Today, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor and Brian Lee co-founder and managing director of Chopped (@ChoppedIRL), the healthy food company, announced the creation of 320 new jobs, a mix of full and part time, as a result of Chopped’s continued expansion in Ireland. Chopped will open 20 new stores across the country in 2017. These stores will be joined by six new Chopped stores in the UK, its first outside Ireland, with the creation of 110 jobs to service the new outlets and manage the international roll out of the brand. The 20 new stores will be mix of wholly owned and franchised outlets.

The new outlets will join existing Chopped locations in Dublin, Kildare and Galway. Chopped has recently opened new sites in Talbot Street, UCD in Dublin and Newcastle Road, Galway. 2017 will see the opening of Chopped outlets in counties Wicklow, Cork, Waterford and continued expansion in Dublin.

Commenting on the new jobs, Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor said: “I welcome this news that Chopped is creating 320 jobs in 20 new outlets across Ireland. Indigenous Irish businesses such as Chopped are important to the national economy as well as making a valuable contribution to local areas through employment and expenditure. Ireland has one of the fastest growing employment rates in Europe and it is home grown companies such as Chopped that are helping to sustain this. I am particularly pleased that this expansion will lead to job growth in regions as balanced regional development is a key priority for me. It’s great to see young business people in Ireland build on their success here to fuel international expansion and I wish Brian and Andy and their staff continued success in the future both at home and abroad.”

Speaking at the announcement, Brian Lee, co-founder and managing director of Chopped commented: “Last year we set a target of increasing our staff numbers by 100 and we exceeded that expectation by increasing our employees by 140 in 2016. When we received the keys for our first store five years ago, we knew it was the beginning of something great, but we still believe this is only the beginning for Chopped. Our staff are what makes Chopped the success it has become and we are looking forward to seeing our family grow as we expand across Ireland and beyond.”

Chopped was developed to meet the needs of the growing number of Irish consumers who want a great tasting meal that is healthy, delicious and fresh. Everything about the distinctive grass clad interior exudes freshness and the visionary open theatre of food allows Chopped to offer a ‘create your own salad’ experience in front of the customer in minimum time. Crisp lettuce selections, garden fresh vegetables, salad dressings, and more than 30 ingredients are ‘chopped’ and freshly dressed into a unique salad bowl or in a sealed savoury wrap. Full calories are counted for each salad, wrap and sandwich and Chopped offers a delivery, collection, take-away and dine-in service, with fast meal service times. With all the Chopped flavours created by a skilled team in central kitchens, consistency of flavour is guaranteed across all outlets.