Why this fully organic drive-thru is on a mission to reinvent fast food

pulse

December 19, 2016 1:47 PM

Feeling defeated, she called her husband and said, “If nobody has big enough balls to reinvent fast food, we’ve got to do it.”

grown organic drive thru

Can we get the wild salmon with an organic coffee to go, please?

You wouldn’t expect to find fresh-pressed juices, paleo omelets, or grilled salmon at your local drive-thru.

But you can find all of those meals at Grown, the first organic-certified fast food restaurant with a drive-thru on the east coast.

That’s because Shannon Allen, creator of Grown and wife of retired NBA player Ray Allen, is on a mission to reinvent fast food.

The idea was born out of pure frustration.

One day, Allen was on her way to the grocery store with her son, who was newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Suddenly, his blood sugar took a dramatic dip. She needed food—and she needed it fast.

But after driving up and down the highway, she noticed that every single meal being offered at a drive-thru was processed junk.

So she ended up spending $63 on a quality dinner for her kids instead.

“I grew up eating at a drive-thru window,” Allen says. “It’s just, people aren’t so in love anymore with what’s being offered at the drive-thru, and that’s where Grown comes in.”

It took Allen 8 years to convince people that the idea of a farm-to-fork fast food joint was possible.

Now, Grown has been open for nearly 8 months—and business is booming.

“We have huge volume,” Allen says. “We only have 1,900 square feet and we are busy, we’re slammed. You can’t get a seat in the restaurant every day between about 11:30 and 3:00.”

Allen recently opened two more locations in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, making Grown the first ever fully organic-certified fast food restaurant in an NFL arena. She hopes to expand Grown to Orlando in January.

“Ultimately, I will not be satisfied unless Grown sits on every single corner,” she says.

Due to the positive response, it’s evident that Grown continues to satisfy its customers with its vast menu, which includes options like gluten-free pancakes, avocado toast, organic beers and coffee, fresh soup, and salad with sushi-grade grilled salmon.

The best part? Most of the items on the menu don’t exceed $10, and the kids’ breakfast costs just $5.

Allen believes serving real food at a convenient price can actually change the world: “One organic-certified fast food meal at a time.”

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