Have you ever wished someone else could make dinner for a change?

Well, someone can. That Hits The Spot! is a Personal Chef service offering prepared meals of your choice, in your home.

That Hits The Spot! features Chef Fabré Sanders. Chef Fabré creates meals using today’s best catch from the fishmonger, the freshest fruits and vegetables, and the highest quality meats and poultry. As a Personal Chef, her cooking style reflects your personal taste– whether it’s a “comfort food” craving or an adventurous palate.

That Hits The Spot! Catering is pleased to offer professional chef services for private parties!
Whatever your event, consider bringing in the "pros" to help you create a fabulous meal that will leave your guests full, happy, and quite possibly coming back for more!  More >

Busy day? Busy week? Try Simple Suppers by That Hits The Spot!
Get a wholesome, delicious dinner on the table fast with this affordably priced service for families or individuals on the go. Sometimes there just isn't enough time to plan out and prepare a good meal, not to mention finally getting to relax at the end of the day and actually enjoy your food. That Hits The Spot! can help. More >

* * *

Home cooking gets personal
(from the MetroWest Daily News)
By Bob Tremblay/ Daily News Staff
Sunday, October 22, 2006 - Updated: 02:53 AM EST

MILLIS -- The earthy aroma of mushrooms wafts through the Metzger family kitchen where Fabre Sanders and Larry Miller, the husband-and-wife personal chefs who own That Hits The Spot, are preparing a wild mushroom bisque.

The Metzgers have hired the Holliston-based personal chef service to cook a family dinner in their own home. In addition to the bisque, the meal features Chilean sea bass with a mango and red pepper salsa, wild rice with carrots and scallions and roasted asparagus.

The meal will serve four -- Ken and Robin Metzger and their children, Jill, 11, and Jacob, 7. For the Metzgers’ personal dinner, That Hits The Spot will prepare three entrees with each entree serving four people. Three entrees is typical, though more can be ordered if desired and the amount of entrees can be increased or decreased as well. The cost for a three-entree service starts at $200. That works out to roughly $16 per person. The more expensive the ingredients the higher the price. The cost includes customized menu planning, grocery shopping and cleanup.

Once the food is prepared, it’s labeled and stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

When dinnertime arrives, all the Metzgers have to do is heat up the food -- instructions are provided -- and serve.

"It’s a matter of convenience," says Ken Metzger. "Our typical dinner is quick things -- Bagel Bites, pasta, fast food. This gives us one night where we can to sit down to a good meal."

Metgzer notes that both he and his wife work and their children have after-school activities, leaving little spare time to put together a meal even remotely as involved as the one That Hits The Spot is cooking up.

"And the food is great," says Metzger, who has hired the company four times for dinners. He says the meals, in addition to being delicious, have broadened his culinary horizons. He admits that before That Hits The Spot arrived his palate wasn’t very adventurous.

"I don’t know what’s in it, then I try it, and I like it," he says.

Quips Miller, "Then we tell him what’s in it."

Metzger says his children like the food as well. "They’re not as picky as some kids can be and that helps," he says, noting that they also eat vegetables. Stop the presses.

Says Sanders, "It’s a great alternative for families who do a lot of takeout or just want to eat healthier. That’s a real problem in our culture, and as a family we’re guilty of it also. It’s six o’clock, you got to get your kid to karate at 7:30 p.m. You don’t know what you’re going to have for dinner so you just run to a takeout place. That’s not a sustainable diet."

Adds Miller, "You can eat Lean Cuisine, but the sodium and the other things in it are going to catch up with you. We can provide you with something that’s not on the same cost level as a Lean Cuisine, but it will satisfy you for dinner while being healthy."

In addition to busy families, couples and singles with hectic schedules can also take advantage of That Hits The Spot, according to Sanders. She adds the services can also benefit senior citizens with mobility issues and people confined to their homes with injuries or illnesses.

"This way they can eat restaurant-quality food without going to a restaurant," says Sanders.

