BRAND NU WAY

This healthy eating chain has taken on a fresh new look and boosted its franchise support structure.

Nutrition Station has a new look and a new name.

Nutrition Station has rebranded itself under the new name NU Healthy Café. The rebranding includes a fresh look and interior, a new name and logo and a restructure of training and menu development. The chain hopes to be fully rebranded by next year.

The new look is designed to eliminate customer misconceptions that the café is only for gym junkies or that it is a supplement store.

Brock Waugh, marketing manager, NU Healthy Café says the new changes will benefit franchisees and they have taken to the rebranding really well.

“The original idea for rebranding came about because franchisees were [concerned] about being mistaken for a supplement store,” he explains.

“There are some slight growing pains but we are educating our franchisees on maintaining an online presence and walking them through the rebranding.”

The rebranding began last December and some new stores have opened sporting the brand new look.

The First store to go through a complete rebranding was unveiled in February in Emu Plains, NSW.

A fresh watermelon colour is a feature in the redesign, highlighting the family friendly and warm atmosphere of the cafe. The new colour palette and interior is designed specifically to attract female shoppers.

The franchise is targeting this demographic in order to reach Australia’s highest spenders and are targeting mums in order to reach the next generation.

“We really want to promote healthy eating in children and appealing to mums is how we are going to do that,” says Waugh.

“But really, we want to be warm and inviting for everyone because healthy food doesn’t discriminate.”

There has also been a menu revamp which has also come with a complete cutlery change.

“We introduced a new spin on the

‘make your own meal’ which is now more visually appealing and has more colour and more flavour. It’s more appealing to a wider range of clientele rather than your average broccoli and protein dish,” says the marketing manager.

There has also been a big change at head office with staff member numbers almost doubling, allowing managers to have a more direct involvement in training and development for franchisees.

The franchise also finds it important to learn from their top franchisees and ask what works and what doesn’t.

“We took our top franchisees for dinner and ran our new ideas past them. This helps us to refine our ideas and also helps ease them into change,” says Waugh.

It was the right time for a refresh and an expansion, he says.

It is still early days but the franchise has already seen positive outcomes from feedback from customers and franchisees.

“We are very excited by the incredible response we have received to these new changes,” says Waugh.

“Our franchisees just love it.”

The franchise plans to double its footprint by the end of the year.

“We just want to keep growing and so far this is all working out according to plan,” he says.