LYFE Kitchen to open in downtown Boulder

Health-conscious restaurant to take space at 1600 Pearl St.

Three years after the first LYFE Kitchen restaurant opened in Palo Alto, California, the burgeoning health foods-focused chain is on a tear.

Officials for the cash-flushed LYFE Kitchen have cherry-picked prime locations for the "Love Your Food Everyday" company's eco-conscious mission and its under-600-calorie fare.

Following openings in the Chicago area and in Park Meadows mall in Denver, the chain is weeks away from opening a restaurant in downtown Boulder.

LYFE Kitchen plans to open its doors in the street-level westerly slice of 1600 Pearl St., a space formerly occupied by Caf Gondolier.

As such, it also will neighbor the booming Boulder Brands Inc., which this week announced plans to expand its headquarters throughout the 1600 Pearl building by leasing a 25,000-square-foot retail site that has sat vacant since 2007, when the now-defunct Borders Books & Music departed downtown for the Twenty Ninth Street mall.

LYFE Kitchen's Boulder restaurant, which is the chain's 10th location and will serve as a new competitor in the region's crowded fast-casual restaurant industry, has been more than three years in the making, officials said.

"Boulder was one of the sites we actually looked at in the very beginning," said Mike Donahue, co-founder and chief brand officer. "It came down to Palo Alto and Boulder. I think there was more available in Palo Alto (at the time)."

Both communities had demographics favorable to the concept, he said, noting their high-tech focus and health-minded residents.

The gears churning within LYFE Kitchen include a business team consisting of former McDonald's executives; a culinary crew that spans the likes of Art Smith, longtime personal chef to media magnate Oprah Winfrey, and vegan chef Tal Ronnen; and a group of celebrity "ambassadors" such as actress Jennifer Garner and football player Troy Polamalu.

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LYFE Kitchen to open in downtown Boulder