ASHBURN — A plant-based vegan restaurant dedicated to helping and healing the community through healthy food will host its “super grand opening” this weekend in Ashburn.
Beginning 11 a.m. Saturday, Southwest Side neighbors can grab a cup of mushroom coffee, falafel waffles and more while celebrating the opening of Your Organic Inner G, an “all-natural” restaurant at 8259 S. Kedzie Ave.
Your Organic Inner G serves soy-free and dairy-free vegan menu items ranging from pot pies to baked potatoes and an original spin on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, owner Rena Parks said. A salad bar priced at $9.99 per pound has a range of leafy bases paired with vegetables, fruits, nuts or grains, Parks said.
Parks, a Roseland native, always wanted to open a business that would “help and heal the community by changing eating habits,” she said.
A trained chef and health coach, Parks worked at food service company Sodexo for seven years, she said. Before finding her Ashburn storefront, she sold salads, juices and sea moss smoothies from her car, Parks said.
Parks long dreamt of finding a brick-and-mortar space to sell her products, but finding a home for her business was challenging while being the caretaker for her ill parents, she said.
Parks explored her passions during those moments by preparing smoothies to help her mother feel better after chemotherapy treatments at the hospital, she said. Her mother’s renewed spirits after drinking the smoothies made Parks’ purpose as an entrepreneur even clearer, Parks said.
“I knew I wanted to heal people and to make them feel better with food,” Parks said. “When you get good food, you feel better.”
Parks promises her journey to opening Your Organic Inner G “only fell into place by the grace of God.”
When Parks finally found the Kedzie Avenue storefront nearly a year ago, the rent was “extremely high,” she said. But the landlord worked with her to manage the payments, Parks said.
When it came time to build out the restaurant’s interior, Parks decided to do all the work and cover costs herself, she said. Then she fell while trying to mount a television. A bone came out of her leg, Parks said.
The fall “had me on my back for three months,” Parks said. When she returned to her storefront months later, a young man she’d hired just to put a sink in the kitchen had finished renovating the restaurant for her, Parks said.
“I was about to cry the other day because God is so amazing,” Parks said. “God is making it happen.”
The Inner G in the restaurant’s name is a play on the word “energy,” Parks said.
A person’s life experiences are “about you and what you bring to the table,” Parks said. When neighbors visit her business, they’ll feel a “warm and welcoming energy,” she said.
Parks’ goal is to create a safe space where people want to relax with a good book, play a game of chess, have a date or relax after a long day with nourishing food, she said.
“I want people to feel at peace when they walk into Your Organic Inner G,” Parks said.
Soon, Your Organic Inner G will also offer adult wellness classes and health screenings, Parks said. Parks will lead transcendental meditation classes, and a yoga instructor will host morning sessions, Parks said.
Ashburn is only the first stop where Parks hopes to cultivate an inviting space, she said.
“My plan for the future is to open my next location in Englewood,” Parks said. “I want people there to have a place to sit and relax and bring this energy there.”
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