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Sweet marketing music

Tanner Montague came to town from Seattle having never owned his own music venue before. He’s a musician himself, so he has a pretty good sense of good music, but he also wandered into a crowded music scene filled with concert venues large and small.But the owner of Green Room thinks he found a void in the market. It’s lacking, he says, in places serving between 200 and 500 people, a sweet spot he thinks could be a draw for both some national acts not quite big enough yet for arena gigs and local acts looking for a launching pad.“I felt that size would do well in the city to offer more options,” he says. “My goal was to A, bring another option for national acts but then, B, have a great spot for local bands to start.”Right or wrong, something seems to be working, he says. He’s got a full calendar of concerts booked out several months. How did he, as a newcomer to the market in an industry filled with competition, get the attention of the local concertgoer?

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by Andrew Tellijohn
October 2005

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Finance


Let’s Dish! raises
$4 million to
begin national rollout

The founders of Let’s Dish! have raised $4 million from private investors for a national expansion that comes just in time to beat circling competitors, co-CEO Darcy Olson says.

“We’re creating the category,” she says, for retail meal preparation. Let’s Dish customers come to a store and prepare meals from already assembled ingredients, to be frozen and cooked later at home.

“We’re a breakaway brand. It’s exciting to take it nationally,” she says, adding that the need to raise outside funds became obvious last year. “We looked at it as, what is the best way to create value?” Also, competitors (such as Sociale Gourmet locally) have started similar companies. “Timing was definitely a factor. We had to think about the urgency.”

She and Ruth Lundquist launched the company in October 2003, after much research. “We put a lot of rigor into understanding the consumer,” she says.

 They emphasize technology, so that all customers schedule their sessions, choose what they want to make and pay in advance.  Then Let’s Dish procures just the right groceries. “We’ve developed a very efficient model,” she says.

They plan to emphasize efficiency as they begin selling franchises throughout the country. They will focus on one city at a time, the first of which she wasn’t ready to name in late August, by first securing an area developer who will in turn sell individual franchises.

Let’s Dish, with Burnsville headquarters, now has four stores in the Twin Cities and three elsewhere.

Darcy Olson, Let’s Dish! Inc.: 952.767.3474; info@letsdish.com; www.letsdish.com