New fast-casual chain opens Thursday with benefit for Cherry Street Mission

9/13/2017
BY TYREL LINKHORN
BLADE STAFF WRITER
  • b5core-jpg-jpg

    CoreLife Eatery, an active lifestyle restaurant offering a variety of greens, grains, and broth-based dishes, is expanding to Toledo at 5231 Monroe St. The local store is the restaurant’s third in Ohio.

  • CoreLife Eatery is introducing itself to Toledo with a soft opening that will benefit the Cherry Street Mission Ministries.

    On Thursday, a day ahead of its official opening, the fast-casual chain will open its doors for a ‘pay what you choose’ promotion, with all proceeds going to Cherry Street.

    “When we come to an area we like to become involved with the community. It’s very easy to just open a business and not care about the people, but we come to a community, we want to be a part of it,” company spokesman Stephen Donnelly said. “What better way than donating to a worthwhile charity?”

    Based in New York, CoreLife Eatery specializes in greens, grains, and broth-based meals. The setup is similar to other fast-casual chains where the food is prepared in front of the customer, who can modify the order to his or her liking. The restaurant markets itself as a fresher, healthier alternative to traditional fast food.

    The Toledo location — at 5231 Monroe St. — will be the chain’s third Ohio location, after stores in Columbus and the Cleveland area. Between part-time and full-time workers, the Toledo location will have about 30 employees.

    CoreLife has expanded from a single store in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2015 to 20 locations across eight states with the latest store in Toledo.

    Thursday’s benefit runs from 11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. CoreLife has run similar promotions at other new locations. The amount raised has varied, though officials said some have raised as much as $10,000.

    Contact Tyrel Linkhorn at tlinkhorn@theblade.com419-724-6134, or on Twitter @TyrelLinkhorn.