Tamworth may have its fair share of fast food restaurants, but that's just how the owner of a new vegan, keto and paleo restaurant likes it.
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West Tamworth's Hillvue Road is set to be the site of the newest Shack, a statewide chain of health food stores.
Business owner Stephen Ajami said he was actually attracted to Tamworth by its abundant and popular fast food options.
"We like to open wherever we see a McDonalds or a KFC or an Oporto. We like to stand next to them and have that option. Wherever there is any of those fast foods stores that's where we'd like to open up," he said.
"Our menu's like a fast food [restaurant] but all in a healthy way. We're confident we can take a piece of the pie out of these fast food joints, and be for healthy people."
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The business already has six sites in Sydney, Wagga Wagga, Young and elsewhere across the state.
He said the time had come for the state's rural community to get into the health food craze.
"In our rural areas - Young and Wagga Wagga - they've really accepted it, and we get a lot of praise for being out there and willing to do it," he said.
"It's a hard concept to be in business because not a lot of people know about health. A lot of people would rather go eat junk food than eat healthy so it's been a tough game for us, but we've survived and we're expanding."
Mr Ajami said the town already has a "health community", pointing to Tamworth's numerous gyms and yoga venues, but that there was a "gap in the market" for health food.
"When we were up in the town we came up and visited a lot of cafes and we couldn't see really anything that comes close to our Whole Foods concept, pretty much not at all in Tamworth," he said.
The Shack will offer both breakfast and lunch, with a range of vegan, paleo, pescatarian, keto, gluten free, or dairy-free meals. Mr Ajami said their zero sugar burgers would be a particular hit with the fast food crowd.
He said Hillvue would be a good spot because there are lots of schools around.
"We usually build our clients from young up. Them growing up coming to our cafes, they eventually turn into healthy adults," he said.
"There's also childcare centres around as well so all the mothers can drop off their kids and come in and have a coffee or their healthy breakfast. We were happy that it's a busy road. We were very happy with the position of the property, and that's why we purchased it."
Ironically, it will be the second Shack on the block, set to be opened right next to the Corner Shack on Hillvue Road.
Construction has already started on the building, which is set to open its doors by the end of June, or early July.
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