Everytable’s pasta pomodoro with pesto chicken 
New fast-food chain Everytable is bringing affordable, nutritious food to hungry New Yorkers while pricing its meals in accordance with the median income in each restaurant’s ZIP code.
The chain, founded by former hedge fund trader Sam Polk, is an effort to address food deserts, areas where affordable, healthful food is difficult to find. By pricing food according to the median income level of the area around each of its restaurants, Polk said, he hopes to bring healthier meals to lower-income areas where cheap, unhealthy fare is easy to find and more likely to be consumed due to financial constraints.
“Food deserts come about because of challenging zoning laws, business laws and real estate laws,” said Leslie Gordon, president and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City. “Real estate often makes it challenging for large supermarkets to come into specific zones. There need to be changes in economic development laws that incentivize supermarkets to go into food deserts.”
Everytable’s menu features dishes drawn from different cuisines, such as a curry chicken protein bowl, a Thai red curry with vegetables and Nashville hot-chicken pasta. Meals are generally priced between $5 and $10.
“Healthy food is effectively a luxury product,” Polk said. “We want to democratize access.”
In August the company raised $55 million in a Series C funding round. The investment was backed by a number of high-profile players including Kaiser Permanente Ventures; Kroger; and Twitter owner Elon Musk’s brother, restaurateur Kimbal Musk. To date, Everytable has raised $87.3 million in funding, according to data from Crunchbase. 
Polk first founded Feast, a nonprofit in South Los Angeles, to promote health and wellness in the traditionally low-income area. Polk was concerned with the lower life expectancy and high levels of diabetes and other chronic diseases that residents struggled with, in part due to their poor diet and a lack of access to nutritious food. Feast began to offer services to the community such as cooking classes and free produce.
Polk quickly identified that many Feast participants needed healthful food on the go because they were working multiple jobs or caring for large families. They did not have time to travel out of South Los Angeles—where ubiquitous fast food is the main affordable source of sustenance—to purchase healthful meals. Polk was inspired to create Everytable to serve the community’s need for inexpensive but healthy fast food.
The chain started in California and has expanded into Brooklyn and Manhattan. It has restaurants in Harlem and Flatbush.
Polk said he hopes to add locations in the city and is looking to expand into the Bronx. He added that he would like to have Everytable’s restaurants be run by entrepreneurs from underserved neighborhoods.
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