Britni DeLeon and Kasia Bednarz are the Co-founders of FARE, a healthy fast-casual restaurant chain local to Chicago specializing in nutritious, seasonal, and locally sourced meals. Under their leadership, FARE has expanded to multiple locations in Chicago, garnering significant media attention and a loyal customer base for their innovative approach to healthy eating.
Britni and Kasia’s journey began with their shared passion for simply prepared and wholesome food, which has translated into a thriving business that challenges traditional notions of fast food. They are committed to making healthy food accessible and flavorful while focusing on sustainability and community engagement.
Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- [02:07] How Britni DeLeon and Kasia Bednarz’s partnership was serendipitously formed
- [05:01] The fear and excitement of opening their first location
- [08:03] The unexpected challenges of launching their restaurant
- [08:45] The philosophy of simplicity in FARE’s delicious recipes
- [11:19] How Britni and Kasia collaboratively create their seasonal menus
- [14:53] The adaptability needed for diverse restaurant locations
- [22:16] Why transparency is key to FARE’s culinary philosophy
In this episode…
The restaurant industry is a competitive field where success requires a combination of passion, innovation, and adaptability. How did two women turn their shared love of healthy food into a thriving restaurant business?
According to Britni DeLeon and Kasia Bednarz, Co-founders of FARE, the key to their success lies in their commitment to simple, delicious food made with high-quality, seasonal ingredients. They also emphasize the importance of transparency, building trust with customers by openly sharing their values and sourcing practices. Their collaborative approach to menu creation, embracing adaptability when expanding to new locations, and actively staying informed about health trends have also been crucial to their growth.
On this episode of the Top Business Leaders Show, Rise25’s Chad Franzen talks to Britni DeLeon and Kasia Bednarz about their journey as co-founders of FARE. Britni and Kasia discuss their shared passion for healthy eating, the challenges of opening their first location, the importance of team culture, and the value of transparency and sustainability. They also share insights into their collaborative menu creation process and their vision for future expansion.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Britni DeLeon on LinkedIn
- Kasia Bednarz on LinkedIn
- FARE
- Gibson’s Restaurant Group
- Chad Franzen on LinkedIn
- SpotOn
- Rise25
Quotable Moments:
- “Food is most delicious in its simplest form if you’re using really good ingredients.” – Britni DeLeon [08:30]
- “Healthy food doesn’t have to be utilitarian, and flavor is one of our core values.” – Kasia Bednarz [10:08]
- “There was a certain level of naivety that you just had to have to jump off and do something like this.” – Britni DeLeon [04:46]
- “It’s about honoring the ingredients, the seasonality, and letting those things shine.” – Britni DeLeon [09:48]
- “We want food that’s healthy to be approachable and we want you to crave it.” – Kasia Bednarz [10:21]
Action Steps:
- Embrace Simplicity in Food Preparation: Start with high-quality, seasonal ingredients and let their natural flavors shine with minimal enhancement.
- Prioritize Transparency and Trust in Food Choices: Always know what is in your food by choosing eateries or products that openly share their ingredients and processes.
- Adapt and Listen to Consumer Needs: Be flexible and responsive to dietary preferences and restrictions, ensuring your offerings are inclusive and accommodating.
- Stay Informed About Health Trends: Keep up-to-date with the latest research and trends in healthy eating and sustainability, but avoid fleeting fads.
- Incorporate Seasonal Menu Changes: Regularly update your menu to align with seasonal produce, which is not only fresher and more nutritious but also supports local agriculture.
Sponsor for this episode
SpotOn:
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Episode Transcript
Intro 00:03
Welcome to the Top Business Leaders Show, powered by Rise25 media. We feature top founders, executives and business leaders from all over the world.
Chad Franzen 00:18
Hi Chad Franzen here, co-host for the show where we feature top restaurateurs, investors and business leaders. This is part of our SpotOn series. SpotOn has the best in class payment platform for retail, and they have a flagship solution called SpotOn Restaurant, where they combine marketing software and payments all in one. They’ve served everyone from larger chains like Dairy Queen and Subway to small mom and pop restaurants. To learn more, go to spoton.com.
This episode is brought to you by Rise25. We help B2B businesses to get ROI, clients, referrals and strategic partnerships through done for You podcasts. If you have a B2B business and want to build great relationships with clients, referral partners, and thought leaders in your space, there’s no better way to do it than through podcasts and content marketing. To learn more, go to rise 25.com or email us at. Support@rise25.com.
My guests today are Kasia Bednarz and Britni DeLeon, the co-founders of the fast casual restaurant FARE. Kasia and Britni, inspired by a shared love of fresh seasonal food, partnered in 2013 to create a restaurant specializing in healthy, delicious meals with multiple Chicago locations and wholesale prepared foods. Prepared Foods line fair is dedicated to using high quality, simple ingredients, making and making eco friendly decisions. Kasia and Britni are passionate about building their healthier communities and changing how people think about healthy eating. Hey Kasia and Britni, thanks so much for joining me today. How are you?
