A fictionalized version of Eric Schlosser’s non-fiction book, Fast Food Nation, leads us through “a journey to the dark side of the All-American meal.”

The film boasts an impressive cast, including Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales, and Greg Kinnear (staring as Don Henderson).
Participant Productions, producers of Syriana and North Country, add this to the list of films they’ve created to inspire viewers to take action and make a difference based on the films they see.
The reviews seem mixed, but definitely worth checking out over the holidays if you are interested enough in Feel Good Fast Food to read this blog!

Our team was able to cruise around the Green Festival in San Francisco today.  We cruised all of the booths of sustainable products and services.  It was really overwhelming to try to cover all the offerings through the masses of people.  The energy at the festival really showed the strong consumer interest in companies with products and missions that match their values.

The conference “food court” featured, among others, Cafe Gratitude and Juicy Lucy’s.  I had a smoothie with garlic, beets, and kale and it made me feel great!

I definitely recommend a visit next year, or if you are in Chicago the Green Festival is coming up in April.

I had the pleasure of meeting Matthew and Terces Englehart, founders of Cafe Gratitude, last night where they spoke on organics and other topics at SenSpa in San Francisco’s Presidio. Matthew and Terces have fascinating backgrounds which you can read about on the Cafe’s website. Cafe Gratitude has 3 locations: 2 in San Francisco, 1 in Berkeley, and growing, definitely worth a visit.

During their talk, Matthew and Terces discussed their transition to an abundant life style, offering reasons to embrace a vegetarian, vegan, and organic diet as well as ideas on how to incorporate health into your diet. I was inspired to start adding spinach to my morning smoothies, which Terces promised would reduce the need for caffeine. I believe it has worked!

The couple also offered some of the books that have inspired them: “Food Revolution” by John Robbins and “Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine” by Gabriel Cousens, and “Nature’s First Law” by David Wolfe.

O’Naturals, a revolution in fast food, is one of the first better-for-you-and-the-environment quick service restaurants. O’Naturals has 4 company-owned units and will open its first franchise in Wichita.

The O’Naturals menu not only consists of the regular healthy foods like flat bread sandwiches, tossed salads with all natural dressings and soups but also allows one to indulge in our favorite selection from the bakery section (with scones and muffins) and the oriental selection that allows one to choose healthy options of noodles . You can also create your own salad and sandwich; the objective is to have healthy organic food in the manner that you prefer. The thirst quencher section of the menu boasts of home brewed organic coffee & tea as well as an all-natural soda fountain.

O’Naturals was founded in 2001by Gary Hirshberg, President and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, Inc., Pam Solo, President of the Institute for Civil Society (ICS), and Mac McCabe, consultant to ICS, and currently has 4 locations in Maine and Massachusetts. O’Naturals began operations selling the traditional fast foods – Burgers and fries, though the meat used was organic and the French fries were baked not fried. But O’Naturals soon evolved into a fast food destination that included a lot broader menu offering.

One key factor force behind O’Naturals success is its belief in giving back to the community. Once a week all locations of O’Naturals hold a community night, 10% of the sales made that day between 4pm and 8pm are donated to a non-profit organization. O’Naturals supports local artists by encouraging artists to perform at the restaurant and holding exhibitions for budding artists.

Following the footsteps of McDonald’s and KFC’s health efforts, Wendy’s has partnered with American Dietetic Association and created www.Mom-RD.com that offers information on family nutrition provided by three registered dietitians who are moms. Mom-RD.com also features interactive elements such as weekly polls that allows parents to see what other parents are dealing with. The ask Mom-RD section allows parents to post queries which are answered by the three expert moms on the panel. In addition to Mom-RD, Wendy’s bags and cartons will carry information about reduced trans fatty acid (TFA) in its French fries and chicken items

This shows the recognition that nutrition is an issue in fast food, however the site is inconsistent with Wendy’s own food offerings. It offers advice for Mom’s who pack meals at home for their kids, which has little to do with Wendy’s food offerings. The content is also very thin on this website thus far. Our blog seems more useful than this site, but hopefully someday the site will become more useful and Wendy’s offerings more healthy.

Many of my mentors and role models have recommended Good to Great by Jim Collins, a leadership book that succinctly offers 5 years of research of how 11 companies (out of 1400+) became “Great” ”, defined through cumulative stock returns over 15 years. The most inspiring learning for those of us facing the notoriously difficult restaurant industry is that “ a company can make money in an unattractive industry”. In fact, 3 of the 11 Great companies from the book are consumer retail companies: Walgreens, Kroger, and Circuit City, each in the bottom quintile of Standard & Poor’s industries.
Another nugget from Collins that applies to Feel Good Fast Food is his emphasis that “enduring great companies don’t exist merely to deliver returns to shareholders. Indeed, in a truly great company, profits and cash flow become like blood and water to a healthy body: They are absolutely essential for life, but they are not the very point of life.” Restaurants offering healthy fast food strive to be financial strong, profitable operations, also motivated by health.