Today, Whole Foods Market is the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic foods. Each of their 184 locations in North America and England is inspirational in its dedication to providing the “highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and naturally preserved foods.” The Whole Foods takeout section is an excellent takeout lunch or dinner alternative, though you’ll need to set aside 10 minutes during the rush periods to make it through the line. Health-conscious in the natural sense, with some great fruit and salad offerings, beware of the calories you can load up on in the tempting baked goods section.

Another admirable quality is the work that Whole Foods does outside of the supermarket environment: the company and its employees support food banks, participate in community service events, and contribute 5% of profits to non-profit organizations.

Check out their website – it’s a treasure chest for health information, recipes, and health/wellbeing issues. This includes such pages as Kitchen Tips, Food for Kids, Healthnotes, Nutrition Reference Library, and Food Safety.

4 years ago, most of us had never heard of Chipotle.  Now, the burrito joint is a hugely popular dine-out option for teens and adults alike.  Founded in 1993 by Steve Ells, a classically trained chef with 5-star restaurant experience, Chipotle currently has 330 locations in the US, 11 of which are in the Bay Area.

While Chipotle probably isn’t a particularly health-conscious restaurant in the balanced nutrition sense, the restaurant is committed to using ingredients with integrity, such as natural meat.  Their prices are also pretty student-friendly, and I like that their assembly-line style ordering process allows me to create exactly the burrito/taco I’m craving that day.  By far the biggest downside is that a standard burrito, not including chips or a drink, will supply you with 1000+ calories – over half the daily caloric intake in just one meal.

Although their website isn’t very user-friendly, it does allow you to place an order online to avoid the lines.  For more reviews, check out Yelp or Citysearch, or click here for an interview with Steve Ells about his burrito chain.

Kosmo Wellness Cafe is an interesting “Feel Good” concept here in Hong Kong. It’s located in the trendy Lan Kwai Fong bar district and gets pretty good foot traffic at all times of the day. Their offering includes mixed fruit juices (”healing juices“), a basic offering of sandwiches and salads, and protein drinks.

Drinks are the focus of this restaurant: their offerings run from interesting fresh juice mixes to Whey Protein smoothies, catering to both men and women. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen a “feel good” restaurant use gender-specific labels: I had the “Kosmo Man”. The ingredients don’t sound too manly (apple + banana + grape + pineapple), but it definitely provided me with a drink to order and not feel “girly” about.

They also had these really cool wooden spoons, forks, and knives. I took a few while grabbing my drink and you can see them in the picture on the bottom. Additionally, they contribute 13 US cents for every serving of Kosmo juice that they serve. (You can see their pamphlets in the image below as well).

I just found a great deal at Fresh Choice. $5.99 to fill a to-go box with anything on the salad bar. It also includes your choice of a baked good. I like that it only “your choice” meaning you are supposed to have only one. This reduces the temptation to gorge on the mini-muffins. I definitely got my daily fill of fresh vegetables in a fairly quick (10 minutes total to serve myself and pay), inexpensive option. I didn’t see many others taking advantage of the to-go option, however. There were numerous families with kids eating in the restaurant.
Fresh Choice has 30 restaurants in California, Texas, and Washington. In December 2005, it got out of bankruptcy. It will be interesting to see how this company progresses.

I had a truly inspiring experience last weekend at a “Gathering of Women Entrepreneurs” that was put on by the Social Venture Network.

It was an incredible opportunity to hear from women who have started and successfully run businesses that were founded upon a desire to pair business success with positive social impact. Some of the speakers were:

* Margot Fraser, founder of Birkenstock
* Valerie Red Horse, a movie producer who founded an investment bank and a hair care line, among other things
* Lisa Lorimer, founder of the Vermont Bread company
My fellow conference attendees were equally as inspiring as the speakers: women starting or leading exciting businesses and not-for-profits with grand visions of the future. Evidence that change can happen in the world through the platform of business and entrepreneurship.