Features
Finding balance at CoreLife Eatery
By Claire Chang ’20
September 22, 2016
Tags features
In an era of fitness blogs, Instagram-worthy meals and lifestyle Pinterest boards, food, for those who have it readily accessible, has become a social (media) movement. In particular, healthy eating is trending.
Hamilton College takes pride in its incorporation of “food service for a sustainable future” and provides students with meals that meet their nutritional and cultural needs. Outside of Hamilton, CoreLife Eatery is a new health establishment, opening in New Hartford Sept. 22. I had the chance to speak with CoreLife founder Todd Mansfield about its inception, its management and how it all pertains to us.
A Brief History
With a 30-year background in physical therapy, Mansfield was introduced to the concept of CoreLife by his friend Larry Wilson, who franchised the gluten free, Kosher frozen yoghurt company, Hoopla. In 2015, CoreLife Eatery opened its first branch in Syracuse—“A full, healthy, active lifestyle brand restaurant.”
What exactly does that mean?
“We sell three major kinds of meals: Greens, grains and bone broths.” The meal making process is interactive, whereby customers have choices over bases (ranging from rice to romaine lettuce), dressings and add-on “accessories.”
CoreLife sources their food locally…
“Right now, you can go to places like Cisco and the bigger brand [grocery] stores with very clear guidelines about what you’re looking for, and they can source the food that you’re looking for. Because food safety is so important, you see this heightened need for knowing from whom, where and what your food has come. Most of the food we get is nationally branded.”
Was it challenging to remain a health restaurant?
“When we started, one of our biggest concerns was soda. Selling soda, and beverages in general, is a very profitable part of the restaurant industry. But we decided that instead, we were going to squeeze fresh lemons in the store everyday, take beets and cranberry and blueberry and apple cider and we were going to mix things together. We were concerned that the financial model might not work, but what we found is that the volume of people looking for our kind of food has offset our concern of not being able to provide affordable meals and to loosen the soda revenue. We’re very happy with the response, and most of our fears on sourcing and cost have been negated.”
What should students know about the grand opening?
“We are opening Thursday, the 22nd, in New Hartford, and we’ve hired between fifty and sixty employees. A basic build-your-own bowl starts at $5.95, and we also have curated bowls that we’ve made (vegan, vegetarian, gluten free).” The range of those bowls is from $7.95 to $8.95.
Our second busiest population in Syracuse was people driving up to Syracuse University. We’re loaded with the Syracuse students, so we’re hoping that Hamilton checks us out!
Does CoreLife endorse any superfoods on the market?
“Kale, quinoa, bone broth. The stuff we sell an unbelievable amount of is the bone broth. For people that are pre-workout, post workout, people that are trying to cleanse and people that are just trying to really get healthy—we sell a ton of that stuff.”
What’s one thing people should know?
“This is what I would say. Millennials think about food in a very different way than people like me. I’m in my fifties. I never thought about eating, and listen—I’m in healthcare. I spent my whole life in health care and never made a connection between what I ate and my health. What I’m most impressed by with the millennials is that you guys realize that if you don’t take care of your body, you’re not going to work as well. Healthcare, illness, depression, loss of focus, fatigue and obesity I think are all connected to what we eat. I think you guys are the ones that are going to say ‘we’re going to start taking care of ourselves,’
and really, that’s the entire focus of our restaurant.”
For more information:
Visit CoreLife Eatery in person at 4517 Commercial Drive
New Hartford, NY 13413. Or, you can visit them online at eatatcore.com.