Business Franchise Australia

MISSCHU delivers 9.6% growth as it pivots into the health space

MISSCHU delivers 9.6% growth as it pivots into the health space

Vietnamese food has always been viewed as ‘healthy’ with an abundance of fruit and vegetables, many gluten free options and with the perceived benefits of a steaming hot bowl of pho. 

MISSCHU, now under the helm of Managing Director Gabi Machado, has re-positioned itself as the ‘the Healthy Hawker’ and is taking the health aspect of Asian food to a whole new level.

“We are very specific about the ingredients that we use and health is a key driver of our decision-making.  For example, we use pure olive oil in our woks and marinades instead of highly processed vegetable oil, which is very unusual for Asian street food because of the cost.  Pure olive oil has a high smoke point, which is great for our woks, it is trans-fat free and rich in healthy fats and anti-oxidants.” 

MISSCHU is conscious of the types of sugar that it uses too, mostly using an unrefined, low GI and paleo palm sugar in its sauces and marinades (which is sustainable and not to be confused with palm oil).

The rice dishes at MISSCHU use a wholegrain and low GI red rice and organic quinoa instead of refined white rice. If you order noodle salads, curries or soups, you can upgrade your noodles to low carb shirataki noodles, which have only 6 calories and 3 grams of carbs per 100g. 

“I’m told by our Japanese supplier that MISSCHU is one of biggest users of shirataki noodles in Australia. I personally love the texture, particularly in our pho.” says Gabi

Proteins are marinated in-store at MISSCHU and they wok-to-order, to hit a higher standard of taste and freshness. The beef is naturally grass fed, hormone and chemical free and the omega-3 rich salmon is fresh sashimi grade.

“Consumers are increasingly conscious about the healthiness of their food and we are seeing a growing need for flexibility in dietary requirements. MISSCHU offers a host of low carb, vegan, vegetarian, dairy free and gluten free options, so we hope to be able to tick the boxes for our customers as well as offer really delicious food.” says Gabi

Gabi brought the MISSCHU brand to Victoria in 2011, initially under a license arrangement and took full ownership of the MISSCHU brand in mid-2017. 

“We have re-positioned the brand as ‘the Healthy Hawker’ to really bring forward some of our principles on ingredients and health. We aim to create a new category of Asian street food that is genuinely healthy.”

Under Gabi’s leadership, the three Melbourne tuckshops averaged $2.5 million in turnover last financial year and like-for-like sales across the shops were up 9.6% for the first 4 months of this financial year.

“October was our highest ever-grossing month for the Victorian business as a whole, which is a credit to the wonderful team at MISSCHU. Our South Melbourne location, the newest tuckshop, continues to break new weekly highs, which is fantastic to see.” says Machado.

MISSCHU began franchising this year, working closely with franchise experts DC Strategy. The business intends to expand the network to 40 to 50 tuckshops around Australia in the next 5 to 10 years.