S13E25: Creating a Movement of Positive Impact with Jeff Grass, (CEO, HUNGRY Marketplace)

Jeff Grass
My earlier businesses, it was much less mission or purpose driven. It was just really about kind of here's an idea. Let's go build it. And I think over the years, I've realized how how important it is both for me and for the team to have a business that is very sort of mission centered We're very purpose, you know, focused. You know? For me, you know, building a business that is not just successful but is having a positive impact on the world is something that's incredibly motivating, and I think that translates to the team as well. So it's not just I wanna go work for a company, but I wanna be part of something, part of a movement that's that's really having, you know, more of an impact.

Richard Medcalf
Welcome to the Impact Multiplier CEO podcast. I'm Richard Metcalfe, founder of XQuadrant, and my mission is to help the world's top CEOs and entrepreneurs shift from incremental to exponential progress and create a huge positive impact on our world. Now that requires you to reinvent yourself and transform your business. So if you're ready to play a bigger game than ever before, I invite you to join us and become an Impact Multiplier CEO. Hi, Jeff, and welcome to the show.

Jeff Grass
Thank you, Richard. Excited to be here.

Richard Medcalf
Well, anyone who's got a business called Hungary is good in my books, If you're honest, I'm a I'm a foodie, food lover, so looking forward to this conversation.

Jeff Grass
Absolutely.

Richard Medcalf
What I know about you, Jeff, is that you are a serial entrepreneur. You've had, I Think 3 successful exits of venture based companies, and Hungary is your, is your current one. And what I understand is that it's a bit of a it's a bit different because you set up this business with an extra dose of purpose, perhaps, compared with previous ones. So perhaps we start there. Tell Tell us a little bit in a in a nutshell about what Hungary is, but perhaps the story of what changed between exit number 3 and beginning of business number 4.

Jeff Grass
Sure. Sure. So, quick high level on Hungary. We are a, a b to b food tech company. We're essentially a platform or marketplace that connects companies, you know, really corporate America to top local chefs and restaurants provide office and event catering. What sets us apart is we work with Top chefs that cook, primarily out of ghost kitchens, sort of independent chefs, and then we own all the delivery and the service to make it ultra reliable and level of service. In terms of, of Hungary, we are a very purpose driven company. Our core purpose is to improve the lives of everyone we touch with a special focus on 4 key groups, which is the chefs who are partners on the platform, the clients that we serve, giving back in the communities where we operate, and our team.

And, and I'd say, you know, what what really inspired that was my earlier businesses, it was much less mission or purpose driven. It was just really about kinda here's an idea, let's go build it. And I think over the years, I've realized how how important it is both for me and for the team to have a business that is very sort of mission centered or very purpose, you know, focused. You know, for me, you know, building a business that is not just successful but is having Positive impact on the world is something that's incredibly motivating, and I think that translates to the team as well. So it's not just I wanna go work for a company, but I wanna be part of something, part of a movement That's that's really having, you know, more of an impact.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Well, let let's dive into that because what I hear is, yeah, you wanna have a positive impact in all these different stakeholder groups. Part of your one way of looking at the business, of course, is it's, you know, it's different. It's doing what it's doing. Right? Bringing companies together with chefs. And And so I'm wondering, like, what was it different in the previous businesses? Because presumably, you wanted to serve your customers. You wanted to, like, Not be a jerk to your suppliers, etcetera, etcetera.

Right? And so you're probably still trying to do a good thing by your Different stakeholders just out of business necessity, if nothing else, in previous incarnations. So what gives it, How do you kind of detect that sense of that extra sense of purpose in this in this business?

Jeff Grass
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's really my my third one. The last one called Live Safe is where I really started to shift the the full mindset. It was a very mission oriented company around making our world a safer place, and we did that through a mobile app that helped crowdsource safety effectively. With Hungary, I think it's it's thinking beyond just the client, though. Right? It's really thinking about The other, stakeholders, as as you said, that that we interface with, you know, it's it's the chefs who are partners on the platform. It's The communities where we operate, it it's having a a, I think, a bigger, broader perspective than just how do I make something that people will buy? And and I think that's what really translates into in into and in in the process as well, it's it's it's incorporating ways of making the world better.

