Bean Sprouts
Bean Sprouts operates 16+ healthy food cafés embedded inside US family destinations (children's museums, science centers, zoos), serving over 15 million annual visitors with allergy-conscious, kid-friendly menus under a licensed concept model, complemented by catering, a dessert sub-brand, and a published cookbook.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2007
- HeadquartersSanta Ana, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Bean Sprouts does
Bean Sprouts is a US-based restaurant company that operates healthy food cafés embedded inside family destinations such as children's museums, science centers, zoos, and theme parks. Founded in 2007 by Kelly "Pea Brain" Parthen and Shannon "Peacasso" Seip, the company runs 16+ café locations across 10+ states, serving more than 15 million annual visitors with a menu designed to be playful for children and nutritionally credible for adults. The product offering accommodates a broad range of dietary restrictions—vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and soy-free—and centers on the signature Imaginibbles kids menu, which uses lower counter heights and creative dish names to let children self-select healthy options. The company has also extended the brand into a dessert sub-brand (The Sweet Spot), catering services across all café locations, and the Bean Appétit cookbook sold via Amazon, with a stated social-impact component donating meals for each book sold.
The business operates on multiple revenue streams: point-of-sale food and beverage at the cafés, transaction-based catering revenue, licensing/royalty fees from family destinations that adopt the Bean Sprouts concept, and one-time cookbook sales. The licensing model is the primary scaling mechanism: Bean Sprouts targets family destinations with at least 200,000 annual visitors and licenses its concept, while venues typically operate the cafés on-site under that license. This is reflected in a central organization of 11–50 employees supporting a footprint of 16+ partner-operated venues. The company is privately held, has not disclosed external funding, and reports ownership and leadership concentrated with the two co-founders, who serve as co-CEOs. There is no proprietary technology platform; the underlying 'technology' is operational know-how in allergen-safe food preparation, venue-specific menu design, and a content library (cookbook and recipes) that supports brand extension. The company has accumulated third-party validation through mainstream media coverage (Good Morning America, Today Show, Forbes) and industry recognition including Inc. Magazine Top 100 Female Founders, Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers, and AllerTrain Best Food Allergy Innovation Award.
Bean Sprouts firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Bean Sprouts
- Website
- https://beansprouts.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2007
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Bean Sprouts operates 16+ healthy food cafés embedded inside US family destinations (children's museums, science centers, zoos), serving over 15 million annual visitors with allergy-conscious, kid-friendly menus under a licensed concept model, complemented by catering, a dessert sub-brand, and a published cookbook.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Bean Sprouts industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Healthy Kids Café / Family-Destination Foodservice
- NAICS
- Cafeterias, Grill Buffets, and Buffets (722514), Caterers (722320)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Mobile / On-Site Catering (Food Trucks for Events, Pop-Ups) (THAFAIAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Farm-to-Table & Agritourism Dining Experiences (Farm Visits, Harvest Meals) (THAJAGAK)
Keywords
Where Bean Sprouts is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Santa Ana
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices16 records
Markets served
Bean Sprouts business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Café Food & Beverage Sales: Point-of-sale revenue from café operations inside family destinations, serving kids and adults with healthy menu options including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and soy-free options.
- Catering Services: Catering for events including birthday parties, board meetings, field trips, and camps. Available across all Bean Sprouts café locations.
- Cookbook Sales: Sale of Bean Sprouts Kitchen cookbook published by Quarto Group, featuring 60 recipes. With each book purchase, Bean Sprouts donates enough for 5 meals for kids in need.
- Licensing & Franchise Fees: Licensing arrangements with family destinations (museums, science centers, zoos, theme parks) that want to offer Bean Sprouts' hip and healthy food concept to their visitors.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Bean Sprouts product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Bean Sprouts runs a multi-location chain of healthy, family-friendly cafés embedded inside children's museums, science centers, zoos, and theme parks across the United States. Its core offering is point-of-sale foodservice featuring playful, nutritious menus (including the Imaginibbles kids' menu) with broad allergen accommodation (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, soy-free). The company extends this café concept through event catering, a branded cookbook (Bean Sprouts Kitchen / Bean Appétit), and a licensing program for family destinations with at least 200,000 annual visitors.
Product overview
Bean Sprouts operates as a multi-location café chain serving family destinations across the United States. The core offering consists of Bean Sprouts Café (healthy kids' café with dietary accommodations) complemented by The Sweet Spot (dessert concept) and Bean Sprouts Kitchen (cookbook). The company also provides catering services and operates a signature Imaginibbles kids menu. All concepts focus on making healthy eating fun and accessible for children.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- The Sweet Spot: A sub-brand offering tasty treats and all-natural ingredients, now open in select locations.
- Imaginibbles
- Bean Appétit
Products and services
- Bean Sprouts Café Bean Sprouts' flagship healthy café concept operating inside family destinations (children's museums, science centers, zoos, theme parks), serving playful, nutritious meals for children and adults with accommodations for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and soy-free diets.
- The Sweet Spot Dessert and treats sub-brand under Bean Sprouts featuring tasty treats and all-natural ingredients, currently available at select locations including the McWane Science Center in Birmingham, AL.
