Innovation

Rawlicious prides itself on offering healthy, convenient, affordable, and locally grown vegan cuisine.

Chelsea Clark, the owner and the woman we had the privilege of interviewing, was very instrumental in the start of the innovation. After graduating from Western University, Chelsea decided to pursue her love for naturopathic medicine and health by enrolling at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine. Seven years ago, a year after Rawlicious first opened, Chelsea expressed her interest in the company. Originally she was just looking for a volunteer position; however, the original owner wanted her as an employee and partner. This experience helped her to find her passion for veganism, sustainability, and of course Rawlicious. Eventually Chelsea and her partner bought out the original owners, and thus the restaurant most of us know and love was born!

The innovation is essentially the business as a whole. There is not one part of the business that is more or less innovative than the others. Rawlicious provides consumers with healthy, raw, environmentally friendly, sustainable, and tasty meals. Additionally, innovation isn’t limited to the food it produces. Chelsea explained how Rawlicious employees have been trained in all areas like serving, cooking, cashiering, etc. This versatility creates a more cohesive environment. Rawlicious also recognizes that preparation of the food put on people’s plates is as important as the food itself, which is why the restaurants have integrated open-concept kitchens. Showing customers that their food is prepared in a sanitary and natural manner adds to the experience. We asked Chelsea what she considered to be the most exciting part about working at Rawlicious, and she explained "the process of writing the Rawlicious cookbook." The Rawlicious cookbook was an innovative way to spread awareness of Rawlicious and raw vegan food, and it allowed customers to re-create their favorite meals at home. Chelsea expressed how her favorite part about her job is satisfying her customers. She feels it is rewarding knowing that her restaurant can positively impact someone’s life. She is confident that Rawlicious’ raw vegan food fuels people while making them feel amazing from the inside out. Rawlicious as a whole is an extremely passionate, driven, and impactful company.

Inspiration

The concept of Rawlicious was first inspired by the founder of this restaurant. His wife was undergoing cancer treatment, and her diet was limited. Cooking was not always an option, but a healthy diet was always a priority for the couple. With a serious lack of healthy food options in the fast-food market, the idea of Rawlicious was born. This gives people with certain lifestyles an easier choice when choosing a place to eat. Specific diet preferences could be adhered to, making it beneficial to those who must maintain a nutritional value in their diets as well as those who are eco-conscious about their consumption. This allows for a broader consumer base with a place to fulfill consumer needs. Chelsea’s inspiration to innovate and get involved in the raw food business was to reduce the overall impact food production has on the environment. During the interview, Chelsea said, "I wasn't aware of how much of a negative impact meat-based diets have on the environment. Therefore, I decided to use my restaurant as a platform to educate people on how meat production affects farmland and how a vegan lifestyle impacts the environment in a positive way."

Overall impact

By building this innovation, Chelsea created a strong and successful business. Rawlicious successfully positioned its innovation toward an increasingly large market - health and environmentally conscious people. By doing this, they not only started a movement; they also attracted a loyal and positive community.

As a business, they are only growing and have so much passion toward the betterment of the environment and society. Rawlicious has the ability to enrich people's lives through healthy, nutrient-dense food. The fact that Rawlicious is convenient and affordable makes it easy for people to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Each Rawlicious franchise creates its own positive community, unique to each location. Each employee creates a positive impact on the organization as a whole. Rawlicious establishes a welcoming atmosphere of like-minded individuals trying to improve overall well-being and health. Rawlicious puts a tremendous amount of consideration into how their business interacts with the environment.

By not contributing to the livestock farming that aids in meat production, they’re displaying the way they view that industry--as an unnecessary burden to the environment and the animals themselves. Minimizing their carbon footprint is a value they accomplish through creating their own chemical-free cleaning products, minimizing waste creation, composting, and reusing and recycling anything they can. The extras they provide (plates, napkins, utensils) are all biodegradable.

A recent goal for Rawlicious is to expand its impact to countries that are struggling to create access to clean water. Since founded in 2008, Rawlicious has expanded all across Ontario and is incredibly successful at each location. Rawlicious is extremely well known all over Canada and becoming more popular in the United States, specifically in California. Additionally, Rawlicious gets interest from all over the world about franchise opportunities, including in Brazil, Poland, South Africa, and Australia. This wide-ranging interest proves the benefits of the Rawlicious company and how impactful its goals and values truly are.

Business benefit

The innovation has benefited the business by making it a unique restaurant in a growing market. Years ago, eating a raw vegan meal was seen as absurd. However, due to a shift in consumers' concern with health and the environment, the popularity of veganism has skyrocketed. Vegetarian, vegan, and overall healthy restaurants are becoming more mainstream. The demand for healthy raw vegan food has significantly increased due to greater awareness.

Eight years ago when Rawlicious was founded, the market for vegan food was extremely small. By being one of the first businesses in Canada to capitalize on this market, Rawlicious has successfully positioned itself within its target market. Rawlicious is an extremely well-known restaurant to the vegan community. Chelsea mentioned how the restaurant has several customers who aren’t labeled as vegan but thoroughly enjoy raw meals as they make them feel amazing. In this sense, Rawlicious attracts not only raw vegans but also carnivores who enjoy raw meals. This is crucial, as specifically targeting only raw vegans would run the risk of alienating such large segments of the population. In the interview Chelsea noted how she felt Rawlicious benefited more when non-vegans ate at the restaurant for the first time because it gave them an opportunity to serve them a raw vegan meal that not only tastes amazing, but is also sustainably sourced and incredibly good for you. Additionally, Rawlicious has expanded successfully since it opened by implementing franchises in nearly every city while being careful to not saturate the market by overdeveloping. Rawlicious has several opportunities to continue expanding outside of Canada, as the demand for raw vegan restaurants are rising in the United States, specifically in California and New York.

Social and environmental benefit

Rawlicious is dedicated to improving the environment one raw meal at a time. As a vegan restaurant, it does not prepare meals with any meat products, therefore minimizing its carbon footprint in the world. Livestock farming is one of the largest contributors to global warming and pollution. Farming fruits, vegetables, and starches is more environmentally friendly and sustainable for the future. Western diets are rich in meat and dairy, which means they are contributing to the industry that is harming the planet. Contrary to popular belief, animal food production is one of the world's leading causes of climate change and surpasses the transport and electricity industry for producing greenhouse gases. Rawlicious’ innovation of raw vegan meals is providing an alternative to people on a high meat and dairy diet, which will decrease the contribution to the meat and dairy industries. The world’s population is growing and our rate of meat consumption is not sustainable, whereas vegan diets are sustainable. Vegetable crops use less land and less water, and they produce fewer greenhouse gases. Going vegan is essential for the sustainability of the planet, and vegan restaurants such as Rawlicious are urging people on the right track to have a more positive influence on the environment.

Interview

Chelsea Clark, Chief Operations Officer