User talk:Mike Cline/Articles Under Contemplation/LYFE Kitchen

LYFE Kitchen is a healthy, fast casual restaurant concept established in 2011 by former McDonald's executives Mike Roberts and Mike Donahue, and Vancouver, BC investment banker Steve Sidwell. The first restaurant opened in Palo Alto, California on October 12, 2011. . LYFE which stands for Love Your Food Everyday aims to provide affordable, but healthy good tasting menu items low in salt and calories. LYFE has enlisted the services of Art Smith, formerly a personal chef to Oprah Winfrey and vegan chef Tal Ronnen to develop the menu.

History
In February 2011, former President and Chief Operations Officer of McDonalds Mike Roberts and Mike Donahue, former communications officer for McDonalds announced the establishment of LYFE Kitchen, a new healthy fast casual restaurant concept. ,, Roberts left McDonalds in August 2006. The concept was the brainchild of Steve Sidwell, a Vancouver, B.C. investment banker and promoter of Gardein protein products. Sidwell partnered with Roberts and Donahue to recruit two celebrity chefs--Art Smith and Tal Ronnen--known for their interest in healthy cooking and nutrition. Tal Ronnen is a renowned vegan chef, New York Times best selling author of The Conscious Cook and former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. Ronnen was associated with Steve Sidwell as an advisor to Gardein Inc. a Vancouver, B.C. manufacturer of plant based meat substitutes. The first LYFE Kitchen restaurant opened in Palo Alto, California on October 12, 2011. LYFE Kitchen has expansion plans for a chain of 250 restaurants and retail products in national supermarket chains.

Concept
LYFE Kitchen's culinary tenets are to provide flavorful, convenient, nourishing fare with menu items containing less than 600 calories and 1000mg of sodium. , Chefs Art Smith and Tal Ronnen bring expertise in comfort food and plant-based foods to a menu that focuses on familiar flavors. LYFE Kitchen serves breakfast, lunch and dinner menus seven days a week. The menu claims to feature responsibly sourced ingredients from local, sustainable farms and relies heavily on herbs, spices, fruits and vegetables to enhance the flavor profile. No dairy, butter, trans fats or perservatives are used in their food. Menu items average between $2-$13 and LYFE Kitchen serves a variety of drinks, to include beer and organic wines.

The first LYFE Kitchen was designed with sustainability in mind and is a 3,500-square-foot restaurant that seats 80 people indoors and another 20 on the patio. It uses renewable resources such as bamboo for tabletops and flooring. It recycles cooking exhaust to heat other appliances.

According to Mike Donahue:

Current menu
LYFE Kitchen's current menu can be viewed here.

Celebrity support
In September 2011, LYFE Kitchen announced its National Wellness and Health Advisory Panel with advisors from pro sports, medical and nutrition communities:


 * Troy Polamalu: American football All-Pro and member of the Pittsburgh Steelers
 * Janet Evans: Olympic gold medalist and LYFE National Mom Advisory Panel member
 * Dr. Anthony Cardillo: board-certified emergency physician, American College of Emergency Physicians fellow, and clinical professor of emergency medicine
 * Dr. Armand Dorian: board-certified emergency physician, American College of Emergency Physicians fellow, and clinical professor of emergency medicine
 * Dr. David Perlumutter: board-certified neurologist, American College of Nutrition fellow
 * Dr. Mark Hyman, MD: New York Times bestselling author, and internationally recognized leader in the whole-systems medicine approach known as Functional Medicine
 * Executive chef Art Smith: chef, TV personality and two-time James Beard Award winner, former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey
 * Consulting chef Tal Ronnen: known for his ground-breaking plant-based culinary expertise. Former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi