Freshii is a Canadian

fast casual restaurant A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate conce ...

franchise that serves burritos, wraps, soups, salads, and frozen yogurt. It was founded in 2005 by former CEO Matthew Corrin, and has since expanded to over 100 locations in countries including Canada, the United States, Colombia, Peru, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, and United Arab Emirates, with franchises under development in Germany, Guatemala, and Saudi Arabia. As of the end of December 2021, Freshii has 343 stores in North America. Freshii does not disclose the number of stores located outside of North America in its financial reports but states that these stores represent a small portion of its overall revenues.

History

Freshii was founded by Matthew Corrin in Toronto, in 2005. At the time, Matthew Corrin was working under fashion designer Oscar de la Renta when he became inspired by New York delis that offered fresh food. Originally called "Lettuce Eatery", the store opened to large queues and ran out of food on the first day before the end of lunch. In 2016, the company opened an average of 3.5 new stores per week and reached a total of 220 stores in 20 countries. Rapid expansion has also been seen in Latin America, with Colombia serving as the base of operations. As of 2015, Freshii hopes to open from 13 to 20 restaurants in Chile over the next decade. Restaurants have also been opening in Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama. The Latin American locations all feature the same core menu as Freshii outlets in North America and Europe, but also add several local or domestic ingredients. As of 2017, they're also planning on expanding into the UK market, as then Freshii CEO and founder Matthew Corrin said in a statement that the United Kingdom is underserved when it comes to healthy fast-casual food offerings and the company believes there is tremendous opportunity to grow the brand in the region. In 2016, the chain introduced meal boxes at most locations which include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and two snacks. The boxes are available in plans ranging from 1 to 30 days and focus on healthy eating. In February 2019, Freshii announced plans to begin selling their pre-packaged meals inside of Walmart Canada stores. In April 2022, it was reported that Freshii had begun to trial the

outsourcing Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...

of cashiers via

telework Remote work, also called work from home (WFH), work from anywhere, telework, remote job, mobile work, and distance work is an employment arrangement in which employees do not commuting, commute to a central place of work, such as an office bui ...

, using

video conferencing Videotelephony, also known as videoconferencing and video teleconferencing, is the two-way or multipoint reception and transmission of audio signal, audio and video signals by people in different locations for Real-time, real time communication. ...

systems branded as "Percy". The "virtual cashiers" are outsourced to workers in Central American countries such as

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the coun ...

; the company stated that the system was intended to help address job shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The

Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian trade union, labour unions are affiliated. History Formation ...

criticized Freshii for exploiting workers in countries with a lower

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. B ...

compared to Canada's (with its "virtual cashiers" reportedly being paid around US$3.75 per-hour), and eliminating positions that student workers previously took. In May 2022, Corrin stepped down as CEO of Freshii in order to focus on Percy. Corrin was replaced as CEO by Chief Financial Officer Daniel Haroun. On November 10, 2022, following the release of its third quarter 2022 financial results, freshii's stock hit an all-time low of $0.91 CDN per share, representing a decline of over 90% since the stock first started publicly trading in February 2017. On December 19,2022, Montreal based, Foodtastic Inc. signed a deal to buy Freshii for $74.4 million.

Philanthropy

Freshii is an active supporter of many local organizations where they have operating locations. Freshii was an active supporter of

WE Charity WE Charity (french: Organisme UNIS), formerly known as Free the Children (French: ''Enfants Entraide''), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburge ...

and meals were donated to children in need when certain meals were purchased by customers. Following a political scandal and due to the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, WE Charity announced it was ceasing operations in late 2020.

References

External links{{Anchor, External ;inks

Official website
Restaurant chains in Canada Restaurant chains in the United States Fast casual restaurants Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Companies based in Toronto 2005 establishments in Ontario 2017 initial public offerings

History

Philanthropy

See also

References

External links{{Anchor, External ;inks