LYFE Kitchen Hosts First-Ever 'Fork Lifting' to Encourage Americans to 'Love Your Food Everyday'

'Fork Lifting' Featured Celebrity Chefs Art Smith & Tal Ronnen, Olympic Champion Janet Evans, Former McDonald's Global President & COO Mike Roberts, and Other Business Leaders

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LYFE Kitchen

Jun 16, 2011, 06:04 ET

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- LYFE Kitchen (LYFE), a transformational, socially-responsible 'LYFEstyle' brand that promotes great tasting, good-for-you food, hosted today the first-ever 'Fork Lifting' event to break ground on LYFE's first restaurant. Surrounded by Celebrity Chefs Art Smith and Tal Ronnen, Olympian Janet Evans and Doctors Anthony Cardillo and Armand Dorian, among others, LYFE Kitchen Founder Stephen Sidwell joined CEO Mike Roberts in lifting ceremonial forks to taste LYFE's great tasting food outside the Palo Alto location.

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"Today we lift our forks to answer America's most significant unmet need—providing great tasting, good-for-you food that is affordable and convenient," said LYFE CEO Mike Roberts. "We aim to create a new category—the 'LYFEstyle' restaurant—that stands apart from all others. Our approach is simple. We ask Americans to 'Love Your Food Everyday.'"

Opening in late summer 2011, LYFE Kitchen will showcase great-tasting food that is natural, preservative and additive-free, enhanced with spices, herbs and other natural ingredients. No dish contains more than 600 calories and most offer less. Award-winning Chef Art Smith helped to design the menu with thoughtful great tasting options for everyone, including Smith's popular 'Unfried Chicken,' while Chef Tal Ronnen, LYFE's Chef Consultant for plant-based and vegetarian foods, offers options such as his 'Ancient Grains Bowl.'

During the 'Fork Lifting' event, LYFE Kitchen Founder Steve Sidwell added, "LYFE is more than a restaurant. It is a 'LYFEstyle.' We have a saying that permeates every aspect of our brand: Eat Good. Feel Good. Do Good. Our team and the nature of the concept helps you to eat well while the menu and design of the restaurant helps you to feel good. And, of course, our sense of shared social responsibility, alongside you, encourages us all to do good." Sidwell, an entrepreneur for the past 18 years, is CEO of Devante Capital, having worked extensively in the branded food service industry.

LYFE Kitchen is a socially responsible brand that will awaken the customer's "Sixth Sense"—the intrinsic desire to do right and make powerful purchasing decisions that inspire good in the world, which is reflected in the brand's philosophy toward environmental practices, building materials, animal welfare, product sourcing, and through philanthropic and community-based activities. In the coming months, LYFE will announce its national and local philanthropic partners, and have already pledged to support Chef Art Smith's Common Threads organization.

In lifting the ceremonial forks, a symbol of the 'LYFEstyle' brand, the team for the first time assembled LYFE Ambassadors, including:

Executive Chef Art Smith America's "Family Table" Chef. Art, chef, restaurateur, author, TV personality, philanthropist, two-time James Beard Award winner and the former personal chef to Oprah Winfrey for 10 years. He recently received accolades for his 100-pound weight loss, achieved through balanced diet and exercise.
Chef Consultant Tal Ronnen Chef Tal is known for his ground-breaking plant-based culinary expertise. He received nationwide acclaim as Oprah Winfrey's chef during her 21-day vegetarian and vegan diet exploration. Catapulting to fame he then catered Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's wedding. He also prepared the first vegan dinner at the U.S. Senate. Chef Tal was named on Oprah's "Best Of" show as the "Best Vegan Chef". Tal is currently the Executive Chef of Garden Protein International.
LYFE National Mom Advisory Panel, Olympic Champion Janet Evans As the lead ambassador for LYFE Kitchen's National Mom Advisory Panel, Evans, the decorated 5-time Olympic medalist, world record holder, accomplished distance swimmer and mother of two will share advice and inspiration with other moms, including her own exercise tips and personal triumphs and struggles when making food decisions with her family. Last weekend, Evans broke 2 Masters records at the Janet Evans Invitational, moving her one step closer to qualifying for the 2012 Olympics.
LYFE Health and Wellness Panel, Dr. Anthony Cardillo and Dr. Armand Dorian Practicing physicians Cardillo and Dorian are the ambassadors for LYFE Kitchen's Health & Wellness Panel, believing in the importance of balancing all aspects of one's 'LYFEstyle.' From the foods that we eat to the things that make us happy, Cardillo and Dorian understand the many factors that affect our overall well-being and health. Doctors Cardillo and Dorian have been medical consultants in the entertainment industry.
Global Animal Partnership The welfare of farm animals is core to the LYFE mission, which is why LYFE has partnered up with the Global Animal Partnership, a nonprofit organization that has brought together expert leadership from so many sectors concerned about animals in agriculture--retailers, farmers, scientists, ranchers, and four of the world's largest animal advocacy groups. To date, Global Animal Partnership's 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating Standards program includes chickens, pigs, and beef cattle, and, we're pleased to share that we are the first restaurant chain that has committed to utilizing the 5-Step rated program.
Synergy Restaurant Consultants Synergy was handpicked by Mike Roberts and his team to help bring LYFE Kitchen to life by collaborating with celebrity chefs and principles to build the organizational and operational infrastructure needed to roll out the brand. Synergy managing partners Dean Small and Danny Bendas played an integral role in developing operating strategies and creating 'best practices' while the Synergy design team captured the vision by designing a look that supports LYFE's transformational guest experience.