Two local businesses have begun a new partnership that will make healthy, vegan options more accessible to Fountain Hills residents and visitors.

Jonathan and Veeta Rankins, owners of the plant-based, gluten-free café, Veeta’s Vegan, have decided to close the dining experience of their café and expand their meal program, host healthy cooking classes and make their catering efforts more available to the community.

To ensure Veeta’s loyal customer base does not miss out on her tasty vegan fare, Veeta’s vegan meals, soups, salads, cold-pressed juices and sweet treats are now available just a stone’s throw away at Good Living Greens organic grocery store.

“We’re not leaving. We’re still here. We’re just changing the way we do business,” Veeta said. “We’ll be here for the long haul.”

Shared success

It's a win-win-win according to Good Living Greens’ Co-Owner, Jill Keefe, “for our business, for Veeta and for Fountain Hills.”

This isn’t the first time the two businesses have worked together. In fact, Veeta has used the microgreens from Good Living Greens for her plant-based juices and oftentimes the two businesses share customers.

“We’ll say, ‘Oh, well, if you like that, have you tried Veeta’s?’” Jill said. “And the same happens in reverse; people will come in and say, ‘I was just at Veeta’s and she told me about your shop.’”

“It’s people of Fountain Hills helping people of Fountain Hills,” Jill’s husband, Jeremy, added.

Jill and Jeremy started Good Living Greens in their bonus room before expanding into the organic grocery store that graces Parkview Avenue. They have been open for roughly one year, giving Jill a sense of kinship with the vegan café that opened just down the block.

“[Veeta] approached us and said, ‘What do you think about carrying our food in your grab-and-go section?’” Jill said. “I was like, ‘That’s an incredible idea. We love it.’ And because we already worked with one or two restaurants or cooks that do grab-and-go and we’ve heard from our customers that they really like that and want to see more of it and more choices, it was just such a natural, obvious fit.”

With more time to cook, Veeta and Jonathan will pick up where they left off before opening a brick-and-mortar store by shipping meals to customers near and far.

“We’ve got, across the 50 States, a network of online customers that are texting and calling, ‘Hey, when’s this coming?’” Jonathan said.

While the dine-in portion of the business is closing, Veeta’s and Jonathan’s three- and four-day meal plan customers can still obtain their meals at Veeta’s Vegan, with online ordering no later than Monday at 10 a.m. and pickup every Tuesday from 2 to 4 p.m.

Passion for health

Rennetta Brown is a 25-year resident of Fountain Hills and a super-fan of both stores. She makes her rounds at Veeta’s Vegan and Good Living Greens every Thursday to stock up on fresh produce and vegan treats.

“I’m so excited about [the collaboration],” Brown said. “What’s nice is there’s a variety of different things between the two different companies.”

Brown, a massage therapist, said her favorite part about making her weekly trips are the people who run the two stores, the knowledge that she gains talking to them and especially the fresh juice, which Brown says has helped reduce her joint inflammation.

“It’s the people,” Brown said. “There’s a good energy. They care. They have a passion for what they do.”

With Good Living Greens’ longer opening hours from Tuesday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., fans of Veeta’s creations now have a longer window of time after work or during lunch to pick up their grab-and-go meals, juices and snacks.

A new beginning

Educating the public about healthy eating, meal planning and catering for birthdays, weddings, office gatherings and other events are on the horizon for Veeta and Jonathan, who already have a few cooking classes planned around the community. The pair also serve a number of customers who have suffered catastrophic medical events.

“We end up getting a large number of people coming after they’ve had cancer or after they’ve had these life-threatening events and then they’re scared,” Jonathan said. “We want to try to educate people before they get to that point. Of course, we’ll help them, but we would like to help people before they’re in that dire need.

“Jeremy and Jill are catalysts to that as well because here’s our first grocery store, they’re so close and we have similar visions with health,” he added. “So, with Veeta’s amazing gift of making natural foods taste so well, that’s why Jill and Jeremy are really important to us still continuing that.”

Good Living Greens is located at 16842 E. Parkview Ave., Unit 2. For more information, visit goodlivinggreens.com, call 253-677-2830 or send an email to jill.keefe@goodlivinggreens.com.

Veeta’s Vegan is located at 16751 E. Parkview Ave., Suite 1. Store hours for meal plan customers are Tuesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information, visit veetasvegan.com or send an email to yum@veetasvegan.com.