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It's survival of the fittest as concept evolves into haven for healthful eating
Since the summer of 2001, O'Naturals, a four-unit restaurant chain featuring natural and organic menu items, has been quietly preparing for expansion and domination as a healthful alternative to more widely available restaurant fare.
The Falmouth, Maine-based company's commitment to high-quality natural or organic menu offerings makes it inherently unique within the fast-casual market, especially within the sandwich segment. Yet company officials say they currently are focusing on very regular business concerns, including the move into franchising and expansion into the breakfast daypart. In addition, 2004 saw the chain's first restaurant closure, as the Portsmouth, N.H., unit wasn't able to survive year-round on the locale's six-month tourist season, according to O'Naturals' president and chief executive, Mac McCabe.
But with the opening earlier this year of a new unit in Somerville, Mass., and the chain's first franchised unit expected to open this spring, O'Naturals is looking forward rather than back. Currently, company officials are finalizing the O'Naturals franchise circular and placing the finishing touches on official operations and management manuals. No longer a fledgling restaurant concept, O'Naturals is ready to expand throughout its home territory of New England, company officials say.
"Just like everything else, we are going to grow deliberately and do it right," McCabe says. "We don't want explosive, uncontrolled growth. We are looking for people who share our values around the things we believe in and have the business skills to make it work."
Those company values include not only a dedication to natural and organic food but also a social conscience, much like that of organic dairy producer, Stonyfield Farm Inc., and its chief executive, Gary Hirshberg. Hirshberg founded O'Naturals along with McCabe and Pam Solo, president of the Civil Society Institute, a Newton, Mass.-based think tank for various societal concerns like health-care reform and global security. McCabe was formerly the general manager at Northeast Cooperatives, one of the original natural-foods distributors in the Northeast.
Hirshberg created the O'Naturals concept out of the frustration that no fast-food alternatives were available for consumers who wanted natural or healthful foods.
"I never dreamed I'd be a restaurateur," Hirshberg says. "But I do know about serving customers, and I do know...