Health cafe opens its doors in Preston

The Health Shack, which bosses promise will offer a healthy alternative to fast food, is to open in the city’s Miller Arcade.

Those behind the new venture say the cafe will include seating, but will mainly be aimed at the take-away market.

The Health Shack has been created by friends Mat Wiggans, 25, Andrew Naylor, 32, and Jonny Esfahan, 28.

Mat said the group was all interested in health and fitness and said: “We go to the gym, Jonny was in the army, I’ve been doing sports throughout my life, so it’s following that healthy lifestyle that led us to it.

“When you come out for something to eat, there isn’t much option, so it was looking into the market and seeing there’s a gap for something like this.”

Mat, from Cottam, said everything sold in the cafe would be healthy.

He said: “It’s all fresh food, everything is locally sourced.

“The meat is locally sourced, the fish is bought from Fleetwood market, we support sustainability from local suppliers.

“We are going to have weekly specials, but the main thing is to create your own ‘shack box’.

“You start with a base - rice, sweet potato mash, bulgar wheat - then a protein like salmon, tofu and halloumi.

“Then we’ve got a counter full of different sides like vegetables, houmous made in a healthy way, a nut mixture, spinach, roast pepper.”
He said sauces were then added to the boxes.

Mat, who also works manufacturing dairy equipment, aside from the cafe, said the Health Shack had two chefs, and everything was cooked in a healthy way.

He said: “You won’t see us frying food unless we have to and, if we do, we use coconut oil or rapeseed oil. Everything is done on the grill.”

The cafe will also offer smoothies, and healthier desserts including cheesecake, brownies, muffins, pancakes and waffles.

Mat said: “I don’t just want to stop here, if we can prove there’s a market we want to open one in Penwortham, Lancaster and Lytham.”

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