Britni DeLeon 01:40
Great. Thank you for having us.
Chad Franzen 01:41
Hey, tell me, what were you guys doing in 2013 or before 2013 when you first came up with this idea? Like, what were you doing? Obviously not involving FARE.
Britni DeLeon 01:52
Yeah, I can, I can start there. I’m Britni, so happy to be here. So thank you again for having us. Kasia and I were working together at a restaurant here in Chicago called the Gibson, called Gibson Steak House, and we worked for the entire group, the Gibson’s Restaurant Group. We found our way there, you know, working jobs for them during our time in college.
And then started our first careers there in the private dining department. That’s where we initially met each other and we were really young. We were in our early 20s at the time, just exploring what it meant to eat healthy and feel good and feel good about the things that we were putting in our body, and we were really exploring those things at the same time. And so it was this very serendipitous moment of sharing similar looking lunches at work and being excited about ingredients and really feeling like, why doesn’t anything like this exist to fuel us through our busy, long, long hours at the restaurant?
Chad Franzen 02:51
So how long had you guys been talking about it without before coming up with an idea like, okay, we’re going to start our own thing?
Kasia Bednarz 02:58
Well, originally Britni wasn’t a big fan of me, so, you know, we had to get her to come around. We decided it was better to join forces and work together. We actually started with an idea for a protein bar. You know, we were on the go and we wanted to create something that was really accessible and easy to eat that we felt really nourished by. And so we worked on a protein bar.
Our bar beat us to it. And after cooking for friends and, you know, bringing in these lunches to the office, and we’re in an office where you got free lunch, you know, from these like, beautiful restaurants, people were really interested in what we were doing. And so we started cooking for people in the office, and we started catering and doing like, side gigs, you know, basically anything anyone that would be interested in what we were doing, we were willing to make food for them. And I would say it was probably like a year of doing that. And we were doing that while we were working at Gibson’s, you know, side hustle, they know now and are great partners of ours.
But we were definitely, you know, on the weekends and on our lunch break, delivering catering orders for what was a different company or called a different company at the time. But we did that for about a year, and then eventually it just became busy. And we’re like, we can’t continue doing this like this. Like, let’s actually turn this into something. And so we made a business plan and, you know, we shopped it around and started looking for locations.
But it was one of those situations where it was the chicken, you know, before the egg. So you couldn’t get the space without having the money. You couldn’t get the money without the space. And so we kind of went down this rabbit hole for a while, but eventually we got our first, you know, first taker, and we got a small investment from some friends and family. And then it became easier and we found a location.
And so, yeah, I would say about three years in the making.
Chad Franzen 04:38
Nice. Very nice. So Britni, tell me about the early days of that first location. Like what was it like the first day that you opened?
Britni DeLeon 04:46
Scary. Yeah, we were terrified, honestly. You know, I think that there I tell people this a lot, being where we were in life, there was a certain level of naivety that you just had to have to jump off and do something like this. And so we’re really grateful that we had that. We felt confident we had worked in restaurants before.
We could certainly figure out how to serve salads out of 300 square feet. Well, we had to be really innovative early on and get creative about how we were going to take this really big concept that we originally thought was going to be an 1800 square feet, squash it down to 300 square feet. And then we didn’t even, you know, think about really volume at that time. How are we going to move people through this line quickly? So actually, some of our first team members that we brought on board, we really looked to them and we were like, you’ve been in the fast casual space, you tell us what to do.
And so it’s really humbling looking back at those early days and just remembering how uneasy we felt about it all and how scared we were once that people started coming. I think that’s something that we really have in common and something that we love about hospitality and restaurants, and drew us in from the beginning. We love being around the people and being able to interact with them and in such a close and intimate way because of the size of the space, was really energizing. And so I think that the initial fear slowly wore off as we saw those people coming in the door. And we knew, you know, deep down that there were there were many people like us craving something new and refreshing and transparent and full of good ingredients that were going to make them feel good.
So we were just really proud of the product we were offering. And I think quickly that that fear kind of mellowed as we welcomed people in the space.
Chad Franzen 06:30
Was the the first day, was there a lot of people showing up like they were ready, they were ready to try it out? Or were you waiting around for people to come in?
Kasia Bednarz 06:37
It was busy from from the bat. We had a really great location. We were right on the corner of two really busy intersections in Chicago, and we had, you know, windows on all sides. And our food is really aesthetic. And so we display everything really beautifully.
