Tasty, healthy and sustainable fast food? One chain is on a mission to revolutionize the way we eat on the go

Many of us who value health have resigned ourselves to forgoing the convenience and speed of fast food. Beside the horrendously unwholesome menus, most chain restaurants embrace dodgy practices -- such as massive disposable waste, factory farming and questionable additives. Not to mention hormone and GMO-laden meats, pesticide-doused produce and heaps of sugar in pretty much everything. Despite the stigma associated with this American institution, a trio of enterprising young men have set out to shatter the myth of unhealthy fast food with their own brand of earth-friendly fare. Enter: Sweetgreen.

A new approach

During their senior year at university, three collage friends saw a need for healthy, eco-friendly, locally sourced food that would fit fast-paced lifestyles. With a vision in hand, the team created a business plan and, through financial contributions from family, friends and business associates, they opened their first Sweetgreen store in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. on August 1, 2007. By 2009, two additional stores were up and running. To date, a total of 28 Sweetgreen stores can be found in the Mid-Atlantic states, from Boston to New York to Philadelphia. But the real success behind their story is the business model that changed the way we eat on the run.