The rise of the healthy service station

You’re on the highway. You’ve been driving for hours. You’re hungry as a hippo. What are your food options? Meat pies. Burgers. French fries. Bags of lollies. Packets of chips. There’s a chance, if you’re super organised, that you’ll have an esky with healthy snacks packed for the car trip, but many of us end up eating junk food when we’re travelling.

The good news is that there’s now a fast food chain that is offering up healthier options, like lightly steamed beans with Himalayan pink salt (hello!) and carrot sticks (yes please!).

Here are some points from a recent article about the chain, which is called Oliver’s Real Food:

• Founder Jason Gunn said the idea formed when he stopped at a motorway service centre in Wyong, NSW, while driving north from Sydney to his then home at Port Stephens. He complained to his family that the only food option was McDonald’s, and his sister-in-law challenged him to do something about it.
• He mortgaged his house, borrowed $3 million and in 2005 opened his first Oliver’s next to the Wyong McDonald’s. Last year the chain’s total turnover from highway outlets in Queensland, NSW and Victoria reached $35 million.
• Mr Gunn is aiming to have 300 Australian Oliver’s stores open by 2025. The 18th opens in Baxter, south-east of Melbourne, on December 18.
• Other menu items include sushi, coconut water and fresh salads.
• Mr Gunn has received emails from truck drivers saying they’d lost weight since eating at his chain.

Follow the link to read the full article.