Emily Brown sorted through food stacked on a cart in a commercial kitchen in Anchorage, double-checking that the entire order was ready. There were prepared, individually wrapped Italian focaccia sandwiches, as well as the fixings for cauliflower and shrimp tacos and beef fajitas – all ready for the recipient to quickly assemble themselves.
“This order here, they ordered all the big meals,” said Brown, administrative assistant at Alaska Dinner Factory.
In many communities across the country, Americans have embraced meal kit services like these, where all the ingredients for a delicious dinner are delivered to your door. But most national options aren’t widespread or easily available in Alaska. So local companies like Alaska Dinner Factory are stepping in and trying to fill the state’s meal kit gap.
Brown said Alaska Dinner Factory’s subscriptions are most popular with families. The company was founded in 2006 after the owner realized that cooking was taking away from family time.
“A lot of people don’t think about how valuable the time is at the end of the day when you’re just sitting around the dinner table together,” Brown said. “The goal is to bring people back together and say, ‘Hey, how was your day? What happened today?’ And food just makes it so much more comfortable.”
But it’s not just families who are affected. Brown has also noticed that more and more older couples are ordering frozen meals.
The company offers a daily delivery program called Alaska Fresh that provides microwave meals to seniors. Each meal contains protein, starch and vegetables.
All meals are made to order, resulting in minimal food waste, Brown said. The company’s menu changes each month between 14 different entrees. Family meals serve six and cost about $35. Meals last up to a year in the freezer. If customers forget to order, they can also go to the company’s store and grab a microwaveable meal from the freezer.
Meal prep on the stove, oven or crockpot is minimal. Each meal is packaged with clear cooking instructions, Brown said.
“The biggest part of the work is bringing water to boil the noodles and then heating the other ingredients and mixing them together,” she said.
The company delivers about 3,500 meals each month across Alaska, and began delivering to rural communities in 2022. Brown said orders from rural areas don’t make up a large portion of sales, but the company has regular customers in Kodiak, Wrangell and Nome. Deliveries have also expanded to smaller communities like Brevig Mission and Adak, where food costs are significantly higher.
It’s not the only meal service that delivers to rural areas of the state. Feed Me AK is a custom meal preparation service and delivers anywhere Alaska Airlines flies. Instead of larger portions, the Anchorage-based company sells individual microwavable meals for just $10.50
Amber Rotar, who opened the business in 2017, said there are many reasons why someone might choose a ready-made meal.
“The best reason I’ve ever heard from anyone was from a woman who raised six or seven children. She said, ‘They’re out of the house now. And I have to cook as many dishes for dinner as I would for seven people. And I don’t like that,'” Rotar said.
Rotar was a bodybuilder who carefully planned and prepared her meals. A friend suggested she turn it into a business. She originally thought other bodybuilders would make up the majority of her customers, but she said her meals were most popular with working professionals.
She said that food preparation requires a lot of time and patience.
“Meal preparation is considered a luxury item,” Rotar said. “If you put in the effort, you can do it yourself.”
Both Rotar and Brown face a lot of competition. There are many options for convenient meals, such as takeout from a restaurant or prepared meals from the supermarket. But Rotar says these options are often not as healthy as home-cooked meals.
Each of their meals is sold with a nutritional chart so customers know how many calories and how much protein, fat and carbohydrates they are consuming.
She said she doesn’t sacrifice taste for nutrition.
“I want people to have good, healthy, tasty food,” she said. “I hope that’s reflected in more than just what I make. I really care about what I produce and I care about the people who use my service.”
Rotar said she wants to expand. She is working to set up more pickup locations on the Kenai Peninsula and hopes to sell the meals wholesale to cafes and gyms in the near future.
