Photos: Lyfe Kitchen Debuts Food at Costco

Eating just got a little more affordable, healthy, tasty and convenient, Palo Alto restaurant Lyfe Kitchen hopes.

The restaurant, dedicated to healthy, affordable dining, introduced its chef-inspired retail products to select locations throughout Northern California, including Redwood City and Mountain View, last week and looking to expand nationally.

Lyfe Kitchen founder Stephen Sidwell said the restaurant partnered with Costco because of the broad demographic that it serves. It hopes to expand into other markets like Safeway, Kroger and others in the near future.

“We believe we can truly make a difference in the food industry,” Sidwell said. “You can have great tasting food that’s healthy and filling.”

The Lyfe Kitchen team took over two years to perfect recipes, said Sidwell. But first he had to assemble a world-class team of chefs, health experts and athletes, including Oprah’s former chef, Art Smith; former Golden State Warriors basketball player Derek Fisher; and New York Times bestseller and health director, Mark Hyman.

The soups, typically laden with hundreds of grams of sodium and cream, have no more than 20 percent of the daily recommended intake of sodium.

“We’re not going to fall back on sodium for taste,” Sidwell said.

Rather than the heavy creams and butter in soups like bisque, the dishes use almond milk. And the dishes are preservative free with ingredients that are all pronounceable. 

The cost of these products? A mere $10.49 for bulk packages of soup, or $1.73 per serving.  

The restaurant has also been speaking with Whole Foods about stocking the retail market’s shelves with their products. They also plan to open an online store as well.

To leave a minimal footprint on the environment, Lyfe Kitchen also prides itself on its “green mission,” to reduce the amount of waste that remains after the meal. The packaging uses 70 percent less than average packaging and is all recyclable.