Irish forecourt and convenience retailer Maxol is investing £1m to roll out Freshly Chopped, the healthy fast food franchise, across more of its service stations in Northern Ireland, following its launch at Maxol A26 Tannaghmore in May.

The next two new Freshly Chopped franchises are planned for Rosepark Service Station in Belfast and at Glenabbey Service Station in Glengormley, which is to undergo a major refit and will also see Moreish, Maxol’s own ‘Fresh Food’ deli introduced to the site. The new franchises are scheduled to open before the end of this year.

Maxol plans to open further Freshly Chopped franchises at other locations in its Northern Ireland network over the next 12 months.

Freshly Chopped offers fresh and nutritious food through a range of salads, wraps, sandwiches and soups that are made to order for the customer and served quickly.

Maxol brought the first Freshly Chopped to Northern Ireland and the UK when it opened its newly built services at Tannaghmore on the A26 in May this year.

Brian Donaldson, chief executive, Maxol said: “We’re delighted to be introducing more Freshly Chopped offers across Maxol sites in Northern Ireland. Today’s announcement marks a further step on our journey as we look to extend our retail offering, with a heavy focus towards made to order fresh and healthy food. The feedback from our customers at Maxol A26 Tannaghmore has been very positive and has encouraged us to extend the offer to many more locations.

“We want our customers to have plenty of choice and that is exactly what Freshly Chopped offers, right down to the type of lettuce leaves used in the salads. Along with our own Moreish deli we are working hard to provide our customers with even greater choice to meet their ever-demanding lifestyles in a modern and welcoming environment.”

Brian Lee, co-founder and managing director of Freshly Chopped, commented: “We set up Freshly Chopped in 2012 and these new outlets will bring us up to 30 outlets across the island of Ireland. Freshly Chopped’s growth to become Ireland’s leading healthy fast food outlet is evidence that Ireland’s healthy eating revolution is still going strong and positioned for even more growth.

“We have big plans for Northern Ireland and this partnership with Maxol is the first step on the journey. We have a number of other outlets planned and we are also on the lookout for more franchisees to join us on this journey. We’re looking forward to providing more customers across the island of Ireland with the healthy eating choice they’re crying out for.”