From café to national movement: Clean Eatz Founders on scaling wellness without losing heart

Operations

Clean Eatz is a franchise co-founded by Don and Evonne Varady that solves the time vs. health dilemma by offering convenient, macro-balanced meals, from dine-in cafes to nationwide frozen delivery, while maintaining a strong mission-first, community-driven culture focused on “transforming lives through food.”

November 17, 2025 by Mandy Wolf Detwiler — Editor, Networld Media Group

The quest for a nutritious, macro-balanced meal often ends in the same familiar dilemma: Time versus health.

For many, the rigors of meal planning, grocery shopping and cooking clean food are simply too much for a busy schedule.

Enter Clean Eatz, the franchise that has cracked the code on convenient wellness, offering everything from dine-in healthy cafes to nationwide frozen meal delivery, proving that you don’t have to sacrifice your diet goals for a lack of hours in the day. This is the story of how one company is changing the “heat and eat” narrative, transforming clean eating from a tedious chore into an accessible, five-star experience for everyone from competitive athletes to busy families.

Clean Eatz was co-founded by Don and Evonne Varady, who launched the company in 2013. The Varadys remain involved in its leadership, while Eric Wyatt was appointed the first CEO in October 2024 to focus on strategic expansion.

Meet the Varadys

The Varadys will speak at the Founderology Growth Summit at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026 in a session called “Food, Fitness and Franchise: A Mission-First Approach to Business Building.” The Summit is billed as a Founder to Founder experience built exclusively for multi-unit restaurant Founders ready to scale smarter and faster.

We talked to Don and Evonne Varady in email interviews to learn more about their business and how they’re leading the way.

Q: As a visionary Founder, how did you translate the initial idea of transforming lives through food into the specific menu and product strategy? What was the biggest challenge in developing a food concept that is both healthy and scalable across a national franchise model?

Evonne Varady: Clean Eatz began as a small meal prep service built around one mission: transforming lives through food. We wanted to make healthy eating simple and accessible for everyday people — not bodybuilders or dieters, but real families and busy professionals. As demand grew, we expanded the concept into additional café locations and added a broader menu that made healthy choices easy whether customers wanted to grab a meal, meal prep for the week, or eat on the go.

The hardest part was scaling that philosophy nationwide without losing the personal touch that made it work. We had to design recipes that balanced nutrition, flavor, and consistency — and then build a supply chain and franchise model that could deliver that same experience in every city. The goal was always to stay true to our roots: real food, real people, real results.

Q:You’ve scaled from a single café to a national franchise. How do you ensure the core mission of “transforming lives through food and fitness” remains consistent and impactful across every new franchise location, especially as you bring on diverse owners?

Don Varady: We practice what we preach, and we have a great support team here at our corporate office that works hard every day with our owners.

Q: You’ve built a mission-driven brand. What are the non-negotiable qualities or values you look for in a potential franchisee to ensure they are fully committed to the brand’s mission of health and fitness, not just financial success?

Evonne Varady:At Clean Eatz, we look for franchisees who live and breathe the lifestyle — people who believe food can change lives and want to be a part of that transformation. The best owners have a service mindset, not an investor mindset. They’re coachable, community-driven, and willing to get their hands dirty in the kitchen if that’s what it takes to help a customer.

Integrity, consistency, and heart are non-negotiable. We want partners who care about the person walking through the door trying to make a change — who celebrate their wins and support them when they stumble. Financial success comes when you lead with purpose, but the ones who make it long-term in this brand are the ones who lead with impact first.

Q: When an organization grows rapidly, the original company culture can be easily diluted. What active steps have you taken to maintain the sense of purpose and community that existed in the very first café as you expanded to a national footprint?

Evonne Varady: From day one, we built Clean Eatz around a feeling — community, purpose, and belonging. It was never just about selling food; it was about giving people a place to start changing their lives. As we grew, I made it a priority to protect that energy by staying connected to our franchisees and customers. Every piece of our brand — from the café design, to the merch we all sport, to the tone of our messaging — is meant to remind people why we started.

