Fast Food For The MySpace Crowd

Boston Globe:

George Naddaff realized he might have a problem when a Bedford police officer spurned his offer of a free snack.

Naddaff is the franchising guru who helped cultivate chains like Boston Chicken, Sylvan Learning Centers, and VR Business Brokers, and 2 years ago, he was attending the opening of the Bedford branch of his latest venture, KnowFat Lifestyle Grille.

‘It was raining, and there was a cop out front directing traffic,’ recalls Naddaff. ‘I invited him in, and asked what he wanted to eat.’

The officer made a sour face and said he’d pass. ‘He’d made a decision based on the name that he wasn’t going to come into the store,’ Naddaff says. “How could no fat taste good?’

At age 78, Naddaff is wrestling with one of the toughest challenges of the fast food industry: how to turn healthy eating into a big business. ‘You can’t build a business on the 20% of the population that are marathon runners, that eat organic, that work out at Curves,’ he acknowledges.

He needs to reach a more mainstream diner, in the same way that Whole Foods Market has attracted loyal shoppers who aren’t all yoga instructors on a macrobiotic diet. So far, Naddaff’s progress has been slower than he initially expected - though he did eventually persuade the Bedford cop to give the food a try.

Read more.