Noodle Box

A new Boondall business has had a hot first week. Asian cuisine takeaway chain Noodle Box started operating at Boondall last Tuesday. Franchisee Dave Surmon said customers had embraced his business’s offering of healthy takeaway food in the suburbs. Mr Surmon said the first week at Boondall had been a success. "On our first day, with no marketing, we did very well, and, on the second day, we had higher takings than the Nundah store," he said. Noodle Box, which started in Melbourne in 1996, has 70 shops nationally, including outlets at Nundah and Boondall. Mr Surmon said he opened a Noodle Box at Boondall to capitalise on the nearby industrial area, while the shop's location outside Nudgee College meant it was also able to cash in on the school market. Mr Surmon said Noodle Box provided a healthy alttraditional fast food. "You have your veggies, meats and it all tastes great too," he said. Mr Surmon operates the shop on behalf of Planet Noodle, a holding company hat owns several Noodle Box franchises. He aimed to provide a community-friendly atmosphere at the Boondall shop. "We are employing six staff and they are all locals," Mr Surmon said. The menu features 16 Asian-style noodle, rice, soup and salad boxes, as well as starters and desserts.

KREMENA GELAGOGIS: We only opened four months ago. We decided to buy a Noodle Box franchise because it's very hard to develop a successful business on your own these days. We felt it was a lower risk than going out on our own. We have a young family so we needed something more secure. We get business training and we get marketing support, and there are 70 other successful stores around Australia.
It's a healthy franchise; it's healthy food. We wanted a product that was in step with the community's desire for well-priced healthy food. Byron Bay has lots of backpackers, but we also wanted the local people to eat here, too. I was a personal trainer in Melbourne for three or four years, so health is something I have always been interested in. The price of the food was another thing, too. You can feed a family of four at the noodle bar for under $40. A small box will feed two children and a big box will feed two adults. The price had to be comfortable. My advice to anyone wanting to start a business is it's a lot of hard work, and you need to have patience. You really need to do your research and see what is needed and what is wanted in the place you want to set up the business. You need to consult with the locals and see if it is what they want. It is really important to have locals on-side. We identified a gap in the market in Byron for fast, but healthy, food. We felt that the food we could offer was what local people wanted. We have vegetarian food. And there are a lot of people with allergies in Byron Bay. All our food is labelled with the ingredients. We tell them exactly what is in each box of food. People around here want to know about that. The marketing support we get as a franchise is good, too. At the moment we are offering seniors small boxes for $4.95 because we wanted to recognise how difficult it is with the rise in the cost of living. We are really proud of our business. 
HEALTHY PROFIT: Jim and Kremena Gelagogis, of the Noodle Box in Byron Bay, say that selling a healthy product for a good price is paying dividends.