We stopped in at the new Mashpee Fresh Market. Check out the meals, desserts, prices.

MASHPEE ― A sign outside Mashpee Fresh Market reads 7-7-7, noting that the newly opened food store is open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week.

What it doesn’t say is that a ready-to-eat meal is waiting for breakfast, lunch and dinner ― just like your parents’ house ― except you have to pay $10.99-$12.99 per pound here for the hot buffet. There is also a cold salad bar.

Everything is sold by weight, with an average meal costing $14 to $18, owners estimated. Each night features a specific dish, from meatloaf Mondays to barbecue Fridays. Corned beef and cabbage is made on Sundays year-round, not just for St. Patrick’s Day.

“We focus on comfort food. We call ourselves ‘Cape Cod’s home of home cooking’,” said Seth Burdick, who co-owns and runs the market with his wife Megan Burdick.

Their 10-year-old daughter, Theodora Burdick, is sometimes on hand as an ambassador, welcoming customers, including kids who push the miniature-sized shopping carts alongside the full-sized ones.

“Mashpee Fresh Market has a feel similar to an urban market, so many food concepts all in one spot,” Krysten Kelliher, marketing director for Mashpee Commons, said in a written statement. “It’s a perfect fit for the community…”

Where is Fresh Market in Mashpee?

The market at 32 Market St., which opened April 5, is the third for the Burdicks, owner/operators of Cotuit Fresh Market, as well as the seasonal fresh market at Popponesset Marketplace and the concession stand at Cotuit’s Lowell Park, where the Cotuit Kettleers play in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

Megan said she started working at Cotuit Fresh Market in 2010, working her way up to manager and buying the store when it became available in 2019.

Mashpee Fresh Market serves the same dinner buffet of rotating choices (chicken pot pie, pot roast, Thanksgiving and Italian dinners are also on the menu) as Cotuit Fresh Market does ― as well as breakfast burritos, pastries and two dozen specialty sandwiches plus store-made salads (including turkey salad with cranberries, walnuts and apples) for lunch. The over-stuffed sandwiches are $11.95. You can also build your own sandwich or order sliced deli to go from 18 kinds of Boar’s Head meats and an equal number of cheeses.

While the Cape has other grocery stores with hot bars and ready-to-eat meals ― including nearby Roche Bros. ― Mashpee Fresh Market enters a field with growing demand.

“I feel like there is enough business for all of us,” Megan said.

Why are ready-to-eat meals a growing trend now?

Desire for ready-to-eat meals has steadily increased, fueled in part by the variety of choices that emerged during the pandemic.

“Total dollar sales for deli prepared foods and meals reached $24.5 billion in the 52 weeks ending July 23, per Circana, marking a 6.7% increase year-over-year,” reports The Food Institute, an industry trends watch publication,

The idea of a steadily growing convenience food industry is born out by a half-dozen other industry studies of the nation’s eating habits.

The Burdicks were looking to open a sandwich shop in Mashpee Commons when the former Rory’s Market + Kitchen space ― “4,000 square feet with the nooks and crannies,” Seth said ― came available.

Mashpee Fresh Market features local ice cream

The Burdicks brightened up the market with green walls and hundreds of creamy white lights, hanging in clusters from the ceiling. Then they went shopping for the hundreds of specialty products that fill the store.

“There were so many freezers,” Seth said. “I love ice cream ― and figured everybody did ― so I went heavy in that direction.”

A half-dozen brightly lit cases hold ice cream from local producers like Four Seas Ice Cream and Cape Cod Creamery, as well as Crescent Ridge from Sharon and a sampling of confections from as far away as California.

Other local brands include Snowy Owl Coffee Roasters and Beanstock Coffee Roasters, Pain D’Avignon breads, Nantucket Crisps and a full line of products from White Lion Baking Company in Mashpee.

“A lot of people are excited to know we carry Montilio’s,” Megan added.

Shopping for treats or specialty items

Susan Shelton of Falmouth agreed, as she settled in with coffee and a slice of lemon meringue pie from the well-known South Shore bakery.

Tabitha Pinkston, a former Cape Cod Beer sales rep who manages the store with Nick Davignon, said there is a nice mix of products, including organic, vegan, gluten-free and other choices for those with food sensitivities.

Shelton said she was looking forward to trying something from the shelves of Asian cook-at-home products.

“We would still buy our staples at the grocery store, but we would come by for a treat or unusual things we can’t find any place else,” she said.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: New Mashpee market has 3 meals a day sold by the pound at a hot buffet