The CEO of the Freshii health-oriented fast-food chain has challenged his counterpart at McDonald’s to install a Freshii kiosk in one store to test the feasibility of a chainwide co-branding.
Matthew Corrin, who posed the challenge in a public letter to McDonald’s chief Steve Easterbrook, said the test McDonald’s would see a 30 percent increase in same-store sales and contribute $250,000 to McDonald’s profits.
“If after one year Freshii in McDonald's has not improved your sales and profits, I will refund you the difference,” wrote Corrin, who also identified himself in the letter as a millennial. “I'll assume all the risks to prove my theory that fast food and fresh food can coexist, to the benefit of all.”
The letter is part bravado—“your growth days are over,” Corrin tells Easterbrook—and part calculated offer. For instance, Corrin computed that a 150-square-foot Freshii station could fit into more than 75 percent of McDonald’s 14,000 domestic stores.
“Imagine a world where every standalone McDonald's, every highway rest stop and campus location, offers fresh salad bowls, quinoa, whole grain wraps and pressed juices—even kids’ meals—alongside your burgers and Cokes,” wrote Corrin. “One outlet can feed the whole family again.”
Freshii, which is based in Canada, consists of about 160 stores in 13 nations. McDonald’s operates or franchises about 36,000 stores worldwide.
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