DANVERS, MA — Cindy VerColen said she was at a crossroads in her professional life during the COVID-19 health crisis as she left her successful job and career to devote time to assisting her aging parents as they dealt with health issues and the effects of the pandemic.
It was during that transitional time for the world when she was exploring her next career step that she met North Carolina-based Clean Eatz franchise owners Don and Evonne Varady, and she said “quickly fell in love with their niche concept and truly felt that this was the missing piece in the nutritional challenges my family faced with two working parents.”
Two years later, the Danvers Select Board approved the Salem resident’s application for a common victualler license for the first Clean Eatz location in Massachusetts at 156 Andover Street on Route 114.
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Last week, she opened the quick-serve cafe with the concept of providing “great-tasting, healthy, affordable and convenient food options” to active families.
“I am married and have two sons in college who were active in several sports growing up,” she told Patch. “As busy working parents who traveled frequently for work, we found it very difficult to provide balanced nutritional meals in the home and on-the-go for our family, particularly our athletic children.”
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She said she believes Clean Eatz will help those in similar situations with its take-home meals and upcoming meal plan programs.
“I now hope to pave a way to help our North Shore community be the best they can be whether it be fitness enthusiasts and athletes, working families, college students, or the elderly population,” she said.
VerColen, who lived in North Reading for 20 years before moving to Salem recently, said the Clean Eatz program is focused on a balanced approach to nutrition without “off-limits” foods. Nothing is fried in oil, and there is no additional sugar, salt, or butter added to recipes.
She said Clean Eatz can cater meals to a variety of diets, including low-carb, extra protein, keto, and vegetarian.
“Whatever your goal is, we can help,” she said. “Our slogan: ‘It’s not a Diet, it’s a Lifestyle.'”
Customers can visit the dine-in cafe that includes build-your-own bowls, wraps, flatbreads, burgers, salads, protein smoothies and snacks from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
CleanEatz also offers catering for luncheons, family reunions, parties and other events, as well as the upcoming weekly meal prep service where a menu is released each week and customers can choose up to six lunch/dinner options, one breakfast option, one pizza and one salad to be picked up each Sunday or Monday.
A large selection of grab-n-go meals is also available, which can be frozen and last up to six months.
VerColen said there are no subscriptions, no minimum orders, no cooking and no preparation cleanup.
“It was a whirlwind with lots of last-minute contractor work and inspections followed closely by training and opening,” she said of the recent opening. “My buffer dwindled but we made it.”
(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)
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