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Blue Lemon Restaurants and Nicholas and Company Donate 8,000 Food Items to Five.12 Foundation to feed Hungry Kids in Utah Valley
HIGHLAND, Utah, March 10, 2019 – The local, fast-casual, gourmet restaurant chain, Blue Lemon, celebrated ten years in business by donating 10 percent of the sales made on its Feb. 25 birthday to the non-profit, Five.12. Food vendor, Nicholas and Company matched that donation and together the two local businesses were able to use the food supplier’s buying power to purchase 8,000 much-needed food items to help Five.12 fill Utah County school children’s backpacks to stave off hunger on the weekends.
Five.12 Foundation received a donation of 1,600 Granola Bars, 1,600 Nutri Grain bars, 1,600 individual boxes of Frosted Mini Wheats, 1,600 Snack Pack Puddings and 1,600 Ready-to-Serve Chicken Noodle Soups from the two companies.
“Blue Lemon has really demonstrated how much they care about the communities in which they operate their business and live,” said Nick Greer, founder of Five.12 Foundation, based in Alpine, Utah. “This week alone our volunteers will bag 1,600 packs of food for hungry children in Utah County. Blue Lemon and Nicholas and Company have made a wonderful difference in these children’s lives.”
“We’re so grateful to our customers and friends who purchased breakfast, lunch or dinner in our five restaurants on Feb. 25, so we could provide a significant donation to the Five.12 Foundation. And we’re thrilled that our food vendor, Nicholas and Company, matched our donation for greater effect,” said Blue Lemon’s co-founder Aaron Day.
Blue Lemon operates fast-casual, gourmet restaurants in Highland, the City Creek Center in Salt Lake City, in Cottonwood Heights, Sandy and Farmington, Utah. Live With a Twist is the company’s motto, which means not only eating the restaurant’s fresh, gourmet food, but getting active and involved in the community in unique ways. For more information visit www.bluelemon.com.
About Blue Lemon
Blue Lemon was founded in 2009 by Utahns, Lychelle and Aaron Day, in an effort to provide families with fresh, seasonally-driven gourmet food with a unique twist of flavors and textures at an affordable price. Blue Lemon is passionate about helping its customers Live With a Twist through healthy nutrition and an active lifestyle. This commitment to health is also carried out at Blue Lemon through eco-friendly tactics such as sourcing from local providers and using recycled materials. The local restaurant, which was named among “The Top 40 Fast Casuals To Watch” by QSR Magazine, serves breakfast, lunch and dinner at its five locations in Highland, Cottonwood Heights, Sandy, City Creek and Farmington, Utah. Blue Lemon also provides catering services for private functions and business events. For more information visit www.bluelemon.com, @blue_lemon on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Deseret News: 10 years after it opened, Utah’s Blue Lemon is more of a family restaurant than ever
ALPINE — Math tests, football practices, dance competitions, family time — with six children between the ages of 5 and 14, Aaron and Lychelle Day have their fair share of tasks to complete, places to be and obstacles to overcome.
But one challenge they don’t endure — despite each of those six kids having different personalities, likes and dislikes — is picky eating.
“It’s not like most parents who deal with the pickiness of kids. My kids are not,” Aaron Day said. “They’ll try anything. I have one daughter that will try anything from sashimi to oysters to you name it, she’ll try it.”
What’s their secret?
“We’re really foodies at heart,” Aaron Day said. “… We really just enjoy food and enjoy the experience of trying new foods, and so we’ve always ventured out of our comfort zone and try new things.”
That love of food is not only something the Days have instilled in their children, it’s also something they hope permeates into every facet of their business. The Days are the founders of Blue Lemon, the Utah-based restaurant chain known for its “fast-casual gourmet” offerings and cerulean citrus logo.
On Feb. 25, Blue Lemon reaches its 10-year anniversary, a celebration the Days view as a milestone for both their business and their family. When the couple began the process to open their first Blue Lemon location in Highland in 2009, they had three daughters. Now the family has grown to include six children as Aaron and Lychelle Day have adopted their three sons in the years since opening Blue Lemon.
“Having our kids and our family grow with the concept and with Blue Lemon, it’s been really neat to see and sharing some of the experiences that we had with our kids and and having our kids involved is awesome,” Aaron Day said.
The concept for Blue Lemon developed out of a need the Days perceived in their own lives.
“There just really wasn’t anything in our local area down here in Highland that … we would want to go eat, for instance, to go on a date night but was also place we could also take the kids to and feel comfortable doing so,” Aaron Day said.
The Days, who live in Alpine, had also been experimenting in their own home with different types of eating — from vegan to vegetarian to an all-raw food diet — and wanted to provide a restaurant that had a “healthful eating aspect” to it as well.
“Really that’s what Blue Lemon’s menu was envisioned and born from,” Aaron Day said.
