In describing his new quick-service eatery focused on energy-boosting, nutritional fare, Jeff Pandolfino says he favors the phrase “plant-based diet” at the expense of the word “vegan.”
“It still has a little bit of a ”˜smells like cumin”™ connotation to it,” the co-owner of Green & Tonic said.
Alongside his spouse and co-founder Cai, Pandolfino hopes to establish their new health food eatery nationally on the expectation the concept will reach a tipping point with mainstream consumers.
Green & Tonic has locations in Greenwich and Darien, offering cold-pressed juices and vegetarian dishes catering to those with an active healthy lifestyle ”“ or seeking a way to ease into it.
Jeff and Cai Pandolfino launched a home-delivery service in 2010, having previously run Plum Pure Foods, a catering business with a Cos Cob café, which they sold in 2008.
“After selling (Plum), I found myself overweight ”“ lack of energy, all of the trappings of working too much and not eating right and exercising,” Jeff Pandolfino said. “I spent the next three years or so really digging deeper into nutrition and how foods affect the body, and how it really was a catalyst for an active lifestyle.”
Between then and the launch of Green & Tonic, the Pandolfinos ran Greenline Ventures, which offered strategic planning consulting to operators of high-end food businesses. Cai Pandolfino”™s work experience also includes stints with Le Pain Quotidien and Cosi, which both have Fairfield County locations. Her husband”™s resume lists time with Pret A Manger, a natural food restaurant with a multitude of New York City locations, but none in Connecticut.
“Fast forward to this (past) fall ”“ one of our very good home-delivery customers and I happened to be on the train back from the city,” Jeff Pandolfino said. “He and I struck up a conversation and said, ”˜You know, what are you doing with this brand? We need to supercharge this. ”¦ I think we should build some stores and really offer more.”™”
The “go” moment came in November with the decision to make a concept out of it.
“As we drive around Fairfield County, and particularly in Greenwich where we live, there”™s no place to go and get something that is really nutritionally focused to eat,” Pandolfino said. “There”™s lots of great restaurants, there”™s lots of great takeout places, but there was no place to go get something that was being true and being kind of real ”¦ in a quick-service format.
“I think it hasn”™t hit a tipping point yet,” Pandolfino added. “I think that there has been a convergence of a couple of things in Fairfield County with the consumer. There are a couple of wonderful documentaries out there that people have seen: “Fork over Knives,” “Food Matters,” “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead.” These documentaries have kind of opened people”™s eyes a little bit.”
Longer term, Pandolfino envisions Green & Tonic in large markets nationally, perhaps through unspecified partnerships.
In the same vein that the creators of Chelsea Piers saw potential on a grand scale for a sports entertainment complex in the heart of Fairfield County and its population of educated, active residents, Green & Tonic”™s proprietors see the region as a suitable starting line for their startup business.
And they ultimately see the company on a grand scale themselves, to include a footprint in major markets nationally, possibly through unspecified partnerships.
“I want to be seen as the leader in this, in the quick-service industry ”“ kind of like Pret A Manger as a leader in what they do, like a Pain Quotidien in what they do ”¦ There”™s a gap in people”™s eating day and we”™re trying to be that ”˜third place”™ ”“ I think Starbucks did it masterfully 20 or 30 years ago. We used to work and we”™d go home. ”¦ Now Starbucks has come along and has become that third place in our life.”
