Region’s first Soul Origin franchise aims for Cairns’ loyalty
A national health food franchise with “number one” coffee has revealed an interesting trend unique to Cairns three weeks after opening its first store in the city.
Cairns
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A national health food franchise has opened its first regional Queensland store in Cairns.
Serving healthy breakfast and lunch with salads, sandwiches and specialty coffee, Soul Origin opened to almost 800 customers on its first day of business this month.
For franchise owner Anthony Nguyen, the opportunity to start trading in Cairns came after a particularly rough period with his Sydney franchise during Covid.
A lover of nature, Mr Nguyen said he had gotten sick of city life and was especially drawn to the Far North for its incredible array of camping grounds.
“I moved up from Sydney for this shop,” he said.
“I was looking for a change and came up to have a look last November and thought it would be a great opportunity.”
In the last three weeks, the feedback to “something fresh and new” had been great, he said, with a particularly interesting insight in customer interests up north.
“In Sydney, the chicken avocado salad and crumbed chicken pasta salad were our biggest sellers but here it is the vegetarian flavours that are doing well,” Mr Nguyen said.
The wide range of options for meat-free clientele includes wraps with falafel and plant based schnitzel and a generous selection of soups.
“Our food is made fresh, on site every single day, we make our own bread, and our coffee is number one,” Mr Nguyen said.
A taste of the legendary brew was available for free when patrons signed up to their loyalty Soulmate program, which gives customers $5 to spend on anything after five visits.
“You also get a treat on the week of your birthday along with some other goodies,” Mr Nguyen said.
The Soulmate program also allows customers to order ahead of time, which Mr Nguyen said would be especially helpful for working professionals.
Located in the food court of Cairns Central, Soul Origin is open until 6pm on weekdays, with extended hours on Thursday nights until 9.30pm and weekend trading hours until 5.30pm.
The space was previously occupied by sandwich shop Healthy Habits.
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Originally published as Region’s first Soul Origin franchise aims for Cairns’ loyalty
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