Healthy Habit's Evolution: Slow and Steady

This year, Healthy Habits continues on its brand transformation which begun in 2013.

"The brand is still in evolution. It is heading nicely along the path that the board and I have mapped out and is becoming more nimble in doing so, which is pleasing," Mark Buckland, Managing Director of Healthy Habits told QSR Media.

"We have really only laid the foundations in the past year and a bit and now is the time to really build on that through product innovation, increased marketing and driving a message that we are about offering mass market, healthy fast food."

Accompanying these changes is the chain's newly announced partnership with popular Sydney dietitian Susie Burrell. The partnership is to use Burrell's mass market media connections and audience to promote the benefits of eating healthier fast food, and to slowly develop and change the chain's menu.

"[The partnership] is an amazing opportunity for us. We have the ability to totally change our menu over time to provide exciting, delicious and nutritious food without the ‘health’ premium. We think that this work has a real chance to revolutionise the healthy fast food market," said Buckland.

However, he emphasized that the aim will be slow and steady, an evolution more than a revolution.

"As we roll out new products our customers will begin to see that we will go beyond the usual health claims such as calorie or kilojoule count and allergen information and instead start to touch on things like how the item fits into a healthy diet – how much of your protein and carbs (for instance) come from the item etc.," adding, "we will be looking at overall diet and nutrition with our product offer so that those who are health conscious can know exactly what they are buying and those that want a treat can still get it."

He explained that the unique selling point of the business is that it is truly recognised by its customers as providing healthier fast food. " It is not a sandwich store, salad bar or juice bar but a combination of all that and more. It is the place where people go to feel better about their eating choices."

"There are no other brands we know that successfully integrate all of the offers we have and have the customers accept that offer. That is unique and will only become more so as we really focus on being true to the brand," Buckland noted.

LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD

In 2014, the chain continued the process of transformation that begun when Buckland was appointed in 2013 as Managing Director. Few of the achievements from last year include:

• Successful deployment of our loyalty program with amazing uptake from our customers;
• Revamping of our online properties including Facebook (growing from 100 to over 10,000 fans in a year) and our website including creation of an industry leading franchise recruitment portal;
• Deployment of online communication and collaboration systems to provide our franchisees with all the information they need on any smart device they own and not the least, growing our store portfolio by 10%.

However, despite its big successes from last year, Buckland shares that 2015 looks even better compared to 2014.

"Whilst we cannot comment on all the things we are working on at the moment, just a few initiatives include our $70K franchisor finance offer to support small business owners; Our development of e-commerce capabilities that will really put the brand at the forefront of online ordering in the QSR market... Beyond that, we are also working with another party (cannot say much at the moment) who will help us bring some products to the market that are just not here and, with the right partner, aid us in a push into the US which we think is ripe for a business and offer like ours."

"It will be a very busy year!" he told QSR Media, noting, "we think that the sandwich market and our broader sandwich, salad and juice market remain quite strong. We see the industry data such as from IBIS and it continues to show strength... backed by our own research. It confirms that our segment of the industry has significant growth ahead of it and that customers continue to look favourably to sandwich offers."