We do that through we provide a meal for every 2 that we sell in order to help fight, you know, hunger in the community. We focus a great deal on environmental sustainability, and so those are kind of our 2 key pillars around giving back in the community. And so there's just Things that we do that I think make our business better, but but, but also, you know, help help, you know, with with regards to the broader world around us as well.

Richard Medcalf
So you started to answer my next question there actually around some specific areas, and you gave 2 there. Perhaps let me just probe a little bit more. Is there any other ways in which, for example, That kind of broader stakeholder view shows up that you've made perhaps different decisions as you've grown the business Then you perhaps would have done if you'd had a, I don't know, finance first mindset, for example.

Jeff Grass
Yeah. I think having, that broader Perspective helped us think about, you know, even creating the model that we use, which is a marketplace model. We're we're providing this platform for chef entrepreneurship. We have hundreds and hundreds of independent chefs that now, you know, provide food, really cook on the hungry platform. And for for a chef, your passion is cooking and you become a professional chef, you don't do it because it's a good financial decision. You do it because you enjoy cooking. And, And it's a, you know, it's a challenging career path.

And so what's really, I think, exciting about Hungry is we provide chefs this alternative path where they can make way more money, have much more lifestyle flexibility, which is a key challenge in a in a chef career, and and cook their own recipes. And so, just each of the different parts of our business, we try to think more holistically. And in the process, we've created, I think, a much more compelling solution for our clients than just, okay, we wanna provide catering for for corporate America, Let's go build a kitchen and start making food. Ours is a much more dynamic, platform because we've got, you know, hundreds of chefs all specializing in their best dishes, and so you get, you know, a a more a stronger value proposition for our clients. But in the process, we're also creating a, you know, a much better, you know, career path for our our our chefs as well.

Richard Medcalf
Mhmm. Yeah. That's really clear. Thank you. Let's get back to this again, this shift as as you as you set up the business. You said there was beginnings of a shift in your previous in your previous business. What was the internal change that or the moment that led to you saying, you know what? I want this next business to have a mission, to have a purpose.

Jeff Grass
Yeah. Well, I think after, you know, maybe it's as I as I've grown older, you know, you start to reflect on life and and the impact that you're having. And and for me, you know, leaving the world better than I found it is is really, really important. And, and and and so, again, that's why, For me, it's very motivating to try to build a business that's designed, you know, by its very nature to have a positive impact. But I think it also, you You know? What I realized is this isn't just for me. It actually translates into good business strategy in that, it makes it, you know, for a much more exciting place for people to wanna work here. Right? They they become people who wanna work here, you know, are passionate about these things and, and are motivated by them as well. And so I think that translates into better business performance.

So it's it's really, I believe, a win win. You know, it's it's a win win win. You know? The I'm better off, the team's better off, and the world's better off. And so, you know, the more we can find those, like, those those types of alignment, in business, I think, yeah, That translates into great success.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Yeah. And I think oh, I've seen that in many, yeah, many cases, right, that, The more we connect into sense of purpose, the more we magnetize people to us and to the business. I think that's the case. And I see it from my lead my the clients I work with as well. Right? They're eating all sorts of businesses, but when they actually connect to something that's deeply important to who they are, their influence goes way up.

Jeff Grass
Yeah. And I think it becomes across much more authentic as well, right, if it's really kinda core to who they are. I mean, we we have 9 core values that we live by, and, You know, a lot of those are the ones that I I would call personal core values as well. So I think there has to be, you know, deep alignment. We also focus a lot here in Hungary on on culture and environment, and have since the very early days. And I'd say that's something else that I was, you know, terrible at in in my 1st company or 2. We were just didn't think about it. It wasn't I think we had a bad culture, I just didn't really put any energy around it.

It just was what it was. Where here, we're really trying to foster a very specific type of environment, and and use our 9 core values, as as a, you know, essentially the ingredients for success. It really kinda helps define the type of environment we're we're trying to foster here.

Richard Medcalf
So if you were sitting down for a nice lunch with another entrepreneur about to start a business, and You're talking about culture. What would be your top three tips for how you actually intentionally build a great culture?