And so even if people had the intention to like, check out what was this food market that we were in, you know, they ended up coming back to our space because the food was just so beautiful and, you know, available for them to see. And we definitely believe that, like, you eat with your eyes first. And so we had a pretty long line. And I actually remember the first day that we were there. I think both of us were like, I don’t we’re not going to be we don’t know how to serve the customers well, just like, how are we going to talk to these people?
We don’t know how to do this. But that quickly went away. And yeah, it was just so busy. And then it was a matter of optimizing like efficiency, like really, how can we push these people through? Because they had a very short amount of time for lunch and the efficiency from that, you know, front or that first location has really carried us through through, because it’s a lot harder going from a big space to a small space, you know, than vice versa.
Chad Franzen 07:36
Is there one thing that stands out to you that you remember, like maybe once the people started flowing in, like, I didn’t realize I didn’t know this, you know, like I didn’t know that. I didn’t know this. Was there something that stood out to you at that time?
Kasia Bednarz 07:48
Oh, man. So many.
Britni DeLeon! 07:49
Yeah, there’s so many, so many things. Hum. Yeah.
Kasia Bednarz 07:55
I mean something like our bowl sizes, you know, we’re like, well we want people to be mixing around their salad and their bowl. So let’s just buy a big bowl. Well obviously you have a big bowl and then your team members are just like loading it up. So we would give people like £3 of food, you know, and like people were taking leftovers home for dinner. And we’re like, well, this doesn’t make sense.
And so little things like that, that you just learn from experience that we wouldn’t have, you know, figured out otherwise.
Chad Franzen 08:21
So, Britni, I mentioned you and Kasia quickly bonded over your shared love for well prepared but not over involved food. What does that mean?
Britni DeLeon 08:30
It means that food is most delicious in its simplest form. If you’re using really good ingredients. And so I think that when people have a fear of cooking or preparing food or meal prep or whatever it is, if they have certain goals that they want to reach, it feels very intimidating. And it’s because I think we’ve let everything become so over-complicated. But if you start with high quality ingredients that are seasonal and locally sourced, you’re using the best quality you can find, and all you’re really having to do at that point is enhance.
Like their natural goodness and flavor. And so that comes with, you know, maybe it’s a drizzle of like a local honey or really good salt or one or two fresh herbs or dried, you know, seeds or something that’s going to just bring out either the sweetness or the smokiness in those ingredients that you’re using. And so we like to say that, you know, simply good that it’s it’s it’s delicious. It’s simple. You can look at the food and see what’s in it and really not have many questions past that.
And then it is always a question of like, how did you make this so delicious? And people are often very surprised to learn that, you know, most of our dishes are less than 5 or 6 ingredients and that they can be as good as they are. So it’s just yeah, about honoring, I think the ingredients, the seasonality and letting those things shine.
Chad Franzen 09:54
Very nice. Hey, Kasia, I saw on your LinkedIn page that you said that fair is more than a restaurant. It’s a movement towards healthier and more sustainable living. What does that kind of mean?
Kasia Bednarz 10:04
Yeah, yeah. We want to change the way that people think about healthy food. Healthy food doesn’t have to be utilitarian, and flavor is one of our core values. That’s fair. Like, everything can really taste good and still be healthy at the same time.
And we believe in balance. And we want food that’s healthy to be approachable and we want you to crave it. So, you know, nutrition is really important to us. But also the flavor has to be delicious. Like we’re really big eaters.
You know, we feel so passionately about the food that we eat, and those two can work hand in hand, and we’re just trying to change that. And I think the other part of it is it’s not accessible. You know, like Brittany said, I think sometimes it’s intimidating to meal plan and to, you know, we live these busy lives to make these meals for yourself, and we want it to be available to you, you know, nationally at every corner, if possible.
Chad Franzen 10:55
Who comes up with your ideas? I know they are simple, flavorful and filling. Are you guys the main kind of proprietor of each menu item?
Britni DeLeon 11:04
We are. That’s something that we really come together on in the business, and it’s really where it all started. And so we find that it’s a great way for us to connect as partners and founders, stay close to what we’re doing and really get to interact with the customer in that way. I mean, in that first location on the corner of Wells and Wacker, we were there every single day chopping the vegetables, roasting them, serving them, sourcing them. And, you know, as we grow and have more locations, that’s just not that’s just not possible. And that’s not what we’re focused on so that we can grow in all the ways that we’re dreaming of.
And so when we come together to design each seasonal menu, that’s really a time for us to reflect on what we’re about and make sure that we’re staying true to our values and then also like, just have some fun again and creativity in the kitchen. So we’re really really proud of that. We’re not culinary, classically culinarily trained. Neither of us went to culinary school, but I really think that that’s one of our greatest assets. We don’t feel confined by rules or techniques.
We really just go off of flavor, what tastes good, what feels good, and and are inspired by the seasons of it all.