Plant City X to open drive-thru in Warwick at former Burger King
This Burger King will be turned into a Plant City X in Warwick. Photo Credit WJAR
Republished from NBC 10 News, WJAR
By Jessica A. Botelho
Plant City X will be opening its second location in Rhode Island amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is the future of fast food,” Kim Anderson, who is the co-founder of Plant City in Providence, told NBC 10 News during a phone interview Thursday.
“It is a smaller, drive-thru version of Plant City,” she added.
The new eatery will be in Warwick along Centerville Road in Apponaug Village, where the former Burger King was located.
The new eatery will be in Warwick along Centerville Road in Apponaug Village, where the former Burger King was located. (WJAR)
It follows the January opening of Plant City X on West Main Road in Middletown.
“It’s been successful, even during COVID times, and so we had our proof of concept,” Anderson said.
The menus include a variety of plant-based burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, salads, smoothies, shakes, special sauces, and more.
“There’s no fast food restaurant that’s doing that that has a drive-thru,” Anderson said. “It’s completely new and it’s all plant-based.”
She said everything is made in-house and by hand.
The burger patties are made from beans, rice, and grains, plus vegetables like carrots and beets, also serving chicken tenders, and chocolate and vanilla shakes.
“The kids love them,” she said. “And we have three mac and cheeses that are gluten free.”
The options are classic mac and cheese, truffle mac and cheese and a buffalo mac and cheese.
“I mean, can you imagine going to a drive-thru and picking up a gluten-free buffalo mac and cheese and a super food acai smoothie?” Anderson said.
She also said they serve a few varieties of salad, with a Cobb salad, and an arugula salad with corn and tomatoes and golden raisins, and “a killer maple mustard dressing.”
Don’t forget about dessert, as chocolate chip cookies and brownies are on the menu.
For beverages, there are organic juice drinks, coffee, water, and more.
Anderson said she’s not sure when she plans to open, but she suspects it won’t be too long.
In addition to the drive-thru, there will be a delivery option for customers who live in a file-mile radius.
Plus, since the city is the epicenter of Rhode Island, Anderson said it makes it easier for people from across the state to access.
“I had a lot of people from the West Bay area saying, ‘I don’t want to have to drive over the bridges,’ so we’ve been looking,” she said.
She scouted spots in East Greenwich, Cranston, and the surrounding area, before discovering what she described as the perfect site to open a business.
“I really love finding these old buildings that you can literally reuse and recycle because they are less expensive of a project than doing a pad build and a lot quicker,” she said, noting that’s there’s already a drive-thru window in place. “That’s convenient for us.”
Plant City in Providence offers customers four restaurants, including a burger restaurant, as well as a bakery and coffee bar. There’s also a marketplace and an event space.
The Providence location employs about 175 people, with Middletown employing 35, and the new Warwick spot to create 40 jobs.
They will need prep cooks, line cooks, servers, and counter service employees.
No matter the location, Anderson said many of the food products have been sourced from farms, with Plant City also selling products from Rhode Island-based companies, such as Granny Squibbs, Celebrated Macaron, and Seven Stars Bread.
“We try to do as much local as we can,” Anderson said, noting that the food is also free of animal products, palm oil, certified Kosher, powered by wind, and compostable.
“We diverted 180 tons of food scraps and compost from the local landfill last year,” she said.
Anderson shared an announcement about the opening on her Facebook page Thursday morning, noting that she’s received hundreds of replies.
By 4:30 p.m., it had more than 800 reactions, 400 comments, and nearly 400 shares.
“It’s very exciting,” she said. “I’ve been getting a wonderful response.”
She said to follow Plant City on Facebook and Instagram for updates about progress and an official opening.
Until then, Anderson said she and her team will continue to do what they do best.
“We’re trying to show the world that compassionate and sustainable food can be delicious and beautiful, and served in a cool, fun environment by people who want to be there,” she said. “We’re really happy to have so many people enjoying our food.”
