YAYE (pronounced “yă-yay”), an organic, plant-based cafe rooted in the belief that food is medicine, will open its first location at Zeppelin Station on Saturday, February 1st. Committed to improving peoples’ lives through healthy food, YAYE’s menu goes beyond that of a traditional “health food” restaurant by focusing on one thing: education. When customers consider ordering, they’ll get a quick, digestible (no pun intended) nutrition lesson on what the ingredients will do for their bodies.

Offering the highest quality cold-pressed juices, smoothies, smoothie bowls, soups, salads, and savory bowls, each menu item is crafted to nourish and make you feel good. The dexotifying cold-pressed Gotta Get Dem Greens juice contains Vitamin K (from the kale + spinach), Vitamin C (from the apple + lemon), and Gingerols (from, you guessed it, the ginger), which provide antioxidants for cellular protection and reduce inflammation to relax muscles and soothe nerves.

YAYE’s savory lunch items will fill you up without making you feel heavy (you’ll want to try the homemade Drop The Beet Burger with peach jalapeno chutney, avocado, peanut kale salad and grilled pineapple), and its raw desserts are delicious and healthy, so you can shamelessly eat them for breakfast. Every single item on YAYE’s menu is designed to reduce toxins and give you more energy and mental clarity, which is why their menu is 100% organic, plant-based, and free from gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and seed-based oils.

Drawing on her life-long health, wellness, and sustainability advocacy, Krissy Ostermiller designed YAYE to help make plant-based eating more accessible and appealing to all, not just the yogi community. YAYE, by the way, stands for You Are [what] You Eat. At age 14, Krissy started eating plant-based and has been whipping up recipes and blending homemade smoothies every day since. Even in Colorado, Krissy has always struggled to find restaurants whose mission and values align with her own. Most “health” cafes buy their nut milks and vegan cheeses (which are loaded with additives, even if they’re organic) from distributors, so Krissy started making her own from scratch. After realizing that it’s too expensive and time-consuming for most people to do the same, Krissy decided to start a food business that her customers can trust. Yes, everything on YAYE’s menu is made in-house, including their nut milks, granolas, dressings and cheese! The Caesar Augustus salad is perfectly paired with a delectable hemp-based parmesan cheese and roasted chickpea croutons, and the Cinnamon Dream smoothie bowl is topped with fresh fruit and heavenly dark chocolate granola.

Along with her passion for plant-based living, Krissy brings years of sustainable waste management and digital marketing experience to YAYE. From hand-sorting recycling and compost on her college campus at CU Boulder and at large-scale music festivals, to executing sustainable events across the US, Krissy has always been fascinated by the relationship between consumption, conservation and health. Knowing that 90% of all healthcare costs in America are spent on preventable diseases, Krissy playfully considers her work to be “pre-med”, that is, preventive medicine. “Every time we eat, we are either feeding disease or fighting it,” says Ostermiller. “Information is power, and education creates change. That’s why continuous learning is at the forefront of everything we do at YAYE. We change minds and lives by providing people with reliable, evidence-based information to reduce preventable deaths and diseases. We believe your health and wellness extends beyond what you eat, so we’re dedicated to helping our customers embody a life that is good for the mind, body, and planet.”

Krissy has traveled the world in search of the most innovative and delicious plant-based cuisines, and she couldn’t be more excited to bring that international inspiration home to Colorado. In addition to being a champion for plant-based lifestyles, Krissy is also an advocate for prison reform and is actively involved with Defy Colorado, a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming the lives of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals. She frequently volunteers to mentor Defy’s EITs (Entrepreneurs in Training) in various prisons throughout Colorado, and hopes to employ EITs (post-release) in the future. Krissy's brother Michael was incarcerated for 9 years before he passed away in 2011, so giving life skills, business skills, and opportunities to people who deserve second chances is a central part of her mission.

If you’re as excited as we are, do your gut a favor and head to Zeppelin Station on Saturday, February 1st to experience what is probably the healthiest cafe to hit Denver. You definitely won’t regret it!