FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Even with the help of the Fairfax City Economic Development Authority’s largest scissors, it took a little effort to cut the ribbon at the opening of a new restaurant in the Scout on the Circle development on Friday. But, the ribbon was eventually cut and Roots Natural Kitchen was officially open for business in Fairfax City.
Roots opened its first restaurant in 2017 at the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville with the goal of bringing quick, easy, and healthier food options to students, according to director of advertising Larissa Caballero.
“Our mission is radical accessibility of natural food,” she said. “So, we want to make sure that everybody has an easy option to get all natural food. Our dressings are made in house. We have all fresh ingredients.”
Customers can create their own custom bowl from Roots’ menu of natural ingredients or order one of its eight signature bowls. The El Jefe, for example, contains brown rice with kale, black beans, charred corn, red onions, avocado, pita chips, feta, cilantro lime, and chicken.
Fairfax City is Roots Natural Kitchen’s 12th location, which was chosen due to its proximity to George Mason University and access to the larger Washington, D.C. area, according to Caballero.
“We opened three locations last year and we’re continuing to grow, really wanting to spread the word,” she said. “Fairfax is actually a really fun location. We’ve opened majority by college campus locations and then we’ll do offshoots of the urban-suburban area after that.”
Although Friday was the official ribbon-cutting, the restaurant has been open for about two weeks. Caballero said business has been good, mainly because many recent UVA, VCU and Virginia Tech graduates have settled in the area.
“There’s a lot of people, especially at our opening, that were here,” she said. “It was nostalgic from their college experience.”
Several elected officials and members of the Fairfax City business community showed up Friday morning to help the Roots staff celebrate its ribbon-cutting.
During the ceremony, Mayor David Mayer described how it had taken the city council nine years of negotiations and construction to make the Scout on the Circle mixed-use development a reality.
“Now we’re getting the quality and the kinds of businesses in here that we always envisioned,” he said. “This was the plan. What you see here this morning is what we had in mind more than 10 years ago.”
Tom Ross, commissioner of the Fairfax City Economic Development Authority, echoed Mayer’s sentiments.
“Ten years ago, this whole strip was a mess,” he said. “Look at this now. This mixed-use development is fantastic. Businesses getting jobs. It’s a nice place for people to live. This whole Scout Center is fantastic.”
Jennifer Rose, executive director of the Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce, also had nice things to say about the new Roots Natural Kitchen and what businesses like it bring to the city.
“It provides greats quality food, job opportunities in an area of the city that we’re doing big things to bring in some new and exciting businesses,” she said. “We’ve got Scott on the Circle right above us. We’re making the city a little more walkable. Walk right down to your grocery, do some shopping and have some lunch.”
Everyone at the new Roots Natural Kitchen is excited about the Fairfax City opening and people getting a chance to taste what the restaurant has to offer, according to Caballero.
“People are going to love it when they try it,” she said. “We recommend you start with a signature bowl, like an El Jefe or Pesto Caesar, but also just the natural food and the in-house made dressings, the crew and the atmosphere, everybody’s having a good time. We’re excited for everybody to give it a try.”
Roots Natural Kitchen is located on the ground floor of the Scout on the Circle Apartments at 9444 Fairfax Blvd. Its hours of operation are 10:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., on Saturday and Sunday. Customers order online or place a call for pickup at 571-479-3225. Delivery is available through third-party partners or the Roots Natural Kitchen app. More information is available online.
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