Former McDonald’s CEO Opens Healthy, Sustainable Fast Food Chain

This might be the weirdest (and greenest?) McDonald’s-related news we’ve heard yet.

Mike Roberts, former president and CEO of McDonald’s, has co-founded a restaurant called LYFE Kitchen, aiming to bring a health-conscious approach to the fast food world.

We’ve all seen McDonald’s trying to bring healthier options to its menu and even peg itself as a healthy cafe type of establishment, but still with items such as the Big Mac, dollar double cheeseburgers and 20-piece Chicken McNuggets on the menu, it’s no surprise that the healthier image isn’t really catching on. Roberts doesn’t seem too convinced of it, either.

With LYFE Kitchen, his goal is to sell food made with “no butter, no cream, no white sugar, no white flour, no high-fructose corn syrup, no GMOs, no trans fats, no additives.” Sounds like the LYFE abbreviation of “Love Your Food Everyday” is quite fitting. The coolest part? Roberts wants to open 500 to 1,000 locations across the country over the next several years.

Lyfe Kitchen won’t just be a “rabbit food” establishment, either. If you’re a meat eater and don’t know if this will be your kind of place, you’ll be happy to see the menu includes free-range chicken options and burgers made from grass-fed, humanely raised cattle.

According to a recent Wired article about the new venture, when Roberts takes something like this on, it’s far more than just a publicity stunt. Remember when McDonald’s started serving Apple Dippers and quickly became the nation’s largest seller of apples? That’s all thanks to Roberts, who spent months on menu development, quality assurance, meetings with chefs, and investigating sources for apples. To quote Wired, “what Roberts did for the apple at McDonald’s he now intends to do for the brussel sprout at Lyfe.”

A restaurant chain like this could have the potential to revolutionize the US farming industry and organic food producers, putting more money toward greener options and turning people on to the idea of healthy food that tastes good and is easily accessible.

Roberts definitely sounds like the right person to do the job, and as soon as he gets the ball rolling on Lyfe Kitchen, I’m definitely going to pay it a visit.

Image: LYFE Kitchen, fish tacos