Amy's Kitchen Opening An All-Vegetarian Drive-Thru

Amy's Kitchen is putting a healthy spin on fast food by opening a drive-thru restaurant in Rohnert Park, California. In late June, it will launch its first drive-thru restaurant: a vegetarian, healthy drive-thru.

The Petaluma-based frozen organic food maker wants to be more than just a frozen food company. Their new venture will take on the fast food empire head-on with meat-free menus from scratch.

“Everybody said we couldn’t do it,” says Andy Berliner who co-founded the company with his wife Rachel.

Preparing and cooking a vegetarian version of burgers and pizzas under 3 minutes is a challenge.

“But we set up a test kitchen in our warehouse space and we did it. We learned how to do it from scratch very quickly,” he proudly confirmed.

Amy's Drive-Thru will offer burritos, macaroni and cheese, pizzas, salads, and more that their customers are already familiar with through their existing packaged meals.

“The heart of the Drive Thru menu is The Amy, a veggie burger the company developed over the course of over a thousand recipe taste tests,” Amy’s said in a press release.

Diners will have a choice of ordering meals that are gluten-free or dairy-free, and the pizza comes in either a rice or wheat crust. More than 95 percent of the products are organic with many locally sourced.

The new drive-thru's infrastracture will be different from the exisiting food chains. It is built on the site of an old barn, its wood was shipped to the company’s Idaho plant for re-use.

Nearly all of the drive-thru’s wood-themed furniture is made from lumber off-cuts or discarded pieces, and the small amount of new wood is Forest Stewardship certified.

Metal came from local scrap shops, and leftover pieces were used to make smaller items like trash cans. All of thire packaging is printed with non-GMO ink.

With the recent announcements that major food chains are phasing out the use of human antibiotics in their meats, to stop using artificial ingredients in their foods, the push for healthier food is gaining ground.

“Consumers of all ages, but particularly millennials, are aware that what they eat affects their health, their wellbeing and how they feel,” Berliner says. “We’ve just reached a tipping point in a whole new level of interest in eating better.”

The restaurant opens in July, and will serve lunch and dinner, with plans to eventually serve breakfast.

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