On a rainy Saturday in France, Stephen and Anouk were looking for a place to eat with their children. The whole family eats completely vegetarian, and in France this turned out to be very difficult. “We were able to find a restaurant via the Happy Cow: Copper Branch app,” Anouk told EditieNL.
The family was immediately affected. Not only were they passionate about the all-vegetarian menu, they were passionate about the quality of the food as well. “No difficult flavours, but very tasty.”
Franchise
After returning from vacation, the memory of visiting the restaurant lingered in their minds for a long time. Stephen had a steady job, but that ended. The Woerden couple had to look for a new challenge. “We saw that Copper Branch was looking for franchisees in the Netherlands, so we immediately went after them.”
The chain is originally from Canada and is now expanding worldwide. They will start from the Middle East and Scandinavia and thus also in the Netherlands. “The first branch of Anouk & Stephen will open in Utrecht in October. “And then we want and must open 25 branches within eight years. We’ll start with the big cities and eventually want to open restaurants in the smaller cities.”
From burgers to bouquets
The restaurant menu will be entirely vegetarian. The menu features well-known fast food dishes such as french fries and burgers. “We also have bouquet platters, which we’ll rotate every season. We also have side dishes like chicken nuggets and falafel balls, all well spiced.”
Besides being all vegan, the couple also wants to offer as much organic and local food as possible. “We have refrigerators so big that suppliers don’t have to drive around as much. We do everything we can, if there’s an option for organic and local, it’s on our list.”
Everyone is welcome
The couple wants to provide a pleasant workplace for their employees. “In the beginning, it was hard to find employees. Now the orders are pouring in. They are basically people who are very passionate about the concept and very motivated.”
“We plan to give each person a monthly sum to buy a book or a yoga class, for example. We want our restaurant to be a place where people work with pleasure and love, without too much pressure and pressure at work. With this we want to advance the different work culture, as a kind of transformation.”
Anouk and Stephen can’t wait to open their first website. “We think it’s very important to have a larger selection of vegan foods. We want to be there for families who can’t just drive to Amsterdam to eat vegan food at a restaurant. The Copper Branch will be affordable and we don’t have a specific target group.”
