Healthy eating chain eyes Scottish move

A German healthy-eating chain is set to open its first UK restaurant as it eyes a major expansion which it believes could see 300 openings over the next 10 years.

Franchise owner Hero Brands has revealed plans to open the first flagship Choppaluna store in Bloomsbury, London, in October.

The chopped salad restaurant is a rebrand of popular German brand Salaid, as it looks to cash in on increasingly healthconscious British consumers.

The central London site is set to be the first of a pipeline of Choppaluna stores, with 12 further locations already agreed as it eyes 60 sites within five years.

Nikras Agha, the founder of the chain, said he believes that 300 Choppaluna stores could open across the UK over the next 10 years.

Conceived in Berlin, the restaurant business serves healthy meals such as chopped salads, smoothie bowls and choprolls – a wrap containing salad.

After launching in central London, the restaurant business will expand to major cities across the UK including Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Mr Agha said: “We came up with the idea in 2015 after I saw chopped salad restaurants in the US with my wife and thought it would work in Germany.”

“The business has gone from strength to strength, so expanding it in the UK was the next logical step.

“Obviously, a key part of our product is that it is healthy, but it has to taste great as well. People won’t feel like they are being short-changed by having one of our salads.”