FIU grad brings healthy fast food to South Florida

At a time when some businesses are cutting back, FIU alumnus Anthony Leone, founder and president of healthy fast food restaurant Energy Kitchen, is banking on the fact that people want to eat well.

Leone opened the first Energy Kitchen in New York City in 2003. Today there are 15 locations, most opened in the last few years. Two franchises opened in South Florida over the past year – in Pinecrest and Fort Lauderdale. Leone and his partner, Mike Repole, the co-founder and former president of Glacéau VitaminWater, plan to open 1,000 Energy Kitchen franchises in the next 10 years.

First Lady Rosalie Rosenberg, FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg, Anthony Leone and Sylvia Leone. Picture by Roldan Torres-Moure, Picture Works.

Leone, who graduated from FIU in 1991 with a degree from the Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, was honored March 3 with an FIU Torch Award, the highest honor the university bestows upon alumni. Leone said his personal philosophy has helped him buck the doom and gloom over the economy.

“I’ve always taken risks on myself instead of investing in others,” he said. “You need to believe in what you do. If you are passionate about what you believe in and you have a burning desire to succeed, you’ll get there.”

Energy Kitchen grew from Leone’s frustration with the lack of transparency at some food establishments, where a seemingly healthy wrap or salad might be drenched in fattening  dressings or sauces. He opened the first Energy Kitchen with the goal of operating with total transparency and everything on the menu, from burgers to fries, with less than 500 calories. Everything on the menu is grilled, baked or steamed – never fried. And the kitchen is wide open so diners can see how their meals are prepared.

Although Leone and Repole have an ambitious expansion plan, right now the approach is to be “patiently aggressive,” Leone said. The plan for 2011-’12 is to only build stores regionally on the East coast within a three-hour plane or car ride from the New York-based Leone, so he can still keep an eye on things.

Those franchises include a restaurant in Pinecrest, which opened in August  (the franchisee is fellow FIU alumnus Justo Luis Pozo III) and one in Fort Lauderdale, which opened in February (with franchisee Tony Lord). Each store employs 15 to 20 people. In a nod to the tastes of the South Florida crowd, the Pinecrest location serves Cuban coffee.

Plans are in the works for at least seven more locations in South Florida.

Leone credits his FIU education with giving him the skills he needed to be a successful entrepreneur, as well as establishing the contacts he has maintained with fellow classmates and FIU professors.

“It was a wonderful foundation from which to launch my career,” he said.

And he is excited about being honored at the 11^th Torch Awards Gala.

“FIU has a top school for hospitality management and of all the people who’ve graduated from that school, they’ve chosen me as the 11^th person to be honored for hospitality achievement,” he said. “I feel so blessed and honored.”

For the FIU Magazine story on Leone and Energy Kitchen, click here.