Food is not just fuel.
Food is medicine.
The Root Cafe exists because we believe — with 20 years of clinical evidence behind us — that what you eat is the most powerful medicine you will ever take.
We wanted to create a place in Duncan where food and environment are equally intentional: organic, whole, unrefined nourishment served in a space designed for connection, learning, and belonging. A place that feels less like a café, and more like coming home.
— OUR STORY"Your body knows how to heal.
We just give it what it needs."
The Root Cafe was built by Nicolette Richer and Scott, life and business partners who chose to bring their shared vision for real food and wellness to Duncan, BC.
Nicolette is the founder of Green Moustache Organic Café, which grew from a single location into seven across BC, serving more than 800,000 customers and proving that uncompromisingly healthy food and genuine deliciousness are not opposites. Together, Nicolette and Scott bring years of deep operational experience and a commitment to running food businesses with integrity.
When they arrived in Duncan, they brought everything they had learned and distilled it down to what matters most: food that nourishes and supports healing, served in a space that feels like a deep exhale.
Every item on the menu is built on the Eat Real to Heal framework, a clinical program developed through 20 years of chronic disease reversal research by Dr. Nicolette Richer.
Next door to the cafe, the Root Chronic Disease Reversal Centre brings the same philosophy into workshops, talks, and certification programs — creating a space for everyone in the Cowichan Valley who is ready to understand their body, health, and relationship with food in a new way.
— WHY ROOT CAFEBecause your health
is our priority.
Every decision we make, from the farms we source from to the cooking techniques we use, is guided by one question: does this serve the health of the person eating it? There are no shortcuts here, no compromises, and no apologies. Just honest, nourishing food made with the care your body deserves.
TASTY AND FILLING
Indulge your taste buds and satisfy your belly. Delicious food that also deeply nourishes.
GLUTEN-FREE
Meeting the needs of those who are gluten intolerant — or who simply prefer to feel their best without it.
100% ORGANIC
No synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides — ever. Clean food, clean body.
FRESH, WHOLE FOODS
Unrefined, without fillers, preservatives, or additives — even our dressings and condiments.
NUTRIENT-FRIENDLY COOKING
The way food is cooked is just as important as what's in it.
HEALTHY GUT BACTERIA
Plant-based whole foods build a thriving microbiome. The gut is where healing begins. We feed it well.
HEALTHY PROTEIN
All the essential amino acids. None of the harmful extras, no added hormones, no increased IGF-1.
KICK STARTS HEALING
Micronutrients and fibre calm inflammation and awaken your body’s healing.
NUTRIENT-DENSE
High in micronutrients per calorie — vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients in every bite.
LOCAL AND SUSTAINABLE
Supporting the planet, local economy, and Cowichan Valley community.
— MEET THE FOUNDERSTwo people.
One shared belief.
Scott brings decades of business leadership and a gift for meaningful relationships. Nicolette brings 20 years of clinical research in chronic disease reversal. Together they built a space where his gift for connection and her gift for healing science are woven inseparably into everything you eat, drink, and learn here.
Scott Loewen
Born and raised on a farm in the prairies of southern Manitoba, Scott's early life was shaped by the rhythms of the land, the strength of community, and the importance of caring for one another. His professional journey carried him through the trades into engineering, and eventually from Manitoba to British Columbia.
Scott's truest gifts have always been relational: the ability to meet people with openness, build trust with ease, and hold space where others feel genuinely supported. As CEO and Co-Founder of The Root Cafe, he oversees all operations across the cafe and centre, so that every person who walks through the door feels that.
He also serves as COO of the Richer Health Hotel & Wellness Centre, a landmark healing destination planned for Vancouver Island in 2029, bringing together his gift for connection with a vision for spaces that unite the medicine of whole, plant-based food with transformative wellness care.
CEO & CO-FOUNDER
Dr. Nicolette Richer, DSocSci
Nicolette was born in a remote village in Malawi, Africa,where her family were subsistence farmers, and food was never just fuel. It was medicine, ceremony, celebration, and sustenance. Those roots shaped everything. Nicolette left at four years old and immigrated to Canada, carrying a deep and early understanding of food's power.
She holds a Doctorate of Social Sciences and has spent 20+ years in clinical research in chronic disease reversal, helping thousands of people worldwide reverse their diagnosed chronic diseases through metabolic nutrition and detoxification. She is the creator of the Eat Real to Heal program, the evidence-based framework behind every item on The Root Cafe menu and every program offered through the Root Chronic Disease Reversal Centre.
As a bestselling author, TEDx presenter, and founder of several health-impact businesses including the Green Moustache Café, Richer Health Consulting Ltd., and Kulandira Healing, Nicolette brings her life's mission to every meal served and every workshop delivered: to educate people on how to reverse chronic disease and achieve optimal health.
CO-FOUNDER & DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMMINGOUR MISSION
To make healing
accessible to all.
The Root Cafe exists to prove — one bowl, one workshop, one community at a time — that chronic disease is not a life sentence. Through organic, whole-food plant-based nourishment and evidence-based education, we give every person who walks through our door the knowledge and the tools to take their health back into their own hands. No prescription required.
OUR VISION
A Cowichan Valley where chronic disease is reversed, not just managed.
We envision a community where chronic disease is reversed, not just managed, where every person understands the power of food as medicine, and where no one is priced out of healing. The Root Cafe and Chronic Disease Reversal Centre are where this begins. The Stay-to-Heal Wellness Hotel is where it grows.
— Our Core Values
INTEGRITYEvery ingredient, every claim, every program held to the highest standard of honesty.
COMMUNITYThis cafe belongs to the Cowichan Valley. Every decision we make reflects that responsibility.
EVIDENCETwenty years of clinical research behind every bowl, every program, every claim we make.
ACCESSIBILITYHealing is not a luxury. We build every program and every price point with equity in mind.
Ready to experience it for yourself? Come in for breakfast. Stay for a workshop. Leave knowing something you didn't before.