Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 1

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1 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 1 Food Service Assessment Fresh Healthy Cafe Kelly Smith & Erica Houle

2 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 2 INTRODUCTION Fresh Healthy Café is a 12 ½ year old company with roots in Canada, where it first opened its doors as a juice bar called Juice Zone in early As the name suggests, Juice Zone sold primarily fresh squeezed juices. The founder quickly saw an opportunity in the marketplace for providing a healthier alternative to the typically unhealthy fast food offerings, eventually expanding the menu to include sandwich wraps, paninis, soups and salads. With more menu choices, the high cost of producing fresh-squeezed juices was offset slightly and the company began to grow slowly - opening more cafés in Canada and overseas under the name Café Fresh. When the name Café Fresh could not be secured in all 50 U.S. states due to copyright infringement, the company changed its name to Fresh Healthy Café, expanding and offering franchise opportunities in the U.S. and abroad. Today there are approximately 80 Fresh Healthy Café locations worldwide, with 39 locations in the U.S alone. The company offers its franchisees two business models a full scale café model which offers the complete menu, and the kiosk model which offers a limited menu consisting primarily of smoothies and prepackaged healthy snacks. Locations for both are most often found in enclosed malls, strip malls and airports with heavy foot traffic. Fresh Healthy Café s corporate mission is as follows: To provide guests with a fresh, healthy alternative to typically unhealthy fast food, as well as to provide a profitable business model for its franchise owners. The static menu offerings include fruit smoothies, lean meat, meat alternative and vegetable sandwiches, salads, soups (which change daily), paninis, fresh-squeezed juices, and

3 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 3 wheatgrass shots. The cost of these menu items is slightly higher than most fast food fare. The cafés are typically constructed using green and sustainable building materials, and to-go containers are all made from 100% biodegradable materials. The Fresh Healthy Café located in Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY is the only franchise of its kind located in New York State. It is owned by brothers Michael and Bob Gourly, master franchisees who own the rights to all future locations in NYS. Fresh Healthy Café, Crossgates was the site of this food service assessment. ASSESSMENT The café is located on the lower level of Crossgates mall strategically placed near a main mall entrance - sandwiched between Dick s Sporting Goods, Bally s Fitness Gym, the Regal Cinema movie theatre complex, and next door to Johnny Rockets a burger joint. The decision to be located far away from the food court was a deliberate one intended to further separate the café from the perceived unhealthy food choices typical of mall food courts. The café serves approximately 250 customers per day, the busiest day being Saturday (usually 400 customers) for a total of about 1,900 customers per week. Their customer base consists largely of mall employees (nearly 3,000), area business employees and a constantly changing, captive audience of mall shoppers and movie-goers. Fresh Healthy Café employs approximately 16 part-time employees and one full-time shift supervisor. In addition Michael and Bob co-manage the café splitting up supervisory, operational, financial and marketing duties. The layout of the café, which is dictated by corporate, features an open-view food preparation area, with stations set up to maximize efficiency. While the café markets the idea

4 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 4 that all of their ingredients are fresh and that all menu items are prepared to order in full view of their customers, this is only partially true. In fact, most menu item ingredients are purchased frozen, and the sandwich making area is essentially blocked from view by eye level glass partitions which are covered with large company graphics blown up photographs of fresh fruits and vegetables. Smoothies on the other hand are made in full view of the customers. In general, Fresh Healthy Café, Albany is very organized and well managed. On the day of this food service assessment, the café was exceptionally clean. The concept of the café is a good one, and seems to be well received. However, there are a few improvements which could be made in order for the café to be more successful. For one, the menu offerings are not that healthy and actually contain a lot of calories. While the company employs food specialists to develop their menus, it does not define what these food specialists credentials are. In addition, although nutrition information is available to customers, it is not completely accurate or available for all drink sizes. When it comes to sandwiches, customers are left to do some addition on their own to determine total calorie counts. Nutrition charts are posted in inconspicuous locations such as in the hallway near the restroom or online. Finally, employees themselves are not trained to discuss nutrition with inquisitive or savvy consumers who may have questions regarding some of the ingredients or menu items. What follows is a SWOT analysis of Fresh Healthy Café: Strengths Concept good, well received There is a need present for a healthy alternative to fast food Cleanliness, maintains good food safety practices

