Earlier this year, Joyce Lunsford of St. Joseph-based Trigo Hospitality Group opened the first of what could end up being more than 50 new CoreLife Eatery fresh-style restaurants in Grandville, outside of Grand Rapids. Tomorrow, she and her team open the second on Westnedge in the Kalamazoo suburb of Portage. The one main mystery for fans of the concept in her home port of St. Joe is when, or if, she will build one a bit closer to Lake Michigan.
Lunsford’s team of Greg Collins and Joe Hitson were on Grand Rapids television this morning touting the amazing array of fresh, healthy offerings that CoreLife is about to unleash on Portage, whipping up a salad from all fresh ingredients and sharing fresh squeezed specialty lemonades to the show’s hostess. Tomorrow, they swing open the doors even as prep work is underway for CoreLife number three later this year or early next for a restaurant in Mishawaka, Indiana. In fact, Lunsford says that by the end of 2018 she fully expects to have tripled her count to six shops including new locations in the Breton Village Shopping Center in Grand Rapids and two more in the Ann Arbor neighborhood.
Lunsford, you may recall from a story here back in mid-January, signed a deal to franchise 51 of the CoreLife Eatery restaurants over the next eight years. At that time her business partner, Brian Cronkrite, told us Lunsford had said it was “Just too soon to say,” when or even if one of the 51 restaurants would land somewhere on their corporate home turf of Berrien County. They were still in the infant stages of plotting strategy for the franchise line up.
They certainly pack a tremendous amount of talent and experience in the hospitality industry owning literally dozens of fast casual restaurants for more than 40 years including Pizza Huts, Moe’s Southwest Grills, Sonic Drive-Ins, and at one time multiple Panera Bread bakery & cafe locations including the one in St. Joe Township.
CoreLife Eatery is categorized as an “active lifestyle” restaurant, and uses greens, grains and bone broth as the core building blocks for menu items. All dressings, broths and beverages are made from scratch every day on site in each location. Lunsford says, “CoreLife is a unique brand where the focus is on the quality and the food, which is rare nowadays within the restaurant industry.”
The new Portage edition of CoreLife Eatery opens tomorrow at 6300 S. Westnedge Avenue with a “Pay What You Want” day with all proceeds going to Special Olympics Michigan, followed by the regular opening at 11am on Friday morning, October 20th.
Lunsford told Al Jones from MLive that she was originally reluctant to take on the franchise, noting, “Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have touched this concept because people weren’t ready for it.” She points out, however, “This is great-tasting food that happens to be healthy.”
Stay tuned as the powerhouse team at Trigo Hospitality continues to build the CoreLife Eatery base in the region and see if we get a shot at having one in the neighborhood as well.
