Survey Results March 2023
First, thank you all so much for providing feedback! We had a great response to our survey. We’re thrilled to hear how happy you are with us and the meals we provide, but we’re also thrilled to get the suggestions on how we can do better. I’m going to share some of the trends we saw in the feedback here – along with any planned changes and also answer some questions that came up.
We’re not able to tie back survey responses to specific people, so if you asked a question, we’ll only be able to answer it here. If you would like to get in touch with us for any reason at all, here are the ways to do that – in order of how to get the fastest response.
- Message us through the ordering system. We will reply very quickly – usually within an hour and often immediately.
- Email us at orders@naturesplate.biz
- Call the store at 469-307-4217.
- You can also call the number in the ordering system and leave a message (we’re not able to answer that line live).
- Message us through Facebook or Instagram.
DELIVERY SCHEDULE – based on results, we’ll continue to deliver on Sunday. We were hoping to find out that other days were just as good for y’all, but it’s obvious that Sunday is best.
SALADS - Lots of requests for these!
Yes, we will be making salads over the summer months, starting very soon. However, we have limited capacity to do this given the ongoing staffing shortage. In the past, we’ve made salads on Sunday morning to insure the freshest product possible. But we have to be done before 7am, and we no longer have enough people willing to work that shift. So we’ll make them on Saturday. It will be best to eat these at the beginning of the week. We’ll date them accordingly.
GLUTEN FREE options –
While most of our menu is gluten free, we heard from several of you that you’d like more options, especially gluten free pasta. We’re rechecking prices on the pasta to see what we can do. And we’ll definitely continue to add gluten free items.
HOMESTYLE menu –
We got a couple questions about what’s specifically different about these items.
Our core menu (not Homestyle) is always made with whole grains (no white rice, pasta, etc.), no added oil, limited sodium, and tends to be lower in calories.
Our Homestyle menu has looser guidelines – we allow for some oil, more salt, and/ or refined grains when it makes a big difference in the end product. Of course, these meals are still 100% plant-based, made from scratch, and much lower in sodium, oil, refined grains, than a typical restaurant meal (or most home cooking).
We also heard loud and clear that flavor is the most important attribute when selecting meals.
And the Homestyle meals continue to be our most popular. This does NOT mean that we will abandon our core menu.
MENU VARIETY –
Several of you asked for more variety on a weekly basis. The number of meals we can offer in a given week is definitely a function of our staffing levels. We are a little better off in this regard than we were 4-6 months ago, so we’ll be working on doing more each week. This will start with salads, and then we’ll go from there. Most of all, we want to make sure we can provide quality and consistency.
Specifically, we got requests for our Sloppy Joes and Mashed Potatoes a la carte, so watch for those to be offered periodically.
RETAIL vs. PRE-ORDER
The pandemic changed our business materially, and we had to adapt to stay in business. The biggest change was from retail to delivery. Consequently, walk in, retail sales are now less than 15% of our business and not predictable week to week. So we are primarily focused on how to best serve pre-orders (delivery and pick up). Our retail hours are now limited, and we don’t stock nearly as much food in the case (we try very hard to minimize waste). If you do prefer to walk in and select from the case, Saturday after 2pm and all day Sunday are generally the best times. We do stock more meals on Monday and possibly Tuesday, but the quantities are small to minimize waste.
LOWER CARB MEALS –
Generally speaking, whole food, plant-based meals are not going to be low carb. Our meals are built around grains, legumes, and vegetables with some nuts and seeds (no protein isolates). This way of eating has been proven to not only promote health, but also support athletes, and the rest of us through all stages of life. With that said, we realize there is a desire for some higher protein / lower carb meals. We do flag our meals with 18 grams of protein or more in a regular portion. We do make seitan (using wheat gluten) which results in some of our lowest carb options including the Alabama BBQ “Chicken.” But we don’t anticipate having a large variety of “low carb” options in the rotation.
Thanks again, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if your question isn’t answered here (or for any reason).
-Annette and the Nature’s Plate team