Silva says he wants to make America healthy again. He started his restaurant chain in Colonia in 1995.
WOODBRIDGE - He wants to make America healthy again.
That's the message from Rod Silva, a Piscataway resident, who started the popular Muscle Maker Grill franchise in Colonia nearly 20 years ago.
He's running for president now and is making health care his main talking point.
"I really believe America needs to be made healthy again and I'm the one who's going to beat the drum," Silva, 43, said Friday.
The entrepreneur plans to run as an independent candidate and says he's close to getting on the ballot in Colorado.
As he travels across the country in the next few weeks, he will be looking for volunteers and signatures to get him on the ballot in all 50 states.
Unlike Donald Trump, who claims his father gave him a "small loan" of $1 million for business purposes, Silva says he started Muscle Maker Grill with a mere $6,000.
"I got a pat on my back from my dad and he said, 'It's America, you can be what you want to be, go for it,'" Silva said. "My life would have changed if I had a million dollars to start my company back then."
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Silva opened the first Muscle Maker Grill on Dec. 8, 1995. He has since expanded the franchise to 60 locations in 13 states.
The concept of his restaurant - favorite foods made in healthy ways - dovetails with the message he hopes will bring him to the White House.
"When I started out in 1995, it was very unpopular in the restaurant industry to talk about healthy eating (and) healthy living," Silva said. "Through perseverance, we're the leader in that industry and I want to bring this message to the American people. It only takes one spark to start a fire."
Silva says all of his full-time employees are offered health insurance and that he believes preventative medicine is the key to a healthy America.
The message is personal.
Silva's father died at age 62 of a heart attack in his car, which was parked outside the family home in Edison. His death came about seven years after Silva opened his first Muscle Maker Grill.
"I found my father dead in a car from a massive heart attack," Silva said. "And it really showed me - the guy who lived the American dream, my hero - to die that way in the car, there's got to be a better way. And I began my journey."
Silva said his father had high cholesterol and was on medication. The heart attack was his father's only one, but it was massive and "impossible to come back from," the entrepreneur said.
After his father's death, Silva became even more focused on exercise and healthy eating.
"The way to make our people healthy again is to be preventative, not to wait until people are sick and then look to treat them," Silva said. "That's where the billions and billions of dollars are taking America down."
Silva said he believes the federal government should be "the referee, not the owner, not the boss" when it comes to health care.
"I would work with the healthcare system to educate people about preventative medicine," he said.
Another talking point for Silva is the fact that he's a Washington outsider.
"I really believe when (people) hear my message, they'll hear my voice, they'll see my passion, they'll see what I've been through," he said. "I started with nothing. Nobody gave me a handout."
He's also against the legalization of marijuana for recreational use but undecided about its medicinal benefits.
"It's a very simple thing, I don't think we should be smoking anything," Silva said. "Medical marijuana - I would defer that to the experts. We'd have to look at that."
Born in Newark, Silva grew up in Edison and runs his business in Woodbridge Township. He has been a Middlesex County resident for 20 years and lives in Piscataway with his wife of 14 years and their two children, ages 13 and 8.
He's not sure how much the campaign is costing him and points out he does not have unlimited funds.
"I'm doing what I can afford," he said.
Silva said he hopes his experience as a businessman along with his message about healthy living and preventative medicine will resonate with Americans.
"I strongly believe in the American people," he said. "And when they get behind the cause, there's no stopping us. I really believe America needs to be made healthy again. This is all about the American people."
Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.