Going out to almost 80 million readers! A fireside chat with Matthew de Gruyter, our CEO and co-founder as he talks vegan ventures and America's first plant-based burger joint! #eatplants Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that? We opened our first Portland NLB in October of 2015. A few short months later, in early ’16, I got an email from Whole Foods that they were interested in what we were doing. After striking a deal to join their Whole Foods Market 365 concept in Portland, I was invited to the 365 launch party, so I dusted off my Versace suit from my former life in finance and went to New York. I had a strong intuition that the trip may lead to something bigger and indeed it did. After being introduced to the man, the myth, the legend, John Mackey, co-founder and now former CEO of Whole Foods, we hit it off and soon after that, John started popping up at our NLBs in the PNW. After running into him at our original NLB several times, he asked me out for beers and the next thing I know, John says to me, “Matt, I think you should consider allowing Whole Foods to invest in Next Level.” I played it cool on the outside, but if I’m being honest, it was nearly as surreal an experience as the moment I asked my wife to marry me. Time stopped for a heartbeat, I took a sip of my beer and said, “John, I’d be very interested in having that conversation.” I think the lesson of that story is to form authentic connections with people, because you never know what will come of it.
Holy smokes, this one is going out to nearly 80 million readers! A big thank you to Medium and Authority Magazine for the Vegan Ventures feature on Next Level Burger 🙏 #eatplants #fightclimatechange You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each? Grit and Tenacity: Three months after we opened our very first location, I remember watching the seasonal shift in Bend go from boomtown to quiet. I remember sitting between lunch and dinner service after a paltry lunch, eating my burger and kale salad and drinking my shake and wondering what the f*ck did I do. I had left a career where I made a ton of money, and with two kids under six, there was so much pressure. It was just one foot in front of the other to keep going. Of course, in retrospect I realize that of course business fell off a cliff, which is normal as guests shift gears for the holidays. But at the time, it was a massive gut punch after what had been a super successful summer launch of our change-the-world concept. I had to push past the stark terror of wondering if I’d made the biggest mistake of my life to pursue this dream. Caring Deeply About What You Do and Who You Do It With: Cierra and I realized that going after this dream was a tremendously risky play that may be way too early. But we had woken up to the reality of eating plant-based, and we knew that increasingly more people were going to wake up and eat that way. We saw it as a way to make a real difference and to share something important with others. We were either insane or inspired enough to take a big step and to do it together as a family. At this point we feel a moral obligation to get this right, as our influence can be outsized as we shift toward a more sustainable future in the 21st century. Working Really F*cking Hard: You’ll fail otherwise, without exception. There’s an insane level of output required day in and day out. We have been working on Next Level for more than 10 years now, and we’re just getting started. https://lnkd.in/gxa-fEU9
