Move over, Big Mac: LYFE Kitchen plans to bring health to fast food

Based in Chicago, LYFE—which stands for Love Your Food Everyday—is set to open its first restau­rant in Palo Alto, California, in June. This will be fol­lowed by the open­ing of sev­eral addi­tional Northern California loca­tions and even­tu­ally as many as 250 addi­tional LYFE Kitchen restau­rants nation­wide over the next five years, the Chicago Tribune reports. The busi­ness is being run by for­mer McDonald’s President and COO Mike Roberts and invest­ment banker Stephen Sidwell, who have paired up with for­mer Oprah per­sonal chef Art Smith and Tal Ronnen, a well-known vegan and veg­e­tar­ian chef.

“With two cel­e­brated, taste-making chefs and a tal­ented team of lead­ers and advis­ers, we believe LYFE Kitchen is a response to one of America’s most sig­nif­i­cant unmet needs: the consumer’s demand for deli­cious, afford­able food that is good for you,” said Roberts, who is LYFE’s CEO, in a statement.

LYFE’s vegan-friendly menu will fea­ture oven-baked sweet potato fries; sweet corn chow­der with cashew cream, vine-ripened toma­toes and fresh chives; Art’s Unfried Chicken, with all-natural bar­beque sauce, roasted kaboucha squash and Brussels sprouts; and wild mush­room flat­bread, with goat cheese, aged bal­samic, and choice of Italian turkey sausage or Gardein Italian sausage.

Burgers will be avail­able, but they will be made from Niman Ranch pre­mium beef and fea­ture romaine, tomato, red onion, agave pick­les, agave ketchup, LYFE’s sig­na­ture sauce and a multi-grain roll.

The Chicago Tribune reports that at LYFE “but­ter, cream and high-fructose corn syrup are banned, and none of the food is fried.” No dish will have more than 600 calo­ries, the com­pany says, and every menu item will “fea­ture respon­si­bly sourced ingre­di­ents, from local farms and sus­tain­able when­ever pos­si­ble, and will rely on herbs, spices, fruits and veg­eta­bles to enhance the fla­vor profile.”

The com­pany is also focused on build­ing a socially respon­si­ble brand that is engaged in phil­an­thropy. “We believe it is equally impor­tant to serve great-tasting, afford­able food that is good for you as it is to serve the com­mu­nity around us,” LYFE writes on its Facebook page.

Click here to read the rest of this arti­cle on NewHope360.com.