Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2016. All figures are from late 2016, including store counts for Salad and Go, Eatsa, Dig Inn and Freshii. Several chains have since changed: Eatsa closed most of its restaurants in 2017, Dig Inn rebranded as Dig, and Freshii was acquired in 2022.
KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King dominate the fast-food industry (also known as junk food). These are businesses that were born in the United States and made the leap to the rest of the world, even though customers are increasingly moving towards healthier eating.
Now, also from the United States, some entrepreneurs have come up with the idea of creating fast-food chains that use low-calorie ingredients and fresh produce, at affordable prices.
Food executives at PepsiCo and Campbell Soup Company told Fortune magazine that healthy fast food is not just a trend but a movement driven by new consumer habits. And although chains like McDonald’s are strategically placed to capture that market as well, right now these new franchises are on the same starting line, so not everything has been invented yet when it comes to fast food.
These are some of the restaurant concepts collected by Business Insider that the boldest entrepreneurs could start copying or importing. These healthy fast-food chains began regionally in the US and are already expanding across the country as franchises. Spectacular growth is expected over the next few years.
See also: 6 business ideas that started in the United States
Healthy fast-food businesses
1. Salad and Go (salads)
This business specialises in hearty salads, with up to 48 varieties at around 6 dollars. It also offers soups, smoothies and breakfast items for about 4 dollars.
Even though it has only just opened, it has been so successful that it already has 6 locations in Arizona, with plans to open 8 more by 2018. There’s no doubt that salads are a profitable business these days.
2. Eatsa (an automated vegetarian chain)
Eatsa combines vegetarian food with new technology: customers place their orders on iPads and pick up their food from automated cubbies. In these restaurants, the human staff work at the back. There are no counter staff.
This vegetarian food business opened its first location in 2015, and it already has 4 restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles, another in DC, and yesterday it opened its first location in New York. The vegetarian menu costs around 7 dollars.
See also: The 9 most original and innovative restaurants in the world
3. Dig Inn (from farm to table)
This chain promotes vegetables and locally sourced farming. Thanks to the deals it strikes with local farmers, it can keep its menu prices low (around 8 dollars).
The company opened in 2011 and already has 14 locations in New York and Boston, with an ambitious growth plan from 2018 onwards and the gratitude of local farmers.
See also: 5 ideas for original restaurants
4. Freshii (one of the largest healthy fast-food chains in the world)
Freshii was born in Canada in 2005, with menus of under 700 calories that cost around 7 dollars. It currently has more than 300 locations around the world and is already present in airports, stadiums and Target stores.
Freshii’s CEO tried to partner with McDonald’s, although nothing came of it in the end, and it is said that the chain’s success scared McDonald’s, pushing it to create healthier menus.
As we can see, McDonald’s is not untouchable, and as consumer habits change, new business opportunities open up in the fast-food industry. It’s a matter of adapting some of these ideas.
Featured image: Quinn Dombrowski from Berkeley, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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