Drive thru fast food – the Be Strong way!
We’re pleased to see that low-calorie ingredients and fresh produce are creeping into the majority of fast food chains, but these are still very much surrounded by lots and lots of high calorie meals and snacks. Be Strong would like to see a new crop of healthy food chains popping up around the country!
If these new startups offered nutritious dishes that are just as affordable, convenient, and tasty as the traditional unhealthy food served up by the major chains, not only would they be popular, they would enhance and save lives.
They would need to be priced competitively, lower than traditional unhealthy fast foods, possibly organic, with reasonable portion sizes and accessible to everybody – at the moment these meals are hard to find and when you do, many can’t afford them. Why do these meals need to be so expensive? Is it because they’re seen to live in a niche market? If so, let’s mainstream them and bring prices down.
Pricing, Calories & Social Responsibility
Would you be attracted to a fast food drive thru where all ‘meal deals’ were balanced, cost under £5 and came in at less than 500 calories per meal? If it’s a yes then we need to make our voices heard.
Whilst we’re on pricing, how about making it flexible, where drive thru’s in more affluent areas pay a little more, so that those in more deprived areas can charge less? How about a ‘name your price’ policy where, within reason, you pay what you can afford – those that can’t afford much pay less, and those that can may choose to pay more. Produce could be sourced locally with a small percentage of profits put back into healthy community based initiatives. Open up like this and we promise that we will come running to your door!
If you choose to ‘eat in’ do we really need vast expanses of seating, or can we get away with much smaller, cheaper buildings where people stand and eat – with smaller seating areas for those that can’t. Too radical?
The traditonal players in this market are sitting up and taking notice, but still continue to market and upsell unhealthy fast foods where calorie content isn’t always explicit and transparent.
The UK is the most obese country in western Europe, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Its annual Health at a Glance report, published on 10/11/17, shows that 26.9% of the UK population had a body mass index of 30 and above, the official definition of obesity, in 2015. Only five of the OECD’s 35 member states had higher levels of obesity, with four outside Europe and one in eastern Europe.
The OECD’s report, which says obesity in the UK has increased by 92% since the 1990s, illustrates the scale of the public health challenge, with fears it could bankrupt the NHS.
There is a major opportunity out there for somebody to get this right. Lord Sugar? Dragon’s Den? Mr Branson? Give this a share on social media, somebody may sit up and take notice.