Healthy, Environmentally Friendly Restaurant Opens in Bettendorf

If you love fresh healthy food and you want to help the environment I have just the place for you.

Freshii, a healthier "fast food" option is opening outside the TBK Bank Sports Complex in Bettendorf Thursday. The restaurant joins Hurts Donut, Foundry and Cheesy Cow and they offer a variety of salads, bowls, burritos and smoothies with vegan or gluten free options.

According to a WQAD story, it's not just the food that owners care about they care about the environment. There is no plastic used to package the food they make. All of their bowls, utensils and salad bags are biodegradable.

"Our shaking bags for the salads are made out of corn resin, bowls are made out of paper pulp, and our utensils are made out of potato fiber so everything is biodegradable. We don't have any grease stoves or overheads or gas ovens and not even a microwave so our carbon footprint is minimal," said owner, Jake Eikenberry.

Eikenberry is from the Quad Cities area and first ran into Freshii in college.

"Not even just in the Quad Cities but all over, I think there is a huge need for healthy, fast, casual concepts like this. I did look into a few other things before deciding on Freshii but they are more about their community and their people." said Eikenberry. 

All Freshii franchises partner with the WE charity to donate meals to kids in need around the world. There are Freshii's in major cities across the US and Canada. Bettendorf owners hope they can get at least five franchises in Iowa.