Food. It all comes back to the food.
At Freshies, we love food. We eat food. We think food. We talk about food in general conversation and we want to share it with the world!
Our main mission is about increasing access to food and practicing our own definition of sustainable food.
But what does that mean?
Well, food is a required element of survival, but we all view food with many different values, whether it’s health, religion, economic reasons, experience, or just one’s own mood. We all make our choices differently, many times a day.
When the pandemic hit, we had a choice: we could choose to either keep doing what we were doing, not altering our business or our philosophy at all, we could completely close down, or we could evolve. We could adapt.
Clearly, we opted for the latter.
Starting Freshies was about creating a space where people could get a healthy, clean, and quick meal. It wasn’t fast food; it was food you get fast. And fresh.
Since we opened right as the pandemic was shutting things down, we had to pivot our offerings to allow more memorable experiences rather than just that quick rush that we took for granted before COVID.
So, that’s what we try to do. We know` that, probably, when you come into our shop, you might be in a hurry. Maybe you’re on a lunch break or you’re between classes or you have to get to your next meeting, lickety-split. We get that. And we’ll expedite the process as much as we can. But we also don’t want you to think that you’re just a number to us; that you’re just a customer, that you’re just a bottom line.
You’re not. Without you, we literally would not be here so we want to make sure that you know, each and every time you leave our shop, that you are appreciated, you are valued, and you are irreplaceable.
That same philosophy extends to our employees as well. We’re a team. We’re friends. We’re family, in a way.
We don’t want this just to be a place to earn a paycheck (or a tip, thanks to our generous customers 😉). We want it to be a place where they learn, where they grow, even where they teach. We want this to be a place that impacts them and builds them up for the next chapter of their lives. We want to invest in our people, knowing that they, in turn, will invest in the world around them.
Our philosophy focuses on many different aspects of this industry but, of course, it all comes back to the food.
Our food is simple, but its clean and quick and made fresh in-house. Tomato jam? Fresh in-season roasted tomatoes, stewed with cane sugar for hours and put on our sandwiches fresh. Soups? We procure ingredients in season, process/preserve them and make our soups weekly during those cold winter days.
Since we both come from food backgrounds, we have always respected the process of how food is produced, as well as the short life it has in this massive world. The pandemic has taught us a lot about value and respecting the process (mainly the supply chain). We understand that the large lettuce farmer contributes to the economy just as much as the small guy. Each of us has a role in this big, beautiful, life-changing industry and we are honored to be able to include you in our story.
As we move into the future, we will continue to value every employee more than the bottom line, set sustainable boundaries and we will continue to pursue an affordable and clean eating menu!
More than anything, we will continue to be a haven for our customers who are looking for fast (but not cheap) food with fair prices; food that will feed their stomachs and their souls. We will listen to our customers and adapt accordingly. And we will offer good food, made right, from our table to yours.
