LeanWorks Focus Shifting to More Catering, Prepared Meals in West Roxbury

LeanWorks opened last year on Spring Street in West Roxbury, providing a healthy fast food option. And while the business has done well, the owners are making some business model changes.

"For all intents and purposes, it's shifting," said co-owner Shea Coakley to West Roxbury Patch. "We’ve had a fundamental shift in the way we’re bringing the food to the masses. We’re becoming more of a prepared meals concepts with catering distribution and all that kind of stuff."

The menu has already changed, but Coakley was quick to point out the model of providing fast food style meals for 500 calories or less, is still a tenet of the business.

"We're doing more prepared meals then in the past. That’s our real competition, like a healthy version of the prepared meals grocery section," said Coakley.

Coakley said the customer base is what fueled the change.

"It was really pressure from the consumer. We had an endless set of requests to bring our food outbound - hospitals, gyms, corporate offices - lots of catering-esque requests. And we also had a lot of requests where people would want to swing in and pick up for dinner that night or the next night," said Coakley.

Coakley said it's important for the business to accommodate the requested shift to more catering and prepared meals. The store hours are also changing, but those aren't set yet. Coakley said the business' busiest times are from noon to 5 p.m.

"You can see that our menu – we have a different menu up. We’re serving different cuisine. Our seating has changed around a bit. There are some visible changes," added Coakley.

Asked about the change, Coakley said, "It’s weird. You get into a space and then you shift when you see the opportunities. This is where all the requests are coming in from. Our shift is working. This is the best way to accommodate retail customers at 75 Spring Street."

"There’s certainly changes coming and over the next couple of months we're going to continue to change. Where that ends up I don’t know. It's still going to be healthy food and at 75 Spring Street," said Coakley.