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Oak Brook restaurant owner finds happiness
Jamie Maloney and her husband, Pat, opened Freshii, a healthy-eating, fast-food restaurant, in the Oak Brook Promenade. | Chuck Fieldman—Sun-Times Media
Fresh facts:
Name: Freshii
Address: 3021 Butterfield Road, Oak Brook
Phone number: (630) 990-7446
Website: https://www.freshii.com/locations/Oak-brook
Business hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday
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Updated: March 12, 2013 11:32AM
OAK BROOK — Jamie Maloney loves her job. And it’s not just because she’s the boss.
The Oak Brook native lives in Hinsdale with her husband, Pat; the couple has five children. Pat Maloney continues to spend his workdays as a commodities trader in Chicago, while Jamie heads just a few blocks from her childhood home to run the restaurant they opened in August.
The couple became a franchisee for Freshii, a healthy-eating fast-food restaurant in the Oak Brook Promenade.
“We knew we wanted to open some sort of business, but we really didn’t know what type at first,” Jamie Maloney said.
Maloney said the couple liked the idea of being a franchisee, rather than opening a brand-new business and going it alone.
“We were looking for something that had been developed,” Maloney said.
The Maloneys were approved by Culver’s to open one of its restaurants, but opted not to follow that path.
“My husband started eating at a Freshii in his old building at work and liked it,” Maloney said. “We had never hear of it before, but I went to take a look, and it was a place where I felt I would like to work and eat.”
Freshii was founded by Matthew Corrin, who, while working in the New York fashion industry, decided he wanted to eat healthier lunches. Freshii opened its first store in Toronto in 2005 and currently has seven locations in Chicago’s downtown area. The Maloney’s Oak Brook restaurant is the first Freshii in the Chicago suburbs.
Freshii offers a menu of salads, burritos, wraps, rice bowls, yogurts, breakfast and soups made with fresh ingredients.
“I’m addicted to the food here. I wanted to love the place I’m working in, and I really do” Maloney said. “Business has continued to improve since we opened. It takes time, but we’ve had a lot of people come in and continue to come back.”
Maloney said she drove around nearby communities before finding the right spot to open Freshii.
“I wanted to be somewhat close to home,” she said.
Maloney said her niece, Jamie Minucciani, was a huge help during the first five-plus months of business.
“She’s a personal trainer and loves to cook,” Maloney said. “She went through all the training with Freshii and came here to really help us get going. Unfortunately, she just moved out of the area.”
Maloney said most of her restaurant’s business is during lunch. Freshii also offers breakfast and dinner along with catering.
“Our biggest challenge is to figure out how to get people in here at night and on weekends,” she said.”
