One of In Good Taste’s most consistently popular articles is a roundup we did a couple of years ago on meals and provisions delivered to your door. The fact that people are still reading that article to this day tells us that the desire for delicious food at home paired with the LACK of desire/time/effort to do the meal planning, shopping, and prep, is still going strong. One of the companies featured in that roundup was Prefare Meals whose fajitas were the best we’d ever had. Prefare is the gracious sponsor of our roundup of What’s In Good Taste in December 2022 which made us want to know more about them. We asked the behind-the-scenes questions and got personal and insightful answers from Douglas Humble, founder and vice president of Prefare Meals. He also provided a promo code for four free meals for IGTD readers!
In Good Taste Denver (IGTD): How and why did you start the company?
Douglas Humble, Prefare Meals (DH): Prefare was created 10 years ago to capture the imagination and joy that comes from watching cooking shows on TV where all the “mise en place” (French translates to “everything in place”) would be ready for the customer. There wasn’t a convenient way to cook that also had an added ingredient of control.
IGTD: What are the fundamentals of how Prefare works?
DH: Our company runs on a weekly schedule designed to fundamentally eliminate waste. Each order is pre-paid on a weekly cadence and then, based on those orders, we make everything for each kit. Each week our menu features a range of items that can be cooked in 15 to 20 minutes with ease. Every element is carefully crafted and sourced to perfection.
IGTD: You work with local farms – why is that important to you and what do you feel it brings to the meals you make?
DH: While local farms can be more challenging and we are frequently reaching out to them, the more localized a supply chain can be, the better the community that surrounds it.
IGTD: Environmental stewardship is also important to you. Why and how are you implementing that?
DH: Let me first say, this is a constant and global challenge. There exists endless opportunities of efficiency gain with regards to food waste in supply chain, portion size, distribution of those kits and the vessels with which ingredients are packaged. Our initial goal is to integrate all of that vertically as much as possible. In the world of food, every time a change of hands occurs, the consumer loses with higher prices. And the environment loses with excess distribution and packaging and repacking for an intended end use yet to be determined.
IGTD: Who decides what meals you’ll offer?
DH: Our culinary direction is spearheaded by our culinary director (and Prefare co-owner) Susan Ardito. Her “right hand” is Executive Chef Damon Keith. The team is constantly innovating by exploring the latest food trends while also inventing new ways to scale dishes that the customer craves.
IGTD: Give us a behind-the-scenes glimpse into a typical day in the life of Prefare (planning, food prep, etc.).
BH: Most of our long-term research and development occurs over the quarter as “R & D” can take many iterations before we release the menu to production, aka where folks can order it. The production of Prefare is around 16 items weekly and everything falls in line behind a master culinary schedule which determines what items to make first. Following every component being mixed, stirred, cooked, etc. it then gets cooled before our packaging team efficiently portions out each sauce and labels it accordingly. As this occurs, fresh vegetables are brought in that don’t need to part of cooking. At weeks end, all the components have arrived, and we start making our “cooking kits” so that they go out as quickly as possible on vans the subsequent mornings to each customer’s cooler.
IGTD: When you first started Prefare and were imagining what your days and the business would look like, what did you envision?
DH: The goal has always been to be the change we want to see in the world. I am guilty of over-quoting life with far too many metaphors, as staff will likely agree to. Both Edwin (our other co-owner) and Susan share the same core beliefs to this end which is essential as you whether storms.
Change is incredibly important and equally hard while incremental. The day to day is getting closer and closer to what I imagined, thanks to our team. I had zero grasp of how to make a company “work” so that you can pay every one with benefits. My father always took care of his employees when he ran White River Counseling with small thank you’s, i.e. donuts, with bigger ones, work-to-life balance. This had to be at the epicenter of what we do here at Prefare to realize any ‘”visions”’ of any sort.
IGTD: Related to that, what’s your vision now? Has it changed?
DH: I’d say I am more grounded now on average. It’s essential to dream of a utopian world where everyone is always happy making food for everyone in a perfectly zero impact way. This still exists in my mind, which helps. We don’t need to be everywhere in order to inspire but rather distil the process enough locally to where word spreads about what’s happening in Denver with Prefare.
IGTD: Where do you see Prefare Meals going in the future?
DH: We are really focused on establishing a new pulse with Coloradans geared towards helping them manage the dinner dilemmas in a post-pandemic world with inflation that is a bit more topsy turvy than before. As we explore this feedback, we try to mesh ideas such as menu variety, an online-grocery store, against these desires.
To start using Prefare Meals:
Areas served: Colorado Springs on Saturdays, Sundays all of the Denver Metro, and Mondays as far north as Fort Collins, including outliers such as Boulder.
Access Prefare: Online at Prefaremeals.com and select items through their partners at Royal Crest Dairy, Longmont Dairy, and Morning Fresh Dairy, plus in the grab-and-go at all Aspen Ski Resorts.
Promo code: Prefare Meals is offering In Good Taste Denver readers the coupon code denver121 to all users which gets you 4 free meals to use whenever. They encourage you to start your account using their A La Cart which defaults you to zero meals per week.
Please note, this Q & A is sponsored content. To learn more about partnering with In Good Taste Denver to introduce your business or event to our readers and podcast listeners, contact Courtney at ingoodtastedenver@gmail.com, and visit our Partner page.
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