Emily Groden, CEO & Founder of Evergreen (@eatevergreen): From M&A Law to Three Michelin Stars to Frozen Waffles

Emily Groden was handling mergers and acquisitions at a Chicago law firm when an episode of Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” got her thinking about a whole new career path. She cold emailed the founder of Alinea and ended up as general counsel of a three Michelin star restaurant. She followed her passion for food and it brought her to an amazing opportunity, which then led her to founding her own company!

With  the  arrival  of  her  daughter  in  2018,  she knew  she wouldn’t  have  as  much  time  to  cook.  But  she didn't  want  her  family  to  subsist  solely  on  takeout.  She needed  something  around  the  house  that  was  tasty,  nutritious,  &  ready  at  a  moment’s  notice.  She settled  on  frozen  mini-waffles:  a  crowd-pleaser  that  wouldn’t  spoil  &  would  be  satisfying  as  breakfast  or  a snack. There  wasn’t  an  option  on  the  market  that  checked  all  of  my  boxes,  so  she  started  tinkering  with  recipes.  She  was  hyper-focused  on  keeping  her  mini-waffles  clean:  no  refined  sugars,  no  dairy,  &  no  preservatives.  Flavored  only  by  real  fruits,  vegetables,  nuts,  &  spices.  To  ensure  my  ingredient  list  would  be  as  lean  as  possible,  she made  everything  from  scratch,  including  her  mixed  berry  jam. After  months  of  experimenting,  she settled  on  her  first  4  flavors.  she was  so  excited  by  the  results  that  Ishe had  to  share  them.  Just  like  that,  Evergreen  was  born.

CONNECT WITH EMILY & EVERGREEN
@eatevergreen
Website
Emily's story in the WSJ

CONNECT WITH LAUREN
@litupwithlo
@litupwithlopodcast
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