Kitchen Principles
Every person at this company — from the grill person to our managers all the way up to our CEO — has a sincere passion for great food. It is our daily focus.
Our teams follow these standards to assure the highest level of food quality and the most flavorful, nutritious options for our guests.
We serve food that is…
Alive with flavor and nutrition
Menus are written based on seasonality and availability of regional fresh ingredients.- Whole foods are used as the foundation of a healthful diet. Meals center on abundant fresh produce, whole grains, and lean and/or plant-based proteins, prepared with minimal amounts of healthy, plant-derived fats.
- Flavors are developed through skilled healthy cooking techniques, with the use of fresh herbs and authentic spices, not through unhealthy shortcuts of using fat, sugar, and salt.
- Reasonable portion sizes are the rule and healthy menu items are a mainstream offering throughout our cafés.
- Vegetables are prepared in small batches as close to serving time as possible.
- Vegetarian options are plentiful at every meal.
- Ingredients containing artificial trans fats or MSG are not used in our kitchens.
- Olive and canola oils are used for everyday salad dressings. Specialty oils are used for other purposes (i.e. walnut oil or chili oil). Peanut oil is never used in the preparation of our food.
Prepared from scratch
- Stocks, soups, salsas, and sauces are made from scratch.
- All salad dressings are made from scratch. Lower calorie dressings may be purchased as necessary.
- Turkey and beef are roasted in-house daily for deli meat.
- Cookies and muffins are baked fresh daily. Breads are baked fresh daily where possible.
Sourced in a socially responsible manner (see also the Sourcing section)
- Fruits and vegetables are grown locally, using sustainable and organic practices, whenever possible.
- Pork comes from hog farms that don’t confine sows to gestation crates for their entire pregnancies.
- Turkey and chicken are produced without the routine, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics.
- Ground beef is from cattle raised on vegetarian feed and never given antibiotics or hormones. We use only solid muscle meat and fat. No neck is allowed.
- Milk and yogurt are sourced from dairies not using artificial hormones.
- Eggs are produced cage-free and certified by a credible animal welfare organization.
- All seafood purchases, wild and farmed, follow the sustainability guidelines of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. Seafood should be purchased fresh when available locally or frozen at the source to ensure quality, and never air-freighted.