A brand new restaurant chain called Healthy America is looking to make its debut in Culver City, located at 8900 W. Venice Blvd.
This is the latest venture from Whole Foods Market co-founder John Mackey, who is planning to retire from the national grocery chain before the end of the year. The new 5,576 square-foot restaurant hopes to move into the Ivy Station, a highly-anticipated development, sometime in 2023. Healthy America will offer “a broad spectrum of eclectic plant-based dining options, ranging from the most health-promoting to a balanced indulgence.” The company recently submitted documents to the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.
Mackey isn’t the only Whole Foods Market affiliate associated with this new restaurant. Betsy Foster, who left the company in 2020, will serve as Healthy America’s CEO, while Walter Robb, a former Whole Foods’ co-CEO who departed in 2017, is also a partner with the company. The new Culver City location will sit over 200 people and feature a 2,067 square-foot patio. This is the first of many plant-based chain restaurants. Florida state records show Healthy America purchased a vegan restaurant in Miami called Love Life Café last year, according to Bloomberg.
The new restaurant isn’t the only new venture for the former Whole Food co-founder. Healthy America LLC is also planning to open a new series of wellness centers that offer fitness and spa services. An old job posting describes the wellness center as “rooted in lifestyle medicine,” featuring “the best of Western and Eastern medicine, alongside wellness, educational and fitness, and spa services.”
