Cville-based Roots Natural Kitchen opens first Chesterfield location

Roots Midlo Cropped

The new Roots Natural Kitchen in Midlothian. (Photo by Jackie DiBartolomeo)

The first Chesterfield County location for Charlottesville-based Roots Natural Kitchen is open for business.

The fast-casual restaurant chain opened over the weekend at 14207 Winterview Parkway in the Winterfield Crossing Shopping Center in Midlothian. 

It is Roots’ 14th location overall, and third in the Richmond area. Its first in the region was opened downtown at 939 W. Grace St. in 2018, followed by its first in Henrico County at 6602 W. Broad St. near Reynolds Crossing in 2021. 

The new Chesterfield outpost occupies a 3,000-square-foot space in the same retail strip as a Jersey Mike’s Subs location that fronts Midlothian Turnpike. 

Roots offers a range of salad and grain bowls. Its most popular menu items include the pesto Caesar salad bowl, with kale with bulgur, lime-pickled onions and a pesto vinaigrette, and the El Jefe grain bowl with brown rice, charred corn and chicken in a cilantro lime sauce. The bowls range from $12 to $14. 

roots natural kitchen bowls

Roots Natural Kitchen serves grain- and salad-based bowls that feature grilled chicken, barbecue tofu and other ingredients. (Courtesy Roots Natural Kitchen)

Roots was founded in 2015 by University of Virginia students Alvaro Anspach and Joseph Linzon, along with UVA grads Jung Kim and Alberto Namnum. The four had the idea when they realized there weren’t many fast-casual and healthy places to eat near the UVA campus. 

Locations soon after cropped up near college campuses like the University of Delaware, Penn State and Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Prior to the Midlothian location opening, the most recent Roots to pop up was in College Park at the University of Maryland in 2023. 

Current Roots CEO Henry Borgeson is a former roommate of Kim’s. Borgeson said he was a loyal customer of Roots before being approached by the founders to take on the position in 2016. He’s been onboard ever since. 

“Eating Roots was a lifechanging experience for me,” he said. “I never knew how to eat healthy up to that point. It’s harder than it should be.” 

Borgeson said the idea for a Midlothian location came from customer feedback, and from the desire for growing with the chain’s customer base. 

No longer just targeting college campuses, Roots seeks places where young people will be moving post-grad. 

“We knew there were young folks moving to Midlothian, but not just young folks. We knew there were people in Midlothian looking for an option like this based on feedback from our customers,” Borgeson said. 

Roots Midlo interior cropped

The interior of the new Winterfield location. (Jackie DiBartolomeo)

Roots isn’t planning on slowing down after the new opening. The Midlothian location is one of several locations Roots hopes to bring to the U.S. soon, in a bid to continue to “grow up with our customer base,” as Borgeson put it. 

Roots is looking to place locations in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, regions over the next two years. A potential new Richmond-area location is also a possibility, though Borgeson would not yet specify where.

“Those are four places where we feel we were really well-received at their universities, and they’re big cities that a lot of people are moving into that are ready to have more Roots,” he said. 

The Roots Natural Kitchen Midlothian location is now open Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

With over 100,000 square feet of commercial space, Winterfield Crossing is home to such tenants as Aldi, Qdoba and Triple Crossing Brewing. 

Other recent additions to the shopping center along with Roots include fast-casual lobster chain Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls and California-based vegan bakery chain Cinnaholic.

Roots Midlo Cropped

The new Roots Natural Kitchen in Midlothian. (Photo by Jackie DiBartolomeo)

The first Chesterfield County location for Charlottesville-based Roots Natural Kitchen is open for business.

The fast-casual restaurant chain opened over the weekend at 14207 Winterview Parkway in the Winterfield Crossing Shopping Center in Midlothian. 

It is Roots’ 14th location overall, and third in the Richmond area. Its first in the region was opened downtown at 939 W. Grace St. in 2018, followed by its first in Henrico County at 6602 W. Broad St. near Reynolds Crossing in 2021. 

The new Chesterfield outpost occupies a 3,000-square-foot space in the same retail strip as a Jersey Mike’s Subs location that fronts Midlothian Turnpike. 

Roots offers a range of salad and grain bowls. Its most popular menu items include the pesto Caesar salad bowl, with kale with bulgur, lime-pickled onions and a pesto vinaigrette, and the El Jefe grain bowl with brown rice, charred corn and chicken in a cilantro lime sauce. The bowls range from $12 to $14. 

roots natural kitchen bowls

Roots Natural Kitchen serves grain- and salad-based bowls that feature grilled chicken, barbecue tofu and other ingredients. (Courtesy Roots Natural Kitchen)

Roots was founded in 2015 by University of Virginia students Alvaro Anspach and Joseph Linzon, along with UVA grads Jung Kim and Alberto Namnum. The four had the idea when they realized there weren’t many fast-casual and healthy places to eat near the UVA campus. 

Locations soon after cropped up near college campuses like the University of Delaware, Penn State and Virginia Commonwealth University. 

Prior to the Midlothian location opening, the most recent Roots to pop up was in College Park at the University of Maryland in 2023. 

Current Roots CEO Henry Borgeson is a former roommate of Kim’s. Borgeson said he was a loyal customer of Roots before being approached by the founders to take on the position in 2016. He’s been onboard ever since. 

“Eating Roots was a lifechanging experience for me,” he said. “I never knew how to eat healthy up to that point. It’s harder than it should be.” 

Borgeson said the idea for a Midlothian location came from customer feedback, and from the desire for growing with the chain’s customer base. 

No longer just targeting college campuses, Roots seeks places where young people will be moving post-grad. 

“We knew there were young folks moving to Midlothian, but not just young folks. We knew there were people in Midlothian looking for an option like this based on feedback from our customers,” Borgeson said. 

Roots Midlo interior cropped

The interior of the new Winterfield location. (Jackie DiBartolomeo)

Roots isn’t planning on slowing down after the new opening. The Midlothian location is one of several locations Roots hopes to bring to the U.S. soon, in a bid to continue to “grow up with our customer base,” as Borgeson put it. 

Roots is looking to place locations in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, regions over the next two years. A potential new Richmond-area location is also a possibility, though Borgeson would not yet specify where.

“Those are four places where we feel we were really well-received at their universities, and they’re big cities that a lot of people are moving into that are ready to have more Roots,” he said. 

The Roots Natural Kitchen Midlothian location is now open Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

With over 100,000 square feet of commercial space, Winterfield Crossing is home to such tenants as Aldi, Qdoba and Triple Crossing Brewing. 

Other recent additions to the shopping center along with Roots include fast-casual lobster chain Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls and California-based vegan bakery chain Cinnaholic.

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