We’ve kept that culture alive by hosting national conventions, leadership trainings, and community events that feel more like family gatherings than corporate meetings. We celebrate the real stories behind the brand — the customers who lost 100 pounds, the parents teaching their kids about healthy eating, the franchisees who found their purpose. That’s what keeps us grounded. The purpose that existed in our first café still drives every decision we make today.

Q:How did Clean Eatz move beyond just being a place that sells meals to becoming a true community hub, and what practical advice do you have for other founders looking to build a loyal, mission-driven community around their brand?

Don Varady:We have our franchise partners to thank for that. They are the ones that bought into our vision and our culture and it resonates throughout our brand. My advice to other owners is to ALWAYS be authentic. Don’t try to be something you are not. Customers and guests will see right through that. You will never please or satisfy everyone, so stick to your core customers and always be authentic and do the right thing.

Q:Every business faces critical moments. Can you share a moment where a difficult decision or significant challenge was faced, and how your unique partnership with Don was instrumental in navigating that obstacle and ensuring the business stayed on track?

Evonne Varady: There have been plenty of tough moments, but one of the hardest was when we had to decide how to scale Clean Eatz without losing the soul of what made it special. Growth sounds exciting until you realize it can break everything if you move too fast or for the wrong reasons. I’m the visionary — I move with heart and instinct — and Don is the steady hand that brings structure and discipline. When I wanted to sprint, he made sure we had shoes on first.

Together, we found a rhythm that saved us from burning out or selling out. We divided roles — I protected the mission and brand voice, and he built the systems and numbers that made it scalable. That balance got us through every major decision, from franchising to product launches. It’s not always easy being married to your business partner, but it’s the reason Clean Eatz is still growing with purpose instead of just growing for growth’s sake.

Q: Your session mentions the power of partnership with Evonne. What specific roles did you each take in the early days, and how has the dynamic of your partnership evolved as the business has grown nationally?

Don Varady: Evonne and I have designated “lanes” since day one. She has always been in charge of menu development and product development. I have always run operations, legal, and finance. We have kept it that way since day one and it’s always worked well for us. Evonne and I have really good communication, and we discuss important business decisions together before they get made. A lot of people have tried to duplicate what we do and failed. We make it look easy and it is absolutely not. We just always make sure to communicate.

Q: What’s something you wish you knew before starting your own business?

Evonne Varady: I wish I knew that success doesn’t feel like you think it will. You hit the goals, open the locations, win the awards — and still realize happiness doesn’t come from the milestones, it comes from the moments in between. I spent years chasing growth before learning that peace, purpose, and people matter more than numbers. If I could tell my younger self one thing, it would be: don’t rush the climb. Enjoy the process, because that’s where the real transformation happens.

Q: What’s the one lesson you learned starting your own company that would surprise other Founders?

Don Varady: We didn’t know what the hell we were doing. One thing I see all the time is people holding back from starting a business because they don’t know every little aspect or every little detail. They are too scared to go find someone that does to help get started because they don’t want to look stupid. And sometimes it holds them back from executing on a business idea that is really, really good.

Q: If you could give today’s founders one piece of advice on how to effectively scale impact without compromising the authenticity or values of their original concept, what would that be?

Don Varady: I think you kind of answered it within the question. Consistently showcasing authenticity and your core values will scale the impact you make. Don’t get hung up on trying to please the masses. For example, we have never had a strong vegan, vegetarian customer base. We have options for them, of course, but we know that they are not our core customer and that’s ok. We don’t spend a lot of time and effort trying to be something we are not and cater to a very small percentage of the customer base. Instead, we focus on portion control and being a “better for you” option. We don’t use trendy marketing hooks to be deceptive like a lot of the food industry does.

Registration is now available for the Founderology Growth Summit. Click HERE for more information.

About Mandy Wolf Detwiler

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