A passion for delicious healthy food has powered the Soul Origin business since the very beginning.

Unable to find excellent coffee or tasty, healthy meal options in shopping centres, founder Hao Quach (Howie) resorted to the next best step.

“Starting up Soul Origin was me trying to solve a problem for myself. I was a young dad spending more time in shopping centres! And I tapped into a definite gap in the market. Everyone deserves to eat fresh, healthy food.”

Soul Origin from the start has focused on convenient yet wholesome food options. Plenty of customers who prioritise their health have sought out the brand’s signature high-quality ingredients and gourmet flavours.

“Business is pretty awesome, we continue to see a rise in customer visits,” says Hao.

And what is attracting consumers is stellar coffee and an appetizing array of flavours served up in the extensive range of salads and sweet treats.

“Even our smaller stores carry more than a dozen salads and 12 different breads. In our largest stores there are 26 salad dishes and 16 breads.

“It’s been our mantra from the beginning, our philosophy is always ‘made fresh in store daily, sold that day’.

“Our competitive advantage, and our value tradition, is that you’re still going to get a great offer whatever size the salad.”

Soul Origin’s healthy, balanced meals

Hao says there is a real growth in flexitarian and plant-based meals with fruits and vegetables the hero ingredients.

“People are looking for easy ways to improve their lifestyle, swapping out meat meals, adopting a meat-free Monday.”

The current consumer mood for a healthy, balanced diet plays into Soul Origin’s strengths.

While gluten free choices have become a mainstay, today the growth comes from plant protein and vegetarian meals. These now account for 50 per cent of the options.

“Menu innovation is the biggest focus for us right now. We have always tapped into worldwide trends and find inspiration sourcing the latest food trends from our global food tours. 

“Our learnings are based on these annual trips – breads from France, salads from New York. We bring back the tastes and trends from overseas and test them out with our support team centre, and then our trial stores.”

Menu innovations

Soul Origin undertakes a rigorous testing process at state, then national level, before introducing a new menu item.

New items are tied into seasonal marketing campaigns.  The soup campaign has become a winter tradition featuring new flavours and sourcing the most seasonal ingredients. 

The brand has also developed exciting partnerships with high-profile, top-quality brands Nestle, Kit-Kat and Lindt which lead to campaigns like the most recent Lindt hot chocolate promotion.

The marketing calendar then shifts to a focus on salads before the Melbourne Cup heralds the start of the festive season. This is when Soul Origin’s catering service flourishes and customers choose crisp and light salads to go with their celebratory meals.

“We’re launching a delicious potato salad that’s going to go gangbusters with barbecues,” reveals Hao.

A competitive advantage

Healthy, delicious salads are the show pieces of the business but it is the diligent work behind the scenes that has given Soul Origin a competitive advantage.

“From day one, we set up a manufacturing facility and it was always our strategy to manage costs for our franchise partners,” says Hao.

About 70 per cent of all Soul Origin’s ingredients go through its manufacturing facility. This includes all the proteins, rice, pastas and grains.

Soul Origin has invested in the technology to ensure product shelf life, which enables it to centralise its operations and still deliver across the country.

Improving efficiencies

The franchisor works with suppliers on improving efficiencies to ensure stable prices for franchise partners.

“The size of our business enables us to partner with major suppliers. 

“We understand the costs and ask for future grain and feed costs so we can mitigate price increases by controlling the central facility, to keep costs low while we work to be more efficient.

“We work extremely hard to remain competitive to the consumer. That is important. This has always been at the core of our business.”

Soul Origin values aligned with customers

Hao reveals customers want to align with brands that share their values and increasingly want to know the provenance of ingredients.

“Our Source of Origin initiative means that we are able to source our ingredients back to the form and has formed a pivotal part of our sourcing strategy. 

“This is something that has always been important in coffee – customers wanting to know where we source our beans.”

Soul Origin’s mission of serving top quality, health-focused foods conveniently packaged and affordable is helping Aussies boost their well-being through healthy food choices.

It’s a simple mission, well executed.

“There’s no special sauce,” says Hao. “The magic of this business is sticking to our values, and ensuring our franchise partners and customers are front of mind.”