Opening a healthy food franchise with Baja Fresh™ can be a great opportunity for many reasons. We’ve established a strong presence in the fast casual restaurant industry over the many years we’ve been in business, and we provide our franchisees with top-notch support throughout the process of opening and operating their franchise. Another great reason to invest now is that consumers are more receptive than ever to fast-casual restaurants like ours that offer healthier food without much of a wait. Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons why Americans today care about great nutrition in their fast-casual food.
Seeking Healthier Options
Nearly 40% of U.S. adults are considered obese1, meaning that virtually every American will either know someone or be personally affected by obesity. This may be one reason why more Americans are seeking out healthier, fresher meal options. Freshness has always been of the highest importance to us (after all, it’s in our name!) and our food tastes great without greasy or highly-processed fillers. For decades, our guests have loved that they can come to our restaurants and order their favorite menu item (and customize to their liking) that fits their unique nutritional needs.
Consumer Demands are Changing
Perhaps in response to the obesity crisis, more Americans are taking food seriously2. In 2015, soda sales were down 25% as more and more consumers switched to water instead. Large companies like Kraft and Hershey were scrambling to remove artificial ingredients from their products. As consumers become more sophisticated about what constitutes a good diet, they’re getting serious about cutting out the junk to make room for the good stuff. Some companies have found that there are benefits to labeling their ingredients in easy-to-understand terms that emphasize “real food” ingredients.
While other food industry giants are rushing to adjust their offerings to suit these new consumer demands, and Baja Fresh has been ahead of the trend since the beginning. We’ve always kept our menu simple to understand, and staples like salsa (made fresh daily in each of our restaurants) and cooked-to-order meals have always set us apart from the competition. We stay away from processed food as much as possible – our restaurants are not built with microwaves and don’t have can openers! These philosophies have set our healthy food franchises up to be a standout in an industry that’s rapidly changing to catch up to what we’ve been doing for decades.
Ready to learn more about the benefits of opening a healthy food franchise with Baja Fresh? Contact us today!
External References
- “Adult Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 13, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html.
- Taparia, Hans, and Pamela Koch. “A Seismic Shift in How People Eat.” The New York Times. The New York Times, November 6, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/opinion/a-seismic-shift-in-how-people-eat.html?_r=1.
