Franchise Focus
UK chopped salad start-up launches with ambitious expansion plans
Choppaluna hasn't even opened but already has 12 franchise agreements in place with 60 more expected to close soon
August 29, 2019
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| Choppaluna Co-founder Nikras Agha |
Choppaluna hasn't even opened but already has 12 franchise agreements in place with 60 more expected to close soon. A rebrand of Germany's Salaid, the concept — founded by Berlin natives Nikras Agha and Bijan Azadfard — allows customers to choose from over 60 toppings before chefs chop their salads in front of them. While the UK version opens in Bloomsbury, London, Agha and Azadfard have ambitious plans to hit 300 stores over the next decade.
"We were constantly looking for food options that were really tasty while not too bad for our health," Agha said in an interview with FastCasual. "This was actually challenging, and in that challenge we saw an opportunity: Considering the way people value food is changing — focusing on quality and taste with an affordable price and all of that available quickly and everywhere. We decided that we want to be a part of that change, of that movement."
After Bloomsbury, the brand plans to open throughout major UK cities, including Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
"The opportunity is truly resonating with the business community and we are actively developing multi-franchise partnerships as we maintain a focus of identifying and securing prominent new sites across the country," said Agha, who has partnered with Hero Brands, a business development company, to expand the concept quickly. "We have brought the ingenuity, the disruptive idea, and they have backed us with the brand development expertise, investment, pragmatism and infrastructure to make our growth ambitions a reality."
Hero Brands, which has helped scale other fast casual brands, including German Doner Kebab, has already been instrumental in rebranding the concept into Choppaluna.
"Eating out is changing, and younger consumers are demanding a shorter dwell time, great-tasting healthier food and an aspirational experience that is shareable on their social channels," Hero Brands CEO Athif Sarwar said in a press release. "Nikras and Bijan had a great idea that responds to this trend, and we worked very closely with them to develop the Choppaluna brand and a proposition that truly disrupts the healthy eating space."
Besides chopped salads, the menu also features smoothie bowls and "choprolls," which Agha describes as "salad meets sandwich meets burrito."
What about the competition?
Although the UK already has a pretty well-known healthy fast-food concept in Leon — a 50-unit chain that offers Mediterranean options and recently opened last year in the U.S. — Agha doesn't see the brand as a competitor.
"While Leon does a very good job in offering a healthy fast food option with a very broad menu, we are offering the customer two things," he said. "The first being a compact menu with guilt-free indulgence options, offering custom-made items for the everyday around our chopped salads and choprolls, and secondly an outstanding 'hi-to-bye' experience, where the order is prepared in front of the customers, made to their order individually, as fresh as it gets. And all of that with our key ingredient — live chopping."
Sarwar agreed, saying that Choppaluna is bringing guilt-free indulgence to the fast casual space.
"The person having salad for lunch is no longer missing out and wishing they had something less healthy," he said.
