BROOKFIELD, CT — The owners of a newly opened business in Brookfield are hoping to cash in on the hottest trend in food service.
Tim Roche and his wife Danitza opened Dash N’ Dine at 540 Federal Road in the Oak Meadows shopping plaza earlier this month. The new business is a combination of deli, bakery, and hot buffet offering meals by the pound.
But don’t worry about finding a place to sit. There are none. Dash N’ Dine is take-out service only.
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Currently, the market is open weekdays 6:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., but the couple plans on expanding hours to 7 p.m. soon. In fact, the whole idea for the business arose from the realization that dinnertime in suburbia had gotten way too out of hand.
“The kids are going to swim practice, and theater practice and dance practice. And I think everybody is in the same boat. Nobody wants to make dinner anymore,” he said.
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The “grab-and-go” food service category has been growing steadily since 2020, when the pandemic fueled consumer desire for grabbing a quick pre-made meal without sitting down in a restaurant, according to industry trade site Supermarket Perimeter.
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The movement is blowing up inside delicatessens as well, where the trend has been toward “global flavors,” according to Deli Business. Here, too, Dash N’ Dine has positioned itself ahead of the curve.
“‘Oh, there’s going to be a little bitterness on this Italian bruschetta arugula fig sandwich, but it’s going to be offset by the sweetness of the fig and the saltiness of the other, you know?'” Roche said, mimicking his wife, Danitza, a graduate of the Escoffier International Culinary Institute and the star of the new eatery’s show. She was the head chef for the company that makes the private label brands for Big Y and Whole Foods, Roche explained, and the trend there was clear.
“The number one thing in the food industry is grab and go,” he said.
Dash N’ Dine is not the Roches’ first foray into food service. They launched a personal chef servicefor events called Mexico Gourmet a few years ago in Bethel. Tim said the process of creating a business, post-pandemic, has become much simpler.
He’s not just talking about the legal red tape.
“We found this place (540 Federal Road), on Facebook marketplace, on a Saturday morning, I think he posted it,” he said. “And we were the only people who came in. We came in and we shook hands right there. ‘We’ll take it.’ It was incredible.”
The couple’s courtship moved nearly as quickly. He met his Mexican-born wife for the first time in Germany at the Wacken Open Air Festival in 2008 (“It’s like a Woodstock for heavy metal”), fell immediately in love, and since then, “everything with her has been a dream come true.”
Dash N’ Dine is open Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., 8:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays, and closed Sundays.
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