Fast food usually means fried, mass-produced, unhealthy fare, laden with trans fat and high-fructose corn syrup. But what if you could pick up a quick bite that’s nutritious, organic, reasonably priced, sustainably produced – and tasty, too?

That’s what Fred Marken is providing at Grilla Bites, a small but growing chain of restaurants with two outlets in the Northern California college town of Chico, and two more a few hours north in Ashland and Medford, Oregon. The company’s mission: “to support our environment and community while maintaining a healthy responsibility to our customers through the food we serve.”

Instead of a Big Mac, you can order an Organic Soy Burger or a Wild Salmon Burger topped with grilled onions, tomato, spinach, and aioli. Forget Egg McMuffins; stop in at Grilla Bites some morning for a Grilla Breakfast Burrito, two poached eggs or tofu scramble with black beans, brown rice, and cheddar cheese, wrapped in a flour tortilla or a corn-cilantro crepe. The food comes mostly from local farms, including Marken’s own 100-acre asparagus farm south of Ashland, Oregon.

Though the chain has only four restaurants, (the first location opened in Chico in December 2002; the most recent opened in Ashland in May 2006) Marken, 64, hopes to spread the gospel of healthy, sustainable eating throughout the Northwest and beyond. He recently shared his business plans and thoughts about food in an interview with LIME.

LIME: What’s the philosophy behind Grilla Bites?

MARKEN: Our philosophy is basically to sell healthy food. We believe in the slow food movement and also John Robbins’ Diet for a New America. Have you heard of John Robbins? His father owned Baskin-Robbins but John refused his inheritance because he felt the food was killing people. We think it’s the responsibility of a well-run company to sell products that are healthy and beneficial to our customers’ longevity. It’s not rocket science. We buy from local farms and small organic manufacturing companies. I don’t buy from the major food companies like Cisco. It’s a very simple concept: feed people healthy foods grown as locally as you can get it.

LIME: How did Grilla Bites start?

MARKEN: I’ve lived in Chico [off and on] since 1965 and went to school here. I was in the restaurant business and then I left and started a manufacturing plant for sauces in San Francisco around 1985. I sold that business to my partner and went to work for a couple of guys who had an organic pasta and salsa manufacturing company. I sold that to an investment company. Then I started a company called New Organics out of Boston. We tried to penetrate big stores like Albertson’s and Wal-Mart but it wasn’t the right time so I left and went back to farming. Then I moved back to Chico. This little restaurant came up for sale so I bought it and started Grilla Bites with the idea of providing healthy food for the community. That was three and a half years ago. The people seem to want it.

Since then we’ve built three more restaurants. People are calling me every day and saying, “Open a Grilla Bites here.”

LIME: How did you come up with the name?

MARKEN: They’re grilled sandwiches and you bite into them so they’re “grilla bites.” We put the gorilla on the logo to attract kids. People remember Grilla Bites. We’re just having fun. Even though we have some sophisticated wealthy Republicans eating here, they still like it.

LIME: Do you consider Grilla Bites to be an alternative to fast food?

MARKEN: Yes, we do. We don’t serve fried food or food with chemicals. It’s moderately priced and it’s what I call food “served in a timely manner.”

LIME: Where does Grilla Bites food come from?

MARKEN: Local farmers. We buy from Amy’s and we buy tuna and rice and grains and organic milk and organic hamburger patties through United Naturals (a leading distributor of natural and organic foods). We make a lot of our soups fresh in house.

LIME: What are your most popular menu items?

MARKEN: Our smoked turkey, soy bacon and avocado sandwich; portabella burger; tofu sandwich; garden veggie sandwich; and turkey & pesto sandwich are very popular. At two of our restaurants we also serve dinner – free-range chicken, wild salmon and veggie meatloaf with mashed potatoes and rice.

LIME: What are your plans for expansion?

MARKEN: As many as we can build, as fast as we can build them. We’re looking at the Northwest -- Montana, Oregon and Washington. If anybody is interested in being part of our Grilla team we look forward to hearing from people through our Web site.

LIME: What do you look for in locations?

MARKEN: We look for downtown locations where there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic. We look for softer communities that have history, rather than places with a lot of new development. We like places like Chico and Medford, Ashland, Eugene, Bend, Portland, communities with our demographics—middle- to upper middle-class, educated women with disposable income. It’s kind of like the Whole Foods demographics.

LIME: If people don’t have a Grilla Bites near them, where do you recommend they eat?

MARKEN: They should go home and make it themselves. There aren’t many restaurants I will go to. Some restaurants have an organic salad or organic dish, but they aren’t like us. We use biodegradable silverware and biodegradable cleansers. Our philosophy is all about sustainability; it’s not just window dressing. Our to-go silverware is made out of corn and it’s compostable.