Jeff Grass
Great question. So at first, I'd say, you know, get Super clear with the type of environment that you wanna have and then put definition around it. So the way we do that is through our purpose and our values. And, And and we use our values, as part of our screening tools when we're when we're, you know, hiring new employees. It's used in in terms of, if if folks are out of alignment with with our values, you know, it it's a way of making it very clear, like, this is not the kinds of behaviors that that, are acceptable here at Hungary and and that will lead to success for for ourselves and and our teammates. And so I think the clarity, that That you can you create around it is is really key. 2nd would be living by it. You know, I I think you it's not just here's how I want the employees to live, but it's how, you know, the The company has to operate, and and that's from the leadership on down.

And so what I always tell team members is this is a two way commitment that this is you know, If you ever find us out of alignment with one of these core values, you let me know, and my job is to fix that. But, you know, it's it's a it's an environment that we're all all behind. And then 3rd is, I'd I'd say, just trying to constantly reinforce it. You know? You you wanna live it. You wanna reinforce it in various ways. Talk about it constantly, and and I think it becomes, you know, more and more integrated into, the way people think and, and and the way that we operate.

Richard Medcalf
I love it. I love it. It's really clear. Get clear. Live by it. Reinforce it. You got 9 values. If you had to kinda really focus on, like, one that's made perhaps The biggest difference like like the awareness of that one value has perhaps made the biggest difference over doing it accidentally.

Is there one that jumps to mind?

Jeff Grass
Well, yeah. They're actually on the wall here behind me. You can see all 9. So I don't know if it's the biggest difference. I think each one is is important. But But one that that my one of my cofounders, you know, suggested early on, that I was actually a little bit skeptical on, but I learned has been really important is is is one of our core values is positivity. And I was, like, is that soft and fuzzy and, like, isn't that, you know, kinda lame? But, but it really is true. You know, when you're in a startup environment, you're trying to build something new, do something no one's ever done before, it's really hard.

And you're gonna mess up a bunch, and and things aren't always gonna work like you expect. And and it's a high stress environment, you've got limited funding and limited time, And so it's easy to get frustrated and get negative, and then as people get negative, it results in a very toxic place. And so, we work really hard to try to, you know, make sure we're staying positive. Doesn't mean our head's in the cloud, we don't acknowledge if we make mistakes, we do lots to post mortems to try to understand what went wrong. But it's it's not a blame game. It's really about, you know, trying to figure out, you know, how do we do things better and constantly improve, and then celebrate that along the way. And so I'd say, you know, that's something that I have learned over time, how important that is, and I and it really translates into, I think, a much more empowering positive environment where people are excited to be a part of as opposed to one where You just don't worry about that, and and I think things can sometimes, you know, turn negative, and you don't have a mechanism to to to to steer that back in in the way you wanted to.

Richard Medcalf
I hope you're enjoying this conversation. This is just a quick interlude to introduce you to 2 transformative programs that we run. The first is Rivendell, my exclusive group of top CEOs who are committed to transforming themselves, their businesses, And the world. It's an incredible peer group and a deep coaching experience that will push you to new heights no matter how successful you've already been. The second is Impact Accelerator, a coaching program for executives who are ready to make a big leap forward In their own leadership, it's regularly described as life changing, and no other program provides such personal strategic clarity, A measurable shift in stakeholder perceptions and a world class leadership development environment. Find out about both of these programs at x quadrant.com/services. Now back to the conversation. Yeah.

Thank you. You talked about there as positivity as an anic antidote to some of the or as a as a strength, or when you're dealing with difficult, challenging, turbulent Situations. One thing I know about the business is that very early on, in fact, just after I think you'd raised some funds and financing for the business, You had to make a choice about to actually pivot the business, go after a wholly different market segment. So just tell us about that because that sounds like that was quite a A difficult decision to make. So so shortly after you just sold investors the whole story to get back to them and say, actually, we're doing something different now. Tell me about what happened.

Jeff Grass
Yes, yes. This is this is not in the textbooks of how you're supposed to start, but, we we began life as a B2C concept. So the idea was office workers, but selling, you know, food from local chefs, you know, directly, you know, 1 by 1. And, we launched we we raised money right before launching, a little over $1,000,000. And within, you know, 45 days, we could quickly see, You know, sales were growing, and the faster sales grew, the the smaller our bank account was getting. You know, it's just it's hard to make money, you know, selling 1 or 2 meals at a time in a delivery, you know, scenario. Look at DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Right? They've taken a long time to kinda get to get you know, are still still trying to get to full profitability. And, but what we we suddenly discovered was, there was opportunities around, you know, providing larger, You know, the orders. We we received a 30 person order and a 40 person order. And this was to you know, for team lunches. And we didn't know anything about catering, to be honest, had never even thought about that as as part of the business. And we quickly realized, oh my gosh. This just makes So much more sense. We can make a lot of money if we sell 30 or 40 meals at a time versus 1 or 2 meals at a time.

