Comments on: Michael Johnigean: Turning a passion for health into a great business

By: Deborah K. Thompson

Deborah K. Thompson — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:50:16 +0000

Great article and I will visit your cafe. I agree with you greatly on your concept.

By: Michael Johnigean

Michael Johnigean — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:51:22 +0000

I want to thank everyone that eats at Healthyway Cafe. I listen to my customers and I appreciate all of there feed back. I want to answer the comment made by (FoodMaven). Jacksonville is my home town and I felt it would be the best place to open my first Cafe, because of the diversity of people here. I’m sure if I opened it on the West Coast, that our sales would have been much higher. I admit, we have had our challenges here, trying to educate the public of the benefit of eating a healthy diet, but I thought Jacksonville would be the perfect test market for HealthyWay Cafe. The only complaint I ever had at my cafe’s, was we are a little pricey. After two and a half years of being in business, I listened to my customers and lowered my prices. As far as portion sizes, I have not changed anything on my menu. In fact we changed our breads to a fresh baked higher quality bread, that is lower in calories, and are slices are much larger. Maybe that’s why (FoodMaven) thinks we lowered are meat portion sizes is because our bread slices are larger. As a matter of fact, our portions are larger sense our bread is in larger slices. Our meat portions are the same size portions sense I opened up my Cafe in November of 2006. And I can tell you that our portion sizes are much larger than Native Sun, Panera Bread or Crispers. As far as my prices, my prices had been $8.99 per entree sense I opened in 2006. I had not increase my pricing sense. As the growth of new stores opening, we have been able to get better buying power. So I decided to pass that savings on to my customers. So I decided to take off the side item, sense everyone did not want a side item, and lower my prices so that are price point is the same as a Panera Bread or a Crispers, but our quality of food is much higher. Now our entrée’s start off at $5.99, that is a $3.00 savings. Now I can reach a larger market by making our food affordable to everyone. I would love to invite (FoodMaven) back to my cafe and have them ask for Michael Johnigean ( 904-735-7515 ) So they can give us another chance to win there business back. I believe that your reputation is everything and I want all of my customers to be happy customers. I want to thank everyone again for making HealthyWay a success in Jacksonville Florida.

Michael Johnigean
CEO
HealthyWay Cafe

By: FoodMaven

FoodMaven — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:10:55 +0000

The Healthy Way Cafe (HWC) is an interesting concept for a fickle fried and barbeque market like Jacksonville. It’s easy to make it here by offering something different. You can’t go backwards in quality or value.

However, their concept in changing the prices, making the portion sizes smaller and removing the “side item” is a disaster. On a recent visit to the TownCenter location I order my usual sandwich and iced tea. When it was served I asked the employee about the slaw. She said HWC lowered the prices and removed the side items from the menu. I was shocked. Then I opened my sandwich and to my amazement was a 2-3 ounce ball of chicken salad strategically placed in the middle of the bread to make it look like full of meat. But the joke was on the HWC because the chicken salad stopped about an inch from the end of the bread.

HWC and its management truly has lost the “edge” by making a monumental mistake in reducing the price, taking away the side items, and providing less food. At $8.99 with a side item and larger portion of meat it was a little pricey, but for an organic alternative well worth it. But now for $7.99, no side item and a sandwich resembling an appetizer, the cost is no longer attractive.

I was a frequent guest at HWC. It’s been about two months since my last visit. If I hear they “corrected” the menu pricing and selection, I will return. Otherwise, Native Sun and Whole Foods provide a better option.

By: Bill Sanders

Bill Sanders — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 08:56:47 +0000

This is a wonderful story. I would like to open a franchise in Palm Harbor, FL. With Safety Harbor to the south and Trinity to the north, we have plenty of rich, health-conscious folks around…