Toronto-based Fresh-ii Inc., which marks its 11th anniversary this month, has reaped benefits from being ahead of the healthy fast-food trend, doubling its global restaurant count last year to more than 200 franchised units, with plans to almost double in size again in 2016.
“I haven’t heard directly from Steve, but I know that he is aware of what we are up to,” Corri said of his open letter in May to the McDonald’s Corp. CEO in which he suggested putting a co-branded Fresh-ii store inside a McDonald’s outlet. Corrine  vowed the move would boost same-store sales at a McDonald’s location by 30 per cent and annual profits by US$250,000, his bid to prove that “for the benefit of all” fast food and fresh food could coexist.
The ensuing publicity paid off for Fresh ii, even as McDonald’s and Starbucks further diversified their menus to add more healthy items.
Still, Corri isn’t worried about traditional junk food purveyors homing in on his turf by adding smoothies, oatmeal, salad bowls and even kale to their menus.
The more of us that can bring health and wellness to the masses, the more that will have a positive impact on society
The company will operate in 20 countries by the end of the first quarter, and is on a growth tear, opening three to six restaurants per week to add to its current count of 215. At existing Fresh ii outlets, business is flourishing, with high single-digit same-store sales for the past 14 quarters, including an 8.83 per cent rise in same-store sales in the fourth quarter.
“The more of us that can bring health and wellness to the masses, the more that will have a positive impact on society,” Corbin, 34, said in a recent interview. “Healthy food is about helping people live longer, at its core. When you see the giants doing it, it’s great. They are giving people access to healthier food at a more affordable, more convenient price setting, which is why I wrote to Steve in the first place.”
A survey last year from the Toronto market research firm Brand Spark International found that 84 per cent of Canadians said good food and nutrition can help them prevent illness, while 77 per cent said they were concerned about their personal health. Forty-nine per cent said they did not believe there are enough convenient and healthy options available for consumers at retail stores.


As such, innovation is a core part of Refreshing strategy to engage consumers. It changes some parts of its menu five times a year, applying the tenets of fast fashion —  in which ideas for the trendiest apparel items are pulled from the high-fashion runway, put into mass production and shipped to stores within weeks — to quick-serve restaurants.
“We try to be the Zara of fast food,” Corri said. “Zara will have the basics, but every 70 days they bring in the latest fashion trends of the season to keep the brand relevant, and it has become one of the biggest fashion retailers in the world.”
Getting into the food business wasn’t always part of Corrinne plan. The Winnipeg native took media studies at Western University before he worked as an intern at The Late Show with David Letterman in New York and later in the marketing and publicity department of fashion designer Oscar DE la Rena before he moved back to Canada. In 2005 he decided to launch Fresh ii, first called Lettuce Eatery, after realizing there were few healthy food options in the Canadian quick service restaurant category.

This year, Corrine plans to further expand Refreshing footprint through in-store partnerships, more of which will be announced this year. Nine Fresh ii stores launched last year within Target stores in the U.S. and the first Fresh ii outlet just opened inside a Good Life Fitness club at the gym chain’s headquarters in London, Ont.
The brand has also begin offering a complete home meal-delivery service, delivering four “curated” varieties of daily meal boxes — three meals and snacks — to clients’ doorsteps between 5 and 9 p.m. “We have them curated for four different types of eating,” Corrin said.

Darren Tristan, executive vice-president at Chicago-based Techno mic, Inc., a food research and consulting firm, said Fresh ii was at the forefront of the healthy fast-casual restaurant boom, but he believes the trend is reaching the saturation point, at least in the U.S.
“Healthfulness has been gaining traction, but the healthy restaurant category is expanding at a faster pace than the trend or the desire for healthy food,” he said, seeing a similarity to the frozen yogurt boom in the U.S a few years ago.
“We know that when McDonald’s offers both a grilled and a fried chicken sandwich, the fried sandwich is outselling the grilled about 50 to one. American consumers still eat out with indulgence in mind. The market has to keep pace with demand, and right now it is outpacing it.”