Lemonade will expand to Palo Alto

Chain hopes to bring fast and healthy food options to residents

Lemonade, a chain restaurant originally established in Southern California, will open one of its first three establishments in the Bay Area on University Avenue in the Spring of 2016.

Lemonade looks specifically to serve people who desire a healthy meal, but lack the time or resources to prepare one. Lemonade is the solution to the ongoing difficulty of finding restaurants that are not only convenient for busy people, but that also provide healthy food options. The company wants to instill the idea in the public that healthy meals can be quick and easy.

“We believe good food is in the tastebuds of the beholder and a mouthwatering, quality meal is for everyone,” the company’s description on its website reads. “We aspire to take the elitism out of conscious eating and put emphasis on convenience, flexibility, and affordability.”

The fast-casual eatery will provide a cafeteria type experience. Customers will have the option to choose from numerous vegetable based dishes, such as the miso glazed turnips and carrots, red pepper flake roast cauliflower and summer kiss melon.

Though most of the dishes will be vegetarian, there are meat and fish options for those who do eat meat. Lemonade will offer meat and poultry dishes such as seared ahi tuna, buttermilk baked chicken breasts and traditional beef short rib sandwiches.

An assortment of healthy desserts will be offered as well, from macaroons to custards.

A clear specialty of Lemonade are their lemonades. Lemonade will provide the following types of lemonades: Old Fashioned, Coconut Apple, Guava Limeade, Watermelon Rosemary, Blueberry Mint, Blood-Orange and Arnold Palmer.

Palo Alto High School students are ecstatic for Lemonade’s arrival and the various foods it provides for people who are looking to adopt a healthy eating lifestyle.

“I feel like having the option for healthy, cheap and affordable food in Palo Alto can’t be a bad thing,” junior Alice Zhang said. “I probably won’t choose it over fried chicken and burgers, but I’ll have it once in a while, and maybe it will inspire me to eat a bit healthier.”

Lemonade will replace three former La Boulange locations, which were left vacant after Starbucks closed the stores. New Lemonade locations will be at Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek, the Metreon in San Francisco and University Avenue in Palo Alto.

The Bay Area is known for having a multitude of different styles of cuisines as well as a place where people are becoming more health conscious. Alan Jackson, the founder and executive chef of Lemonade, believes that Lemonade offers both variation and healthy eats.

“Lemonade really is a perfect fit for these locations,” Jackson said in an interview with the San Francisco Business Times. “Bay Area diners have an experienced and demanding palate. They want the most delicious, freshest foods presented in unexpected and surprising ways. Lemonade delivers all of that and more.”