The Holliston couple started That Hits The Spot in 2003. "We saw a real lack of businesses like this, particularly in Holliston," says Sanders, in explaining the motivation behind the company’s creation. "I’ve always loved to cook and I saw an opportunity in the marketplace." She points out there are no personal chef services in the immediate area and only a few in MetroWest."
That Hits The Spots offers two types of services: the aforementioned family dinner and dinner parties. "This is an alternative to going out to a nice restaurant, and cost-wise, it’s pretty comparable," says Miller, referring to dinner parties. "If you take people out to a really nice place in Worcester or Boston, it’ll be the same price as it would for us to come into your house and cook a really nice dinner."

The advantage with That Hits The Spot is "you’re in your own house where you can relax and you can linger at the dinner table. There’s no time limit," Miller continues. "There’s also no waiter who needs to be tipped and no incredible markup on your wine. You get to enjoy your guests in a really comfortable, familiar and private setting."

That means no worries about people at the table next to you acting like they just escaped from an asylum.

For dinner parties, as with family dinners, That Hits The Spot does all the planning, working with suggestions from the clients. The company interviews clients beforehand to find out food likes and dislikes and if there are any special nutrition requests.
"It’s all personal service," says Miller. "There’s no preset menu. It’s not a pick-something-off-the-Web-site kind of thing. It’s all about what is it you’re looking for. Are you looking for a Moroccan chicken? Sure, we can do that. Are you looking for a home-style comfort food meal? We can do that. Are you looking for something fancy and unique? We can do that, too. The sky’s the limit. The only limits are on your imagination."

Miller points out that the company can cook meals for people on special diets. "We’re not nutritionists but we can work with your nutritionist to come up with meals that are interesting, tasty and fit within the restrictions the person has," he says.
Miller puts an emphasis on taste. "We have a neighbor on a strict low-sodium diet and she doesn’t think she can make anything that’s tasty," he says, "but you can jazz a meal up with all sorts of spices. You can make some really delicious meals with no salt."

That Hits The Spot averages about two dinner parties a week and five personal dinners a week. Service may be scheduled as often as a client needs -- weekly, biweekly, monthly or occasionally.

The cost of a dinner party varies depending not just on the size of the party but on the type of food requested. As with personal dinners, not all dishes and ingredients are created economically equal.

That Hits The Spot can serve parties of up to 80 people. While it has made meals for more -- it recently did a luncheon for 350 -- the company prefers events of 80 and below. For the larger parties, it hires servers and bartenders so Sanders and Miller can concentrate on kitchen duties. For servers, the company frequently hires Special Occasions Servers in Holliston. The company’s coverage area includes MetroWest and beyond.

Whether that customer is in Bellingham or Boston, he or she will deal with the owners. "No other chefs work for us so if you call us, you get us," says Miller. The company doesn’t expect that to change. "We’re not hiring anymore people because you lose control of the taste and the service. This is very personal and we’re going to keep it that way."

At some point, the company would like to sell some of its favorite dishes as specialty food products.

Miller attributes the success if That Hits The Spot to a number of factors. "We do things the old-fashioned way," he says. "We don’t take any shortcuts. We’re not going to use a mix.... Everything is fresh and we try to use all-natural products when we can. We’re trying to give people a good, fresh alternative to what they’re usually eating.

"We also offer the personalized service people are looking for. It’s all about listening to the client to get clients exactly what they ask for. There’s no agenda on our part. Some personal chefs have their own idea of what people should want. We don’t go in that direction. It’s what you want. If it’s something I’m not crazy about eating, that’s fine. It’s what you’re crazy about eating that counts."

For Sanders, the rewards come from interacting with the clients. "For parties, I like helping clients make their special event special," she says. "For our regular personal chef clients, I like helping families eat better. That’s a mission of mine. Too much of our diet is processed, but too often we don’t have the time to put something like this together.

"It’s nice to help out families, to get them back to the table and give them they’re family time together without feeling the stress of preparing the meal."

(Bob Tremblay can be reached at btremblay@cnc.com or 508-626-4409.)