Made In Chicago: Eat Purely
CHICAGO (CBS) -- When you walk into a warehouse on the Near West Side, you can smell and hear what's cooking, as the employees at Eat Purely are busy preparing and packing up lunches for hundreds awaiting delivery.
Eat Purely was the brainchild of Jeremiah Green.
"It was a cold night in February about two years ago. All the restaurants between me and getting home were just unacceptable from a healthy standpoint and a taste standpoint and I didn't want to spend time at Whole Foods. So I came up with the business," Green said.
Green said lifestyles are changing, so Eat Purely meets that need.
"We're not going to change people's behavior but we just want to give folks a great alternative to eat healthy in a super convenient way," he said.
In two short years, they've grown tenfold.
"We've expanded to 20 to 25 neighborhoods within Chicago, we have a staff with about 60 people," Green said.
Executive Chef Sean Spradlin is in charge of the menu, which changes daily.
"I try to stay true to what I love to cook which is Spanish and French influence cuisine. We also have a lot of Asian influence but I like to cook food that's in season. Whatever's the freshest and the best. I try to bring a little familiarity into it with my own spin on it," Spradlin said.
Everything from fettuccine and meatballs, to Cuban steak, to white fish, to Tennessee BBQ chicken; Green said it's all organic and taste-tested.
"We do taste things, we do vet our recipes. They go through a process from start to finish," he said.
Here's how Eat Purely works.
"You download the app, and then you can view the menus up to seven days in advance. There's different menus every single day, between 6-8 different meals you can choose from," said Spradlin.
Customers can choose on demand delivery or order it ahead of time. Meals run from $8 to $12 each.
Green said the prepared meal industry is a competitive one, but he believes Eat Purely is unique to the Chicago area. He said he hopes to expand the service nationally by the end of the year.
"There are very few, if any, people who are making healthy food taste good, source things in a responsible way. There is no one anymore that does that in Chicago and we're very excited about that. We cater to busy people who want to eat healthy," he said.
Eat Purely can be found in the Apple app store and on Google Play. For more information, go to www.eatpurely.com.
