PREPARING DINNER for her husband and two kids after work each night was just another chore on Kriston Feldpausch's daily to-do list until she picked up a flyer in her son's cubby last spring for My Girlfriend's Kitchen, a meal-assembly parlor where busy moms get together and make tasty food for their families over upbeat music and nonstop chitchat. "It's like a night out," says Feldpausch, who lives in Midlothian, Va. "It's fun; you always meet somebody new."
In a bid to accommodate busy schedules, forward-thinking companies like My Girlfriend's Kitchen are trying to improve lives with a retail experience that's...