Best news yet! Organic Drive Thru and more
Awsome new organic Drive Thru
America is getting another all-vegetarian drive-thru next month. Amy’s Kitchen, a company known for its vegetarian convenience food and frozen meals, will open its first restaurant in Rohnert Park, California, a city north of San Francisco.
Fast food giant McDonald’s has bought a huge slice of sandwich maker Pret a Manger. The deal, said to be in the region of £26million, gives the burger chain a third share in Pret a Manger which has become a favourite among office workers since it started life in a small London shop 15 years ago. The partial buy-out represents a remarkable deal between two companies that could not be more different in the public’s eyes. Pret has won much of its huge popularity using fresh, organic ingredients and its “passionate about food” motto
Though Amy’s says everything will be made onsite, the drive thru’s prices are slated to remain competitive. A single patty burger, for example, will cost $2.99. A standard burrito will be priced at $4.69 (nudge, nudge, Chipotle) and a personal cheese pizza will go for $5.89. Salads with in-season produce will start as low as $3.99.
“Five days in and they can barely keep up with demand,” reported ABC-7 about Amy’s first week in business.
Manager Paul Schiefer was more than happy with the response.
“So many (have) showed up and it’s given us a lot of hope that this is a concept that works.”
Sustainably Grown, GMO-Free and Tasty!
While other fast food restaurants import virtually all of their products from factory farming operations and give nothing back to the community, Amy’s actually grows produce on site thanks to its roof-bound garden.
Amy’s, an independently owned organic frozen food company, also reportedly pays workers a living wage with health benefits and is believed to be the first vegetarian fast food restaurant as well.
Still, every meal is hand made, which means the restaurant’s kitchen is bigger than most fast-food chains. The vegetarian burgers, for example, will be grilled on site and the buns toasted to order. And for all that manual labor, menu prices at Amy’s Drive-Thru are on par with more popular carnivorous food chains. Burgers will cost $2.99 (doubles will be $4.29), while cheese pizzas will go for $5.89, burritos for $4.69 and salads from $3.99 to $7.99.
Pesticides: There is no guarantee at present that organic products are free from pesticide residues. In the future, the producers must guarantee that the pesticide content is no higher than in baby foods. That should be self-evident, but so far there are no rules on this. If the regulations don’t become stricter, forbidden substances in organic products will become an increasing problem, the Commission warns.
• Poultry and pork: At present only 20 percent of the feed used in poultry and swine farming must come from near the farm, but in the future that is to increase to 60 percent. In addition, protein in animal feed must be 100 percent organically produced. So far, up to five percent of feed could be used that didn’t come from organic production.
The Commission also plans to sharply increase controls. Until now, controllers mainly checked the farms, and the rest of the production chain wasn’t supervised as heavily. Wholsesalers rarely get visited, and retailers and sub-contractors aren’t checked at all. The Commission wants to change that.
McDonald’s is the latest multinational to jump onto the organic bandwagon.
The international fast-food chain announced that it is to start selling organic milk in its British restaurants from February onwards.
This was followed by news this week that the multinational reported huge losses of USD 343.8 million in the last quarter of 2002. The company reported losses for the first time due to the closing of hundreds of its restaurants. The fast food industry is suffering from intense price wars between chains, and a bad image due to outbreaks of BSE in Japan and Europe and the association of fast-food with obesity.
