Created 3/7/2011
Wholesome Tummies Expands West
Provider of thousands of healthy school lunches awards
franchise in Las Vegas
ORLANDO, Fla. – Monday, March 7, 2011– Wholesome Tummies, an Orlando, Fla.-based company created by two mothers, has awarded its first franchise in a non-East Coast state to a Las Vegas-based business woman. This will mark the four-year-old company’s sixth franchise to open in less than a year. Other new franchises are expected to be awarded in the coming months.
Wholesome Tummies provides thousands of meals to Central Florida private and public schools each month. Co-founders Debbie Blacher and Samantha Gotlib launched the franchise option last year to expand their mission to change school meal plans from high-fat and processed foods to more fresh and natural selections. Franchises have been awarded in St. Petersburg, Fla., South Jacksonville, Fla., North and South Palm Beach County, Fla., and Atlanta, Ga.
“We remain adamant about children eating foods that are fresh, all-natural and free from artificial ingredients,” said co-founder Samantha Gotlib. “We are faced with an epidemic of childhood obesity because poor food choices are the tradition in our nation’s schools. Our mission is to change that.”
Stephanie Springel of Las Vegas discovered Wholesome Tummies while attending a franchise expo in Miami, Fla. After speaking with Wholesome Tummies co-founders Gotlib and Blacher, Springel was sold on the company.
“Feeding children — whether feeding my own kids or underprivileged children in my community — is very important to me,” said Springel, the mother of two school-age children. “The Wholesome Tummies philosophy is that all children deserve high-quality, nutritious food, and I feel the same way. Our children in Clark County and beyond deserve to have access to a healthy lunch every single day.”
With a goal of developing eating patterns that lead to lifelong good health, Wholesome Tummies serves as a total healthy lunch solution for the nation’s childhood obesity crisis. Wholesome Tummies chefs and expert food service professionals are available to manage school kitchen operations. In addition, Wholesome Tummies offers nutritionist-approved healthy lunches daily to schools that do not have kitchens. Parents simply order the meals online, and they are delivered directly to schools. With menus made up of only the most natural ingredients, Wholesome Tummies creates foods that cajole children to make healthy food choices.