Born from a partnership between restaurateur Sam Fox and integrative medicine pioneer Dr. Andrew Weil, True Food Kitchen opened for business in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2008. Together, their vision was to create a restaurant offering flavorful, handcrafted dishes based on Weil's anti-inflammatory food pyramid.
Although today "superfoods" like kale and quinoa are staples for many restaurants, True Food Kitchen was one of the first full-service restaurant brands to offer wellness-driven cuisine. 17 years and 46 more locations later, the brand continues to be a health food trendsetter, offering exciting new dishes like the SZA CZA — a Caesar salad launched in partnership with Grammy winner SZA.
With plans to open two new locations in Charlotte, NC, and Boulder, CO, in 2025, True Food Kitchen's future is bright — and tasty.
Superfoods meet super fast funding with DoorDash Capital
In September 2024, Peter Koumas, True Food Kitchen's CFO, stumbled across DoorDash Capital while exploring the restaurant's Merchant Portal, and the timing couldn't have been better. True Food Kitchen was in the middle of an exciting expansion phase, opening two new locations in Scottsdale, AZ, and Raleigh, NC. While business was strong, opening the additional stores while maintaining existing locations posed timing and cash flow challenges for the restaurant.
DoorDash Capital provides merchants access to financing that can be used for various business needs, like the ones Koumas identified during the chain's 2024 expansion. Merchants pay a single flat fee and payments are made through a fixed percentage of their DoorDash sales over time.
True Food Kitchen's first round of funding through DoorDash Capital served as a "beta test," offering fast, flexible financing without the red tape associated with traditional lending. Koumas and his team received funds within a few weeks of completing the application process and were able to track updates directly from the Merchant Portal.
"Going through the DoorDash Capital underwriting process was straightforward, and the speed at which you go from application to funding is really impressive."
Peter Koumas, CFO of True Food Kitchen
Encouraged by the experience, True Food Kitchen went back for a second round in early 2025 — this time to invest in facility improvements and maintenance across their existing restaurant fleet.
"Our second round of funding through DoorDash Capital has helped us bridge some of the gaps on some of our existing assets while we're working on opening two additional new restaurants."
Peter Koumas, CFO of True Food Kitchen
Healthy growth, powered by DoorDash
True Food Kitchen’s partnership with DoorDash goes far beyond financing. Like countless other restaurants, True Food Kitchen had to find a reliable way to sell food during the COVID-19 crisis. To rise to this challenge, they turned to third-party delivery services like DoorDash, enabling them to serve up vibrant, healthy dishes to customers even without the use of their dining rooms.
Although they joined in the wake of the pandemic, True Food Kitchen still uses DoorDash today to drive incremental sales. In fact, according to Koumas, DoorDash orders account for 10% of True Food Kitchen's overall revenue today, enabling the restaurant to get their wholesome dishes into the hands of more customers.
"With DoorDash, it feels like we have a true partner that is really aligned with our goals."
Peter Koumas, CFO of True Food Kitchen
In addition to Delivery and Pickup, True Food Kitchen leverages Drive On-Demand for order fulfillment and Promotions (including a March Madness campaign) and Sponsored Listings to attract more customers. "Whether it's lunch or dinner, we're really trying to get our food in as many mouths as possible — and being able to access DoorDash's loyal customers helps with that," said Koumas.
Tried and true
With four consecutive months of year-over-year growth in DoorDash sales, DoorDash has become a key ingredient to True Food Kitchen's success. From flexible funding to streamlined delivery, the partnership helps bring nourishing, nutritious food to more guests every day.
With a consistent flow of incremental revenue from DoorDash, True Food Kitchen is looking forward to another year of scaling their business, creating innovative new dishes, and delivering more value to dine-in, delivery, and pickup customers.
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