Healthy Living Market and Café is thrilled to announce that Chef Michael Daley has joined the South Burlington location’s Culinary Team. Chef Daley will work with Healthy Living’s growing team of culinary talent to bring the legacy brand’s new HL Fresh line to life. Daley comes to Healthy Living after a lengthy career in the restaurant industry, having led both Michelin-starred and AAA Five Diamond kitchens.
As culinary director and executive chef for the Mourad Lahlou-owned San Francisco restaurants — Mourad and Aziza, respectively — at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Daley was tasked with navigating the shutdown and helping address increased food insecurity in the region. Through his initiatives, the restaurants partnered with World Central Kitchen to feed over 23,000 people in need over a 10-week period. He also partnered with Family House San Francisco, a children's cancer center, to provide 400 meals per week to at-risk youth and their families. To stabilize the restaurants’ finances, Daley created a meal kit program called “Mourad at Home” that both brought back staff and generated revenue.
At Healthy Living, Daley joins a growing roster of acclaimed restaurant-industry chefs, including Vice President of Culinary Matthew Jennings, Culinary Director Scott Como, and Chefs Derek Robert and Jimmy Winslow. With the HL Fresh line being Chef Daley’s primary focus, he will contribute to a robust, rotating menu of seasonal, local, and house-made dishes prepared in a kitchen that thrives on creativity and using the highest quality ingredients.
“At Healthy Living, I’m working with chefs that have the same ideals as I do,” says Daley. “We’re cooking from scratch, and cooking seasonally. Working in the café, I’m still a chef, but with increased creative freedom. I’m excited to be working with like-minded professional chefs with an incredible depth of talent.”
“Chef Daley is an outstanding addition to our team,” says Jennings. “At Healthy Living, we look to embrace individuality while maintaining consistency. Chef Daley is an extremely talented chef, and his background and skill set adds to a differentiated experience for our guests. Due to the collaborations between the chefs, we now have the expression of five chefs on one menu, which is unprecedented in this industry. We are so excited to see how our Café continues to evolve with him on board.”
For more information about the Healthy Living Café, visit healthylivingmarket.com.
Healthy Living Market and Café is a regional, independent supermarket specializing in local, organic, and natural foods with stores located in South Burlington and Williston, Vermont and Saratoga Springs, New York. Founded by Katy Lesser in 1986, Healthy Living pioneered natural food stores in Vermont. The company now employs 320 team members across the three locations and is managed by Lesser and her two children, Eli and Nina. Healthy Living is committed to creating a premier grocery store experience and to sell the finest and cleanest food at the fairest prices possible while supporting local farmers and producers. Healthy Living is a triple bottom line company focused on mission, vision and values from the top down. For more information visit healthylivingmarket.com.