Retail Real Estate Insights. For Retailers. By Retailers.
Photo by Dominic Savini
For honeygrow founder Justin Rosenberg, the idea was simple: create a business based on his passion for fresh, healthy, wholesome and interesting food.
The goal was to deliver a dining experience that was unlike anything else out there, and that there was a an opportunity for a fast-casual concept where great food, great design, and core values like sustainability and eating locally sourced products would resonate with customers. The speed with which honeygrow has not only gained traction, but begun to expand briskly throughout the Mid Atlantic, speaks to the powerful appeal of those ideas and the ultimate success of that vision.
Founded in Philadelphia in 2012, honeygrow’s first location was a 1,500-sq.-ft. restaurant in the Center City district. That was soon followed by a second location, a 2,500-sq.-ft. store in Bala Cynwyd, a third location in Radnor in June 2014 and a fourth in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in April 2015. Four additional locations are set to open their doors in 2015, including new honeygrow restaurants in Wilmington and Newark, Delaware; Hoboken, New Jersey; and a fourth Philadelphia location on the city’s west side. By year-end, honeygrow will employ nearly 400 individuals, including approximately 20 on the corporate side.
Part of the appeal of honeygrow is that the concept appeals to an impressively wide demographic range. In contrast with other healthy or organic fast-casual dining options, honeygrow’s customer base is not weighted towards women (the customer base is evenly balanced between men and women), and the concept appeals to a wide range of ages and demographics – from kids to seniors. The average price point for a meal is around $11, making it possible to enjoy a good amount of food without straining the customer’s wallet.
The food, of course, is the primary focus, and honeygrow’s ability to provide a diverse menu that balances healthy ingredients with creative and nourishing dishes is central to its appeal. Stir-fries and vegetarian ingredients feature prominently, but honeygrow also offers an array of fresh protein options. Custom-made noodles and signature house-made sauces – prepared fresh daily – add literal and figurative flavor to an already unique menu. The iconic honeybar offers a customized selection of fresh fruits, yogurts, and sweet treats and toppings.
Photo by Jason Varney
Honeygrow’s focus on local roots does not end with the fresh ingredients that the brand sources from local and regional farms and farmer’s markets. Every location boasts distinctive art and décor provided by local artists and artisans – displays that rotate monthly as artists and photographers come in to new display material and refresh the artwork that adorns menu and white board displays in the store. This local character ensures that, while every honeygrow has a consistent aesthetic brand sensibility, every store has its own character and distinctive local flavor.
Sustainability and green design principles are not just a talking point, they are quite literally a part of every store. Every honeygrow location uses low VOC paint and LED lighting, and honeygrow’s furniture is constructed from reclaimed materials. A local craftsman who sources his materials from pre-demolition buildings, abandoned churches, and other forsaken premises throughout the Philadelphia area builds the stores’ tables. Honeygrow also uses chairs that are made from recycled coke bottles, the production of which participates in eliminating approximately three million bottles annually from landfills. [pb]
Justin Rosenberg says that despite the eye-opening early success of the honeygrow brand, he had to work hard to secure the support he needed to get this startup off the ground. Rosenberg pitched the concept to 94 different investors before securing a backer. Those early struggles are a thing of the past, however: honeygrow was recently awarded a $25 million private equity investment, an infusion of capital that has helped to fuel an ongoing regional expansion. While honeygrow was in discussion with a number of potential investors, the organization ultimately partnered with a local private equity firm that is fully committed to the honeygrow concept.
Rosenberg says that successfully managing honeygrow’s relatively rapid growth requires staying focused on what fueled their success in the first place: “We focus intensely on training, and on getting really great people on board.” honeygrow’s new-market general managers train for four full months before running a store, and honeygrow’s operational focus on speed, accuracy, cleanliness and hospitality is drilled into new employees at every level.
Rosenberg also points to honeygrow’s strong professional culture as an important part of the brand’s success.
“I don’t want to work with anyone who isn’t excited about it, and we’ve worked extraordinarily hard to cultivate a genuine sense of tightly-knit teamwork and achievement in our employees,” he said.
Honeygrow’s sophisticated training tracker monitors progress and kitchen certifications, providing a sense of accomplishment as those employees master new skills and become proficient in cooking techniques. Inter-store kickball tournaments and a basketball league also build camaraderie and boosts morale – with the underlying goal always connecting team members to the brand and the company in fun and creative ways.
“We want our employees to get something out of working here,” says Rosenberg.
To that end, a unique “knife ceremony” is held for deserving employees: those who have been with honeygrow for at least a year and have mastered all of their kitchen certifications receive their own high-end Wusthof knife with their initials engraved onto it.
When evaluating possible expansion opportunities, Rosenberg says honeygrow looks closely at the basics: construction costs and rents, and comp sales numbers at places like Starbucks and Panera, as well as the quality of the potential workforce in the area. While there are many different store layout prototypes, all honeygrow locations are designed based on a philosophy that prioritizes optimum functionality. Getting the food prepared and served quickly and maintaining seamless operational flow are top considerations. Rosenberg says honeygrow has actually turned down lucrative opportunities because the proposed location would only accommodate a suboptimal layout.
Douglas Green, a principal with Philadelphia-based MSC Retail, an X Team International partner, exclusively handles honeygrow’s strategic expansion and says that the company’s real estate strategy may be aggressive, but it makes sound business sense.
“It’s a real advantage that honeygrow works well in both urban and suburban environments,” he explains. “Honeygrow also has a built-in advantage because it occupies a sweet spot in the marketplace: a fast casual concept that is healthy and fresh, but also one that generates tremendous traffic, almost equitably, at both lunch and dinner. This uniqueness, coupled with the brand’s broad demographic appeal, provides a really important asset for many different types of landlords.”
The brand’s long-term goals include a broader national expansion, but for now that is in the future, and Rosenberg says that honeygrow is keeping its sights focused on regional expansion and continuing to pursue a strategy of aggressive, but organic growth – no pun intended.