on this blog post! Talk about a delcious dilemma….

Offer expires August 15th, 2008, and cannot be applied to previous purchase or combined with other offers. Must present coupon to redeem.

Click to continue reading “Which Pie’s For You? Buy One / Try One at 50% OFF”

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas, Just for Fun | Also tagged Let's Dish!, meal assembly, recipes, summer, The Dish On | Comments (0)

July 14, 2008 – 3:46 am

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

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

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Most Popular Posts, The Dish On | Also tagged diet, health, jeremy kugel, kitchen, Let's Dish!, nutrition | Comments (2)

July 11, 2008 – 6:12 am

More Freedom from Your Freezer

Solutions to Fit Your Busy Lifestyle

Everyone loves meals you can cook straight from frozen. Schedules change, the dog needs to be walked, you haven’t had your coffee. Sometime you forget to start thawing a meal in the morning. Who could blame you?

Not us, that’s for sure. You’ll now find on our menus a greater selection of meals that cook-from-frozen.

And for meals we recommend you thaw first? Well, we are now are providing on our website “alternative cooking methods” — whereby almost all of our meals can be cooked from frozen (with a few minor adjustments in procedures). Log in to your account and check the My Cookbook page to learn how you can get it onto the table faster – with little to no compromise in taste. Look for the “Freezer Freedom” newsletter link at the bottom of the page.

Click to continue reading “More Freedom from Your Freezer”

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas, Family Matters | Also tagged cooking, family dinner, family dinners, jeremy kugel, Let's Dish!, main course, meal assembly, meal preparation, www.letsdish.com | Comments (1)

June 30, 2008 – 5:00 am

Now More Ways to Get a FREE Dish!

You 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 Card

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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!

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Bright Ideas, The Dish On | Also tagged cooking, diet, DishPoints, DishRewards, family dinners, healthy meals, jeremy kugel, Let's Dish!, meal assembly, meal preparation, nutrition, quick easy meals, Ready Made, ready made meals, The Dish On, www.letsdish.com | Comments (1)

June 28, 2008 – 5:00 am

Enter Our Recipe Contest and Win $100

Recipe Contest Share favorite recipe and your next Let’s Dish! session could be FREE. Raid your family’s cookbook and send us your best - entrée, side or dessert. You could win a $100 Let’s Dish! gift card, and may even see your dish on our menu. Entries must be sent to recipes@letsdish.net by July 31st, 2008. The winner will be contacted by August 31^st, 2008.*

We’d love to use your submission on a future Let’s Dish! menu, so please remember:

All ingredients must be freezable
Recipe must contain specific amounts and methods
Recipe must be executable with no additional equipment (e.g: food processor, mixer, etc.)
Recipe must be nutritionally sound and within Let’s Dish! guidelines. (one serving = 5000 calories, sorry… no can do!.)
All recipes must be original and created by the submitter (not copied from a cookbook)
Recipe must serve 6
Heating or cooking should be relatively simple
Recipe may be changed at Let’s Dish! discretion to utilize in store
It needs to be delicious! (at least according to our expert panel)

*All submissions become property of Let’s Dish! and may be used or altered without further permission from, credit to, or compensations for, the submitter. All rights reserved. Entries that arrive after July 31st, 2008 will not be considered.

LINKS TO BLOG POSTS THAT MAY GIVE YOU INSPIRATION:
> Check your top-rated dishes and then find and submit similar recipes. Click here to read more about rating your dishes.

> Kid-friendly meals are always popular, especially during the school year. Watch the WUSA9 feature on Let’s Dish! family-friendly meals.

> We strive for healthy and delicious meals on our menu. Here’s a page showing you how to download the nutrition facts and ingredients of our current menu.

> Read all the Culinary Inspiration posts for more ideas!

By Holly W | Posted in Culinary Inspiration | Also tagged cook, cooking, Culinary Inspiration, diet, holly wildberger, let's dish menu, Let's Dish!, meal assembly, meal preparation, nutrition, recipes, www.letsdish.com | Comments (0)

June 26, 2008 – 5:00 am

Walk-in Wednesdays now available!

We have gotten thousands of customer suggestions and requests over the last few years, and none as often as the request to be able to walk in and dish at Let’s Dish! store without an appointment. We’ve heard your feedback and are excited to launch Walk-In Wednesdays!

Now on Wednesdays, you can walk into any of our participating Maryland or Northern Virginia locations and dish anywhere from 1 to 13 meals at a time.* No appointment necessary. You heard right. No appointment necessary!

We are thrilled to try out the new walk-in idea, and summer is the perfect time for it - when everyone’s schedule become more hectic and planning a dishing session can seem nearly impossible. We think you’ll be excited too (hey, you’ve been begging us for it)!

If Wednesday is your regular dishing day, don’t fear - you can still sign up in advance if you wish, just like you normally would. That will guarantee that all the food you ordered will be waiting for you when you get there.

Check the online calendar for your store’s Wednesday hours and stop by to dish!

*Participating Let’s Dish! locations include Baltimore and Columbia, MD, and Alexandria, Ashburn, and Fairfax, VA. Menu items are subject to availability. Only customers who make 4 or more meals will have those meals counted toward DishRewards.

By Emily Blakely | Posted in Bright Ideas, Most Popular Posts | Also tagged cooking, DishRewards, emily blakely, family dinner, family dinners, kitchen, Let's Dish!, meal assembly, meal preparation, recipes, summer, time management, www.letsdish.com | Comments (3)

June 25, 2008 – 10:00 am

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 Flexibility in-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.

By Rick Corcoran | Posted in Most Popular Posts, The Dish On | Also tagged cook, DishDelivery, family dinner, family dinners, Let's Dish!, letsdish, meal assembly, meal preparation, recipes, rick corcoran, SingleDish, The Dish On, www.letsdish.com | Comments (4)

June 23, 2008 – 3:45 pm

You Help Make Our Menus So Wonderful

How 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.

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 WUSA9”
> “Wow the crowds at home and on vacation!”

By Jeremy Kugel | Posted in Culinary Inspiration, The Dish On | Also tagged cook, cooking, diet, family dinner, family dinners, jeremy kugel, Let's Dish!, meal assembly, meal preparation, nutrition, recipes, www.letsdish.com | Comments (1)

June 23, 2008 – 3:13 pm

Diet Pointers for Health-Conscious Dishers

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Many customers use Let’s Dish! as part of a plan for attaining (or maintaining!) a healthy weight. And we’re making it easier than ever. Complete nutritional information (including ingredients, calories, fat, etc., as well as Weight Watchers® POINTS®) for an entire menu can now be downloaded on a single document from the Let’s Dish! website. From the letsdish.com homepage, click on