ELYA, a Richmond company that delivers nutritional food through smart fridge technology, has found its sweet spot.
In April, the company opened its third location, installing a fridge stocked with healthy breakfast and lunch foods outside the Alton Lane clothing store in Scott’s Addition, at 3121 W. Leigh St.
The new location, which is open 24/7, quickly broke company records, said founder and chef Danny Sterling.
“It is pretty obvious that Scott’s Addition is our target market in a lot of ways, of young professionals that are looking to eat better,” Sterling said.
Sterling estimated he was selling about 100 meals every two days when just two ELYAFridges were up and running — One at the former Plant Zero Cafe location, which doubles as his food prep site, and another added in early 2021 to The Locks Tower apartments in Downtown Richmond.
Since adding the Scott’s Addition fridge, ELYA’s numbers have soared.
“It could be definitely close to double that,” Sterling said during an interview late last month, about three weeks after the third fridge launched.
Sterling started ELYA, which stands for Eat Like Your Ancestors, last October. His goal was to provide a contactless approach to deliver nutrient-dense, sustainable foods. ELYA uses fridges equipped with credit card scanners to store to-go breakfast, snack and lunch items. Menu items are either locally sourced or organic.
Popular menu items include Sterling’s mushroom burger bowl and Thai coconut curry. As he gets to know his customers’ tastes, Sterling is making adjustments.
“We are updating the menu as the seasons are starting to change, and we can source a lot more stuff locally,” he said.
Prices range from $4 to $14.
Hungry Richmonders can take a peek online to see what items are on the menu in Scott’s Addition, at The Locks Tower and at ELYA headquarters.
In addition to managing the three locations, Sterling has also been doing pop-up events around Richmond to spread the ELYA experience.
Sterling said he’s is planning to hire a handful of people this summer to support what he hopes will be continued growth for the company, including plans to introduce an online ordering mechanism.
As for where he might install the next fridges, Sterling still has his heart set on getting ELYA into the health care industry.
A subpar food experience when he was in a hospital is what gave him the idea to found ELYA in the first place. Bringing nutritious, good-tasing food into hospitals is where his company’s mission remains.
VCU Health is on his wish list.
“We’re really, really holding out for health care,” he said.