Clean Eatz location in Port St. Lucie planned to open June 1. [Photo by Clean Eatz]
A healthy food and meal plan restaurant aims to expand its footprint in Palm Beach County with three new locations the next few years.
Those locations are part of a franchise deal with father-daughter team Dave and Kylie Schaefers of Jupiter and their business partners, Ryan Spencer and Alex Wallace.
Stores are planned for Boynton Beach, Jupiter and Wellington, in addition to Spencer and Wallace’s current location at 1540 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., Suite 140, in West Palm Beach. Another location in Tradition in Port St. Lucie will open June 1.
The Boynton Beach store is under lease at 701 N. Congress Ave., near the Boynton Beach Mall, and will open within a year. The team is looking for locations in Jupiter and Wellington.
Dave Schaefers has spent three decades in the corporate world working with franchising, but this is his first time as a franchisee. “Sometimes brands speak to you,” he says, “and this one did.”
Clean Eatz was founded in 2011 and began franchising in 2015. In addition to eat-in dining, each Clean Eatz location offers catering, meal plans and preparation, and grab-and-go options.
The chain focuses on health and wellness through lifestyle change, with a dedication to giving back to the communities it serves.
Dave Schaefers was inspired to seek a lifestyle change after being diagnosed in early 2020 with Stage 3C colon cancer. He went through chemotherapy, radiation and surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Everything switched gears, and we reprioritized things,” he says. He shifted from spending much of his time away from his family to focusing on a healthier lifestyle and dropped about 50 pounds.
“It’s just been such a super-rewarding thing, so to share that with the community is really special,” he says.
This is Kylie Schaefers’ first foray into franchising and business. The 23-year-old recently graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in health and wellness.
She was a senior when she went to her first Clean Eatz franchise convention. “Before that, I didn’t know what I wanted to do post-grad.”
Seeing the concept and experiencing the energy at the convention were the deciding factors, Kylie says. “I finally found somewhere I felt like I connected with people and that shared the same values.”
She feels lucky to work with her father, who she says is her best friend.
“When this opportunity came to be, and especially after he got diagnosed with cancer, it put time into perspective,” Kylie says. “I didn’t want to miss out on any time that I could have with my dad.”
He has been a great mentor, she says. “It’s kind of a really cool new way to view my dad, with as well-respected as he is.”
While the partners have run into a few challenges with construction and the supply chain, they’ve been pleasantly surprised with their recruiting of employees.
“We had a little fear it might be hard,” Dave says of hiring for the group’s Port St. Lucie store. “We had to stop taking applications, and there were still good candidates.”
The group hopes to open one location per year going forward, he says.
“We’re patient,” Dave says of prospective locations in Jupiter and Wellington. “We’re going to get it.”
Evonne Varady, who founded Clean Eatz https://cleaneatz.com with her husband, Don, says Florida has long been a core part of its growth, “and as this deal shows, that hasn’t changed.”
