★★☆Diners Increase Business with Healthy Food

Read and understand the story. If you may have any difficult words to pronounce and words you cannot understand, always ask your teacher.

*Teachers will divide the article into 2-3 paragraphs to help you understand and check the pronunciation of the difficult words.

Vocabulary

*Read the words carefully.

1. diner /ˈdaɪnɚ/ (n.)a small, informal, and inexpensive restaurant that looks like a railroad car
2. phenomenal /fɪˈnɑːmənl̟/ (adj.) very good or great : unusual in a way that is very impressive
3. vegan /ˈviːgən/ (n.)a person who does not eat any food that comes from animals and who often also does not use animal products (such as leather)
4. treat /ˈtriːt/ (v.) to put a chemical or other substance on or in (something) in order to protect it, preserve it, clean it, etc.
5. hormones /ˈhoɚˌmoʊn/ (n.)a natural substance that is produced in the body and that influences the way the body grows or develops

Article

Diners Increase Business with Healthy Food

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 (1)Restaurants called “diners” can be found throughout the United States. They make simple, low-cost food. But traditional diner food is often unhealthy.

(2) One group of diners is cooking healthier food for their customers and, surprisingly, they love it.

(3) There are many people waiting for their meal at the Silver Diner in Waldorf, Maryland. Among them are Ashley Holt and Norman Bailey, who eat there often.

(4) “I like the food. It’s fresh, it’s good. I would come here more often especially because it’s a lot healthier.”

(5) “Great atmosphere, quick service and great food!”

(6) Ype Von Hengst and Bob Giaimo established Silver Diner 25 years ago.

(7) The two men visited diners throughout the country to learn how their restaurant could be different. Ype Von Hengst explains.

(8) “We wanted to create an atmosphere where the new families wanted to go with their kids and (have) not just a great atmosphere but also better food and cleaner food.”

(9) So they decided to offer healthier versions of traditional diner food, like pancakes, hamburgers and meatloaf. They used less processed materials, like unbleached flour. They use meat from animals that were not treated with antibiotics or hormones.

(10) Business slowed during the recession. So Chef Ype von Hengst added more healthy food choices to try to bring people to his diners.

(11) “And we started preparing healthier, local food, fresh food, vegan, vegetarian, giving people the lifestyle and the options that they want nowadays.”

(12) The men have partnered with more than 15 local farms to supply them with food. And they discovered the farm-fresh food was good for business.

(13) “I also feel really that it’s my moral obligation that I need to provide a better product for people and when I did, surprisingly, and somehow not surprisingly, we noticed that, you know, the volume start(ed) coming back and over the last three years we have gone up by 30% in customer count, which is phenomenal.”

(14) On a warm, sunny day, Chef Ype von Hengst picks zucchini and yellow squash with farmer Chris Parker. His family farm has been selling vegetables to Silver Diner restaurants for years.

(15) “If we could get all the restaurants in Washington, DC to commit to local produce, it would be a great thing for our business.”

(16) Chef Ype von Hengst says selling farm-fresh food is important to his business.

(17) “This is not a fad. This is here to stay. People are going to want healthier food. They’re going to want better food. If you don’t jump on this, you’re going to be out of business.”

(18) There are 15 Silver Diners — almost all in the Washington, DC area. A total of 10,000 people eat at the restaurants every week.

(19) “This is my passion. If you don’t, if you don’t have a passion for what you are doing, you really need to get out of it.”

Discussion

*Let’s talk about the article base on the questions below

1. Do restaurants in your country serve healthy food? How often do you eat in this kind of restuarants?
2. Do you think eating healthy foods alone can make you a fit and healthy person? Why?
3. What can you do to improve your health?

Tags: agriculture, food, Health, lifestyle, people