Forbes reported recently that “assembly kitchens” are the wave of the future and a potential multi-million dollar industry that provides culinary solace to individuals and families operating on hopelessly busy schedules.

Two newly opened facilities in San Diego are The Dinner A’Fare and Dinner Studio. Both companies have additional locations throughout the county – and the former has grown to include 30 facilities nationwide.

Curiosity is quickly generated when peeking into these kitchens, which contain no stovetops or ovens, but rather multiple prep stations modeled essentially after refrigerated sandwich bars.

“A lot of people wander in and ask if we’re a cooking school or a restaurant,” said Rebecca Orvell, who opened a Dinner A’Fare in Mission Valley last month with her domestic partner Kristine, thus raising the total number of individually owned franchises to four in San Diego County. “It’s a complicated product to explain and sell, but once people try it, they come back.”

The kitchens provide all of the necessary ingredients to assemble various entrées, right down to miniscule measurements of salt, pepper and other spices. The meats and fish used in the recipes are pre-portioned by the proprietors in plastic bags and stored in refrigerated units directly under the counter spaces. After that, customers are on their own, measuring out flour, hot sauce, shredded cheese, beef broth, pasta, cream and other victuals stored in cooled cubbies and crocks arr-anged at arm’s length. Customers then package the assembled, uncooked meals on site before taking them home to freeze or cook the same day in their own pots and pans.

At Dinner A’Fare, there are 15 different entrée recipes to choose from that change monthly. For a cost of $150 you can assemble and package six meals that serve four to six people each, or 12 meals that feed two to three people. Another 12-entrée package, priced at $245, yields four to six servings per meal.

The stations are also stocked with Ziploc Bags used for mixing certain ingredients together and keeping them separate until the home-cooking process begins. The recipes instruct customers how many bags are needed to complete a single entrée, and which ingredients get tossed into each of them.

In the case of pretzel-crusted pork tenderloin with mustard cream sauce, for example, you start with a bag already containing the meat and fill it with the specified spices. The recipe calls for two additional bags, one for the pulverized pretzels and another for holding the cream and Dijon mustard. Once filled, the patron wraps all three bags tightly in cellophane along with a cooking label provided at the facility.

“We’ve had busy moms come in, as well as single professional guys and couples who make date nights out of it,” Orvell added. “You can bring in wine and make this a fun event.”

The concept at Dinner Studio is similar, with the exception that customers can use the facility to cook single meals without having to adhere to a minimum number of entrées. Or they can pre-purchase a “Yes You Can” gift card good for 60 servings, which can be assembled at the facility any number at a time. Pricing is structured exclusively on a per-serving basis, ranging from $3.49 to $7 apiece depending on quantities.

“Our smaller families didn’t want the volume,” says Gloria Otten, a former personal chef who co-owns six Dinner Studios throughout the region, including her newest location in Point Loma’s Liberty Station.

Preferring the term “community kitchen” to describe the trend, she added that her Vista facility was the first in California, when she opened it back in 2003. “It was the best kept secret in the area. Now, with more competition entering the county, it helps all of us get the word out, since one person alone can’t explain this concept to everyone.”

To make reservations at The Dinner A’Fare, call (619) 296-3279. Or to reserve kitchen space at Dinner Studio, call (619) 225-8115.