Karen and Marc Liu met each other in January 1998 while pledging for the International Business Fraternity for Men and Women, Delta Sigma Pi. His first impression of her was that she was very shy and her first impression of him was that he was so outgoing! Opposites do attract as they dated for over six years before they finally got married in September 2004.
With both working full time and Karen taking MBA classes at night, the newlywed couple's nightly meal planning consisted of grabbing quick bites at drive-thru windows or restaurants. While eating out was a quick and easy mealtime "solution", this lifestyle also quickly dwindled their savings and added inches to their waistline. By their six month anniversary, Karen had already gained 10 pounds! She needed to find a better mealtime solution, fast!
Then one day in April 2005, Marc was reading his weekly dose of Newsweek magazine and found an article featuring Dream Dinners and the meal assembly concept, started by two busy moms Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna. A few weeks later, Karen and Marc booked their first session and drove 45 miles across the bay to Dream Dinners in Pleasanton. Immediately after walking into the store, they fell in love with the concept. They had found their perfect mealtime solution! In under two hours, they made six delicious AND nutritious family-sized dinners and no shopping, chopping or cleanup needed! With millions of families and only one Dream Dinners in the entire Bay Area, Karen and Marc decided that they wanted to open their own Dream Dinners closer to home to share this wonderful mealtime solution with other busy families living in the Peninsula.
Around the same time, Frank Wong (Karen's brother) was managing a new restaurant concept in Gilbert, Arizona - Paul Lee's Chinese Kitchen (founded by PF Chang's Paul Fleming and Outback Steakhouse). Being a part of the Paul Lee's startup and development provided Frank with valuable management and operations experience; but in the end, Frank missed his family and friends and eventually left Arizona. After moving back to San Francisco in October 2005, Karen approached Frank to be her business partner because she really needed help opening a Dream Dinners store. Frank was the ideal candidate to start this family business because he had the skills set in food service operations that complemented Karen's financial background and Marc's sales experience. Plus, the siblings grew up in the food business for over 20 years - their family runs and co-owns a successful restaurant in San Francisco.
After months of financial planning, legal paperwork, property searches, architectural designs, tenant improvements, as well as hard work and dedication, Karen, Marc and Frank opened their Dream Dinners store in San Bruno's Bayhill Shopping Center. "We are so thrilled to be able to help busy families prepare homecooked meals with minimal hassle. The San Bruno community has warmly welcomed us and we love all the people here," Karen says. People tell us all the time, "What a great concept, now why didn't I think of that!?"
Here are some photos (thanks to Scott Buschman Photography) from our November 2006 Grand Opening:
1 comment:
It was really interesting reading the story of how Dream Dinners San Bruno came to be. Thanks for posting it.
Post a Comment