Fresh fast food outlet coming to Smithfield

HEALTHY fast food restaurant Freshii is introducing its wide range of meals, bowls and burritos to Smithfield as CEO Dave O’Donoghue looks to expand nutritious, affordable grub options across the Northside.

With restaurants and stores already established in Trinity College, North Dock and on Mespil road, CEO Dave O’Donoghue now plans to bring Freshii and its clean living menu to Smithfield with a targeted opening set for March.

“We like the Smithfield Area,” O’Donoghue told Northside People.

“We think it’s an up and coming area, has a nice base of business and office location there and the law side of the city is there too. 

“We’ve a very good franchise partner there, who knows that area inside and out, and he sold it to us to be honest. You have the Jameson distillery being refurbished and reopened this year, and we think that whole tourist side of it is a big plus for us. We think Freshii can add to that impressive offer.”

As well as looking to add to what Smithfield has to give, Freshii is also looking to add to the Irish fast food market, an industry that O’Donoghue and business partner Cormac Manning feel is rapidly changing.

“Freshii started off as a salad and wrap bar, it was called Lettuce Eatery,” added O’Donoghue.

“Our menu has just extended and expanded it, but interestingly hot food is a big part of our menu with bowls, burritos, and our soups.

“We’re in Ireland, and we’re finding that hot food is a big hit here and we market our burrito as the healthiest and tastiest burrito in the world.

“You can have a burrito, but it’s a super food burrito, so it’s low in GI and has a slow release, but there’s a plethora of healthy restaurants and we expect to see more of them.

“We don’t think this is a fad, we’re convinced it’s a trend, and it’s not a trend that’s happened because we brought Freshii to Ireland, it’s a trend we saw since 2005 and it’s been growing ever since.”

O’Donoghue and Manning formerly worked together at Cuisine de France but decided to leave the bakery company in search of a new venture in the food industry.

During their time there, the duo noticed widespread cutbacks across different sectors when the recession hit Ireland in 2008, but identified healthy foods and health and wellness products as an area that continued to grow despite contractions in many other industries.

While they think that convenient, healthy food will be a big market in Ireland, and in particular Dublin, the Freshii team say they’re not trying to replace traditional fast food, but rather offer an alternative to it.

“Fast food will never disappear,” added O’Donoghue.

“Burgers will never disappear. Pizza will never disappear. People will always want balance but what we’re finding with millennials is that if they are eating with us three times a week, they might still be going for a burger, they might still go off and have a few pints at the weekend, but they’re still the same consumer.

“We’re just getting a bigger share of the stomach.”