Nutritious meals grow in popularity in Chinese cities

Element Fresh, one of China's leading restaurant chains for health food, was set up in 2004 in Shanghai, which focuses on sandwiches, salads and fresh juices. [Wang Zhuangfei/China Daily]

Although the restaurant chain was initially mostly frequented by foreigners, currently three quarters of its customers are Chinese.

"We were convinced that over time the number of people preferring nutritious and healthy food with great taste would become huge," said Rasche, CEO of Element Fresh.

The restaurant chain refuses to disclose its annual revenues but remains confident that it will be able to continue registering solid double-digit growth in coming years.

The company currently has 32 restaurants, including an outlet recently inaugurated at the Shanghai Disney Resort. Additionally, the opening of a new location in Wuhan, Hubei province, later this year will increase the group's presence to 10 cities in China.

"There clearly is room for more than 100 Element Fresh restaurants in China, plus potential overseas," said Rasche.