Just a few weeks after making its stock market debut, fast-casual eatery chain Freshii Inc. has unveiled plans for expansion into the United Kingdom. The Toronto-based company said Wednesday that the growth plan will be led by franchise partner Anil Patil, who already has 40 Starbucks and 20 Domino's locations in the U.K.Freshii had 244 branches in North America, South America and Europe as of Sept. 25, 2016, including 11 outlets in Austria, Ireland, Sweden and the Netherlands. "We've seen success in Ireland and believe there is tremendous opportunity to grow the Freshii brand throughout the U.K. — a market that is underserved in the healthy fast-casual space," Freshii founder and CEO Matthew Corrin said in a statement. Freshii went public on the TSX in January and said it planned to grow to 840 outlets by the end of 2019. Shares of the company finished the day up five cents at $14.80 on the TSX.

Source: CBC News February 22, 2017 17:11 UTC