And literally within 60 days of launch, we decided to completely pivot the business to office catering, and that rippled through our entire business. We had to completely throw out all the technology we've been building for a year and start over, our our service, you know, approach, our our go to market approach. It it seemed like a small change initially, but but it ended up, you know, completely changing everything about our business. And so so, yes, I had to call our investors back who'd just Written checks and given us money, and we're so excited about this b to c idea and tell them, hey. We're gonna do catering instead. And, You know, they were like, what do you know about catering? I was like, absolutely nothing, but but you gotta trust me on this. This is gonna be a better path. And thank goodness we did. We'd be we'd be probably dead today if we'd kept down their...

Richard Medcalf
So how did those calls go when they when when they pushed back or said, what's going on here?

Jeff Grass
Some went okay. I think, you know, they they were largely, you know, supportive and saying, look, I'm Porto and saying, look. I'm I'm investing in you, and I trust in you. Somewhere, you know, give me my money back. And, And I was like, no. Like, we need it, you know, but, you know, trust me, this is gonna work out. And, but, luckily, they'd already invested, so we had some time to prove it to them. And and, they're all they're all up quite a bit now, so they're they're all pretty happy.

Richard Medcalf
How did you feel Picking up the phone to those investors? Is dread.

Jeff Grass
I didn't wanna do it at all. And, but I actually thought back on my 2nd company. We had had had stayed really wedded to a given path, kind of the approach that we'd sold investors on, and had a mindset that, well, this is what they invested in. We've gotta keep going, you know you know, with this. And and and I in retrospect, I think that was the absolutely wrong decision. I think what they invested in was us and Wanted us to figure out how to make a successful business, and, and and, you know, I I failed them in that in that, you know, we we took, you know, Years to kinda finally, you know, start to adjust when we should have done it much, much sooner. So I I I tried to think back on that as, you know, key learning and and feeling like I'm not gonna make that same mistake.

So, you know, this might not work out, but at least I'll feel like I've I've done everything I've can to to make this a successful business rather than be just wedded to what I initially pitched.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Yeah. So that required yeah. So it required some, Some leadership strength, right? Because, yeah, it's to you take, you know, people just written you large checks. And Now is your moment to actually stand up and say, you need to trust me, follow me, back me?

Jeff Grass
Yeah. It was it was definitely not, like, the call you wanna make. It was, But, but I I I I found solace, and and that was the I knew it was the right thing for us to do, and I think that came through in those discussions.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Beautiful. So I I know, Jeff, that you talk about your business as as a movement in some ways. So tell me about that. Like, What's the movement that you're trying to lead or embody?

Jeff Grass
Yeah. Well, I think it's just, you know, trying to get everybody rallied around a cause or, you know, or Feel like they're involved in something that is helping make, you know, the world a better place. So at my last company, LiveSafe, around, you know, Making the world a safer place, it was, you know, super clear at Hungary. Yeah. There's multiple components to it, which in some ways I think makes it not quite as as as blatantly obvious. But, but as I mentioned, it's a platform for chef empowerment. It's a platform for, helping, you know, with fighting hunger and and and giving back in the communities that where we operate. And and also we work hard on trying to create an environment that helps uplift our team, helping grow people personally and professionally.

So it's it's a movement through the sense of, You know, we are trying to do something that makes everyone better off in the process, and, and and that, you know, translates into, a great place to work, hopefully a better service for our clients and a more positive impact on the world around us.

Richard Medcalf
So tell me about where you currently are in the business. You know, what's kind of what are the opportunities and and and threats or, you know, pressures that you're facing at this point in in the business's development?

Jeff Grass
Yeah, yeah. We started in the Washington DC area, and really focused the 1st couple years on building out our technology platform. So we're very tech enabled business offering that enables, you know, what is a still a fairly unique business. But today, we now operate in 13 major cities across the country. We are growing, you know, at at exponential rates. We'll we'll do around 50,000,000 in revenue this year. We were raised money at the end of last year that guided us about 270,000,000. So We've certainly made some pretty