Completing his goal

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This article was published 10/04/2023 (1094 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former Blue Bomber is bringing Bangkok to Winnipeg.

Or, the Bangkok wrap, a vegetable and noodle-filled sandwich that changed the trajectory of the football player’s life.

“I tried the product and just absolutely fell in love with it,” Taylor Renaud, 35, said. “I immediately began going down the route of how we can… get this going in Winnipeg.”

It was late 2019, and Renaud, a former wide receiver, was trying The Chopped Leaf for the first time in Regina. The chain restaurant brands its bowls, wraps and salads as healthy choices.

More than three years later, Renaud is completing his goal — on Tuesday, he’s opening The Chopped Leaf at 749 Sterling Lyon Parkway.

It’s nestled between Winnipeg’s first St. Louis Bar & Grill and a new Dollarama. Steps away is the Seasons outlet mall and Wheelhouse Cycle Club, the indoor spin studio Renaud co-owns.

The Chopped Leaf first dipped its toes in Winnipeg in 2019, inside the Red River Co-op Food Store within Grant Park Shopping Centre.

The restaurant shuttered in July of 2021. This Chopped Leaf is different — it’s not a partnership with a grocery store, and it’s opening in a post-pandemic era, Renaud said.

“I think people are realizing the importance of taking care of their bodies, which includes the food that you put in them,” he said.

He loads up his Bangkok wrap with chicken. The Chopped Leaf’s products are customizable and made quickly, he said.

“Especially coming out of COVID… people want healthy options to fuel their body, but they also don’t want to be waiting forever,” Renaud said.

His intentionality around food choices grew after a near career-shattering injury in his draft year.

A bad tackle left Renaud sidelined with a broken leg and torn knee. He dropped out of school, returned home to Winnipeg and began “aggressive” rehabilitation, six hours a day daily.

“I needed proper recovery, proper nutrition, proper sleep,” Renaud said. “I was super, super careful of the food I was putting in my body.”

He recovered, graduated with a business degree and signed a contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2013.

Renaud ended his Bombers career in 2015.

“Health and fitness is my life,” he said. “I’m kind of committed now, with everything. You’ve got the gym, and then… with Chopped Leaf, bringing healthy eating to Winnipeggers.”

Twenty-four Chopped Leaf franchises have opened since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Chopped Leaf started in Kelowna, B.C. in 2009.

A “small number” of Chopped Leafs closed during the pandemic for reasons including real estate and performance, according to a spokesperson from The Chopped Leaf’s corporate office.

“We really think Winnipeggers will fall in love with The Chopped Leaf, which could mean more locations in the future,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

Renaud picked his location, in part, for its bustle.

More than 100,000 vehicles drive through the intersection of Sterling Lyon Parkway and Kenaston Boulevard daily, according to a Seasons report.

If the construction pace continues, development at Seasons should finish in the next three years, the site’s developer told the Free Press in January.

“There’s so much happening around here,” Renaud said. “This is definitely where I wanted to be.”

Brandon is home to Manitoba’s only other The Chopped Leaf.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com