Cojean, Anti-Fast Food in France
Recently in Time Magazine, Grant Rosenberg discusses Alain Cojean, the namesake and founder of a chain of fast-food restaurants that serve only healthy fresh food—nothing fried:
The restaurant chain's popularity is proof that in a city famous for its smoky brasseries and aloof, bow-tied waiters serving up artery-clogging dishes, there are citizens hungry for alternatives. Until Cojean, Parisian lunchers who didn't have time for hour-long steak-frites meals were mostly limited to baguette sandwiches on the run or the international fast food chains hardly noted for their selection of nutritional offerings. But now Cojean, with his vegetable-packed toasted sandwiches, chicken curry wraps and salmon and quinoa salads, is the de facto godfather of a near-movement.
Cojean spent 15 years working for McDonald's Europe and was a director of Research & Development when he quit; he now rides his motorcycle to visit branches every day. His five-year-old business finally started turning a profit in 2006, not bad for a restauranteur who says he's never read a marketing book.
