• Grab-and-go café serves Roswell Park patients, staff, visitors and neighbors
  • 200-square-foot quick-serve café near intersection of Carlton & Michigan
  • Menu of clean foods and juices incorporates fruits, vegetables, whole grains 

Newswise — BUFFALO, N.Y. — Research suggests that a plant-based diet rich in both proteins and antioxidants may help to prevent and fight cancer. With the opening of a second location of The Healthy Scratch, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center patients, visitors and employees have a new option for clean eating — and for foods and juices that may help to keep cancer at bay. Officials from the cancer center and the restaurant were joined by a cancer survivor as they cut the ribbon on a new grab-and-go Healthy Scratch café within Roswell Park’s Scott Bieler Clinical Sciences Center.

“Since launching The Healthy Scratch in 2016, it has been our goal to share the passion we have for living a healthy lifestyle,” say The Healthy Scratch co-owners Jessie and Kelly Pegula. “We believe that a healthy diet has an overwhelming impact on the quality of life. The leaders at Roswell Park share our belief and our passion, and we are thrilled to expand our offerings to this growing campus.”

The 200-square-foot quick-serve café features a variety of pre-made smoothies, cold-pressed juices and juice shots, along with healthy ready-made salads, acai bowls and wraps that have become popular at The Healthy Scratch’s flagship location at HarborCenter. The Healthy Scratch menu designed for the Roswell Park location incorporates certain foods identified by the American Institute for Cancer Research as “foods that fight cancer” — such as leafy greens, berries, grapes, tomatoes and whole grains. 

“The Healthy Scratch is such a great fit for Roswell Park. Our patients and employees are so excited to have them here,” says Roswell Park President and CEO Candace S. Johnson, PhD. “Many people who have faced cancer, or watched someone close to them go through it, are inspired to want to do everything they can to keep themselves and their families healthy. Conscious eating is a big part of that, and we want everyone who comes to Roswell Park to have easy access to these super foods and juices.”

The two organizations are working together to develop a specialty juice to be available at all Healthy Scratch locations, with a portion of proceeds to be donated toward research and patient care at Roswell Park.

The new Roswell Park location is also open to the public. The café is located in the ground floor of the cancer center’s Scott Bieler Clinical Sciences Center, Carlton Street at Michigan Avenue. Hours of operation are weekdays 6:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

                                                                          ###

This release is also available at www.roswellpark.org.

Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is a community united by the drive to eliminate cancer’s grip on humanity by unlocking its secrets through personalized approaches and unleashing the healing power of hope. Founded by Dr. Roswell Park in 1898, it is the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in Upstate New York. Learn more at www.roswellpark.org, or contact us at 1-800-ROSWELL (1-800-767-9355) or [email protected].