Life Alive Secures Prime Location on Boston University Campus

A vegetarian restaurant with locations in Cambridge, Salem, and Lowell will add another in Boston proper. Life Alive will take over the vacated Panera Bread space at 888 Commonwealth Ave. on the campus of Boston University, according to the Daily Free Press, BU’s student newspaper.

Life Alive searched for a spot to open a fourth location for several months before securing the Panera space, the Free Press reported. Expansion talk goes back even further, though; there was chatter in late 2013 and again in mid-2015 about potential locations elsewhere in Cambridge and in Jamaica Plain.

Max Pelham, general manager of the Cambridge restaurant, will step in to run the BU restaurant when it opens. Right now, the target arrival is January 2018. Pelham told the Free Press Life Alive planned to bring some new menu items to the BU location, including new desserts and even more vegan and vegetarian options. The rest of Life Alive’s menu includes raw foods, plus smoothies and smoothie bowls, tea, coffee, juices, wraps, salads, and more.

Panera Bread left the Commonwealth Avenue space in May, as previously reported. Life Alive will join several other restaurants in this section of BU’s campus, including Otto Pizza right next door, plus Chipotle, Starbucks, and Sunset Cantina, among others.

• Organic, Vegetarian Life Alive Cafe Plans January Opening in West Campus [DFP]
• Panera Bread on BU’s Campus Shuts Down Later This Month [EBOS]