- Bean Sprouts Catering
- Bean Sprouts Kitchen Cookbook (Bean Appétit) Cookbook featuring 60 creative, wholesome recipes designed to make healthy eating fun for picky and adventurous eaters; with each book purchased, Bean Sprouts donates enough for 5 meals for kids in need.
Quantifiable outcome
- 1 in 13 children have food allergies, and Bean Sprouts accommodates most allergies
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Bean Sprouts
Customer profileNamed customers15 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Bean Sprouts technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature2 records
Bean Sprouts partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Family Destinations (Museums, Science Centers, Zoos)coreBean Sprouts licenses its café concept to family destinations including museums, science centers, and zoos. Partners include venues such as Bay Area Discovery Museum, Children's Museum of Pittsburgh, Discovery Cube, DuPage Children's Museum, and others. The company requires partners to have at least 200,000 annual visitors.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Bean Sprouts competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Jamba Juice: Health-focused smoothie and bowl chain that frequently operates kiosks and small-format stores inside malls, airports, and family destinations - analogous to Bean Sprouts' embedded-in-venues model with a health-forward menu focus.
- Pret a Manger: Healthy café chain offering made-to-order salads, sandwiches, and bowls - comparable to Bean Sprouts on healthy café positioning and on venue/mall and office-tower locations, though serving a broader all-day adult customer base.
- Sodexo: International foodservice and facilities management company that operates cafés and restaurants at museums, universities, and corporate venues - a broad incumbent in the venue-foodservice space that competes for the same partner-venue contracts Bean Sprouts targets.
- Sweetgreen: Public healthy fast-casual restaurant chain built on wellness-forward menus and a digitally-savvy brand - comparable to Bean Sprouts on health positioning and brand-led differentiation, though operating standalone stores rather than embedded partner venues.
- Aramark: Global foodservice and facilities operator that runs restaurants and cafés inside museums, zoos, aquariums, and cultural attractions - directly comparable venue-embedded foodservice model to Bean Sprouts, though at vastly larger scale and without a healthy/kids specialty focus.
- Cava: Fast-growing Mediterranean fast-casual chain with a healthy and customizable menu - comparable to Bean Sprouts on healthy positioning and franchise-able concept, though operates standalone locations rather than embedded partner venues.
Direct peers
- True Food Kitchen: Health-forward restaurant chain with allergy-conscious menus and a focus on wellness-driven dining - highly comparable to Bean Sprouts' healthy positioning and differentiated nutritional/allergen story, though operating as standalone storefronts rather than embedded venues.
- Rainforest Cafe: Themed restaurant chain operating inside tourist destinations, malls, and family entertainment centers - a direct destination-embedded dining peer to Bean Sprouts with shared family-traffic customer base, though differentiated by themed entertainment rather than healthy positioning.
- Hard Rock Cafe: Iconic destination-embedded themed restaurant chain located at tourist attractions, hotels, and entertainment districts - shares Bean Sprouts' model of locating inside high-traffic family destinations and monetizing through licensing/royalty arrangements.
- Restaurant Associates: Specialist venue restaurant operator (a Compass Group company) that runs dining programs inside cultural institutions including museums and galleries - the closest embedded-venue dining operator comparable to Bean Sprouts' model.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat3 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Bean Sprouts social profiles
Digital presenceBean Sprouts compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Bean Sprouts financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Bean Sprouts leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Bean Sprouts funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Bean Sprouts M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Bean Sprouts
What does Bean Sprouts do?
Bean Sprouts runs a multi-location chain of healthy, family-friendly cafés embedded inside children's museums, science centers, zoos, and theme parks across the United States. Its core offering is point-of-sale foodservice featuring playful, nutritious menus (including the Imaginibbles kids' menu) with broad allergen accommodation (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, soy-free). The company extends this café concept through event catering, a branded cookbook (Bean Sprouts Kitchen / Bean Appétit), and a licensing program for family destinations with at least 200,000 annual visitors.
Is Bean Sprouts a public or private company?
Bean Sprouts is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Bean Sprouts founded?
Bean Sprouts was founded in 2007. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Bean Sprouts based?
Bean Sprouts is headquartered in Santa Ana, United States, in the North America region.
How does Bean Sprouts make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Café Food & Beverage Sales are the primary driver. The others are catering Services, cookbook Sales and licensing & Franchise Fees.
Who are Bean Sprouts's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Jamba Juice, Pret a Manger, Sodexo, Sweetgreen, Aramark and Cava. Direct peers are True Food Kitchen, Rainforest Cafe, Hard Rock Cafe and Restaurant Associates.
Does Bean Sprouts have an API?
No public API is recorded for Bean Sprouts.
What industry is Bean Sprouts in?
Bean Sprouts's product category is Healthy Kids Café / Family-Destination Foodservice. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAFAIAJ, Mobile / On-Site Catering (Food Trucks for Events, Pop-Ups), with a secondary code of THAJAGAK, Farm-to-Table & Agritourism Dining Experiences (Farm Visits, Harvest Meals). Its NAICS code is 722514 and its SIC code is 5810.