You wouldnât 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.
Thatâs 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 foodâand 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.
Feeling defeated, she called her husband and said, âIf nobody has big enough balls to reinvent fast food, weâve got to do it.â
âI grew up eating at a drive-thru window,â Allen says. âItâs just, people arenât so in love anymore with whatâs being offered at the drive-thru, and thatâs where Grown comes in.â
It took Allen 8 years to convince people that the idea of a farm-to-fork fast food joint was possible.
(For fast, delicious, organic recipes you can make at home, pick up the cookbook from Maria Rodale, the CEO of Rodale, Menâs Healthâs parent company.)
Now, Grown has been open for nearly 8 monthsâand business is booming.
âWe have huge volume,â Allen says. âWe only have 1,900 square feet and we are busy, weâre slammed. You canât get a seat in the restaurant every day between about 11:30 and 3:00.â
Allen recently opened two more locations in Miamiâs 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.
âUltimately, I will not be satisfied unless Grown sits on every single corner,â she says.
Due to the positive response, itâs 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.
Related: 11 Easy Ways to Go Organic
The best part? Most of the items on the menu donât exceed $10, and the kidsâ breakfast costs just $5.
Allen believes serving real food at a convenient price can actually change the world: âOne organic-certified fast food meal at a time.â