5 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 5 Good location, easy access and visibility for vendors and consumers Pleasing café environment fun, upbeat ambience Well organized and efficient Low labor cost most employees are college aged students who work part-time Minimal waste due to the way ingredients are purchased (frozen), standardized recipes and supervised portion control Company is environmentally conscious Support from corporate due to the fact that it is a franchise Weaknesses Menu does not really align with mission Credibility who define healthy for the café? Menu lacks fresh ingredients, high in fillers such as frozen yogurt and sorbet which are high in calories Menu is not at all visually pleasing or well laid out too busy, perhaps too many offerings, confusing High turnover of employees given the nature of the business and the fact that college students move on Being a franchise, the individual café owners have limited flexibility when it comes to making certain decisions Opportunities Growth and expansion for New York State Kiosk at other end of the mall

6 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 6 If credibility were present, opportunities for even greater success Co-branding for pre-packaged healthy snacks Threats If credibility issue is not dealt with, someone with the same or similar idea could come in, incorporate credibility and steal business Conclusion Fresh Healthy Café has the right idea. They are trying to offer their consumers an alternative to the unhealthy offerings of most fast food restaurants. It is important to the company that they separate themselves from these establishments and offer something unique to their clientele, and in some ways they are succeeding. They are environmentally aware and this may attract savvy consumers who are also health conscious and want to give their business to companies who are socially responsible. Still, their food is where they fall short, and their menu leaves a lot to be desired. While their concept is a good one, their menu offerings are still high in calories, despite including some fruits and vegetables. This is a problem for consumers who are not so savvy when it comes to nutrition. These customers may not be aware that they are consuming so many calories and may instead be deceived by the marketing message of the café as being fresh and healthy. In addition, the fact that their staff is not trained to discuss the nutritional facts of their menu and the nutrition information available to customers is hard to find and difficult to interpret, does not instill a great deal of confidence in consumers looking for a healthy alternative to fast food. Finally, the menu layout itself could use an overhaul. With so many options to choose from, the menu is poorly designed, quite cramped and confusing to customers.

7 Running head: FOOD SERVICE ASSESSMENT 7 Recommendations Fresh Healthy Café needs to deal with the issue of credibility. Hiring a dietitian to evaluate and reconstruct their menu would be a good place to start. Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in issues of nutrition and sustainability they want to know where their food comes from, how it is prepared and how good it is for them. Having an expert of nutrition develop their menu would set the bar higher and further separate Fresh Healthy Café from their competitors, allowing them to capture the market they desire. In addition, the company could spend some time training their employees with regard to nutritional information as it relates to their menu, so that visiting the café becomes more of an engaging experience for its clientele. If this is not possible or cost effective, then the nutritional information that is available to consumers needs to be more accurate, updated regularly and more easily accessible. As far as the menu layout is concerned, it may just be a matter of scaling back the offerings or reorganizing the items in a more logical way to increase the appeal. Scaling back the choices may also offer the added benefit of being able to adjust the menu seasonally to incorporate more fresh and healthy ingredients. Rather than having so many smoothie and sandwich choices, perhaps it would make more sense to offer fewer choices, but introduce daily specials or rotate choices based on availability of fresh ingredients. With just a few changes, Fresh Healthy Café could truly be on their way to greater success by meeting the demands of nutritionally savvy consumers. If they reworked their menu to include some more truly healthy choices, endorsed by a credible expert, such as a dietitian, they would create the market edge they need to set themselves apart from their competition and succeed as one of the few establishments offering its guests a healthy alternative to fast food.