83.9 F
San Fernando
Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Making Light

It’s the day before Thanksgiving and inside a chilly walk-in freezer near Bob Hope Airport, a cadre of hairnet-donned workers are filling row after row of shiny plastic trays with thick slices of turkey, scoops of a vegetable medley and palm-sized pumpkin pies. The warehouse is the centerpiece of Fresh Dining, a two-year old diet service that prepares and delivers five health-conscious meals a day to hundreds of clients across Los Angeles and Orange counties every day. But instead of slim portions and granola bars, Fresh Dining has taken a different approach: they’ve created meals that somehow taste good while still being healthy. “We delivered today spinach mozzarella low-fat ricotta crepes. We do tuna tartare, we do rack of lamb; food that you get in five-star restaurants,” said Mariana Rossano, the company’ president, who also helps dream up many of its menus. “But it’s all healthy.” For clients, the company creates five meals a day breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack and dessert in the company’s colossal Burbank kitchens. The meals are then packed with ice in blue coolers and couriered by vans to doorsteps and offices overnight for clients to eat the next day. A day’s worth of five meals cost $42.95 if a customer signs up for 14 days or $39.95 for 90 days. Rossano and Executive Chef Michael Bowen dream up most of the menus and draw from hundreds of ingredients. “We have grains from all over the world,” Bowen says. “This is how we really mix the menus up.” That variety also allows the meals to not taste like typical diet fare and underscores the mission of the company, said Fresh Dining CEO Todd DeMann. “We don’t bill our company as a diet service,” DeMann said. “We’re more about healthy eating. And the byproduct of that is weight loss.” Still, the company has made a name for itself for delivering returns and has attracted a celebrity clientele that includes the likes of Janet Jackson, Denise Richards and Tori Spelling and partnerships with local gyms, trainers and even doctors, including Future Physique Westlake and Dermatique Medical Center for Advanced Skincare in Encino. Lance Fessler owns Independent Fitness Consultants, a training center in Sherman Oaks, and said he’s been referring his clients to Fresh Dining as part of their weight loss. “The food is fresh and gourmet,” he said. “Usually after three months, people get sick of most programs. Not with this. It’s much more balanced.” Curious fundraiser The company started in early 2005 when Rossano, who had been working at L.A.-based Zone Gourmet, approached DeMann, a restaurateur with past projects in New York. “We put together a business plan and raised the money,” DeMann said. One of those early financiers was a DeMann family friend, former Chrysler Corp. Lee Iacocca, who in retirement has become a major advocate for healthy eating. “His passion for the last number of years has been health-related,” DeMann said. “He thought it was a good strategic fit for himself.” With a big chunk of cash in place, DeMann went to family and friends “and friends of friends,” he said. The unique product and sound business plan simplified generating the seed money, DeMann said. “It was not hard to raise the money that was the easy part,” DeMann said. From there, the company hired staff and found temporary office space in Encino and a kitchen in North Hollywood. They also launched a direct mail campaign to 10,000 people, which gave the company a first slate of customers. Deliveries started in April and from there, the business was fueled by word-of-mouth and, eventually, published food reviews. Soon, they were in demand. In March, the company moved into a corner of a former Costco Wholesale store just off Sherman Way in Burbank, which DeMann said was attractive because of its central location to several area freeways and its industrial neighbors the airport’s taxiways are just over a chain link fence from the company’s parking lot. “What’s great about our location here is that we can work 24-7. We’re not bothering anyone.” The brightly painted warehouse is divided into four areas: office space, kitchen, shipping and pantry. Given the company’s workload they cooked 600 pounds of turkey for Thanksgiving the bulk of the space is devoted to storage. “We deal with such a volume,” DeMann said. “We can do lots of food out of this space.” The total number of clients at any one time hovers around 524, although many rotate on and off “because of whatever their needs are,” DeMann said. Some people also leave the program because they meet their weight goals and no longer need the regimen. “Part of the goal is educating consumers,” DeMann said. “We’re not looking for our customers to be on for 10 years. If you reach your goals, great.” The business can sustain the rotating customer base because people will still use the service even if they’ve lost the weight or gain it back, he said. “People are always dieting and dieting is cyclical,” he said. Another factor is that about 40 percent of Fresh Dining’s customers also use it purely out of convenience. “People are busy,” DeMann said. “This is a really easy solution.” So far, the model is paying off. The company is expected to bring in $5.2 million this year, which DeMann expects could double by 2007. There’s also a move to expand the warehouse by an additional 5,000 square feet and add more staff. Rossano said she’d also like to explore more dieting options for her clients, which continue to grow each month. “I feel like we haven’t even touched the surface,” Rossano said. SPOTLIGHT Fresh Dining Year Founded: 2005 Employees in 2004: 3 Employees in 2006: 57 Revenues in 2004: $1.2 million Revenues in 2006: $5.2 million (projected) Driving Force: Providing tasty and attractive gourmet food that is also healthy.

Featured Articles

Related Articles