Feb. 19, 2025

A prepared-meal business in south Sioux Falls has added a cafe to its offerings.

Dine opened in August 2024 in the former Sioux Falls Chef space in a retail center at 2210 W. 69th St., selling grab-and-go options in individual serving up to family sizes. Now, it has rebranded as Dine Cafe to reflect the addition of made-to-order breakfast and lunch items.

The breakfast menu, which is served from 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, features sandwiches on an English muffin or bagel, bowls, flatbreads, biscuits and gravy, and a traditional meal of eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, bacon and toast.

For lunch, which is served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., there’s a different hot sandwich and soup each week. Recent offerings have included a pesto chicken sandwich with roasted pepper soup, and a pineapple bratwurst with beer cheese soup.

Find the menus and weekly specials on Dine Cafe’s Facebook page. 

“I understand how busy life can be, especially with work and a family,” said Sara Geelan, who owns the business with her husband, Shea. “A lot of our customers appreciate the grab-and-go feature, to have something to eat for breakfast and then go on with their day.”

Because those breakfast items are made to order, customers can opt to call ahead for a quick pickup, Geelan said. Ordering also will be available in a few weeks through DoorDash. Eventually, Dine Cafe will offer online ordering at dinecafesf.com. 

The cafe offers three tables for customers who want to eat on-site.

For prepared meals, Dine Cafe stocks several choices.

“We want to offer a variety of meal options to help meet the needs of our customers,” Geelan said. “We’re focusing on having healthy options and comfort foods.”

That includes dishes such as Tuscan chicken pasta, teriyaki turkey bowls, chicken alfredo, Cajun shrimp alfredo, beef enchiladas, chicken fajitas, lasagna and tater tot casserole. A couple of desserts are stocked too.

The Geelans have years of experience in preparing take-and-bake and grab-and-go meals. They also own Dialed in Nutrition, which they started in 2017. That business offers grab-and-go meals in coolers at Dine Cafe, a couple of Lewis Drug locations and Ekin Nutrition.

Dialed in Nutrition customers also can order grab-and-go meals online for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday delivery at Dine Cafe, Ekin Nutrition and both Science Nutrition locations. Orders need to be placed by noon the day before.

The business also provides lunch at child care centers and has the capacity to add more, Geelan said.

Recently, it received the Cornerstone Award from Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Dakota to recognize the donation of more than 1,500 meals over the past couple of years to help feed families who are staying in the Sioux Falls houses while their children receive medical treatment.

Dialed in Nutrition has a commercial kitchen in Lennox, where the Geelans live.

At Dine Cafe, the staff uses its open kitchen to prepare the breakfast and lunch menu items, along with the prepared-meal offerings.

Those meals transition from the cooler to the freezer as they approach their “use by or freeze” date. Occasionally, the business offers a sale to empty the freezer.

“We have a lot of customers who actually just go straight to the freezer,” Geelan said. “They just want to stock up their freezer, so they’ll just grab a whole bunch” to be prepared for the nights they don’t want to cook but still want a good meal.

Other offerings at Dine Cafe include buffalo meat, everything from ground to steaks, from Family Pride Meats in Ipswich.

There’s also cheese from Cheese World, which was the original tenant in the space and operated there from 2014 to 2019.

To keep up with Dine Cafe’s new offerings, Geelan is looking for a part-time cook to help prep and assist in the kitchen.

Dine Cafe opens at 7 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closes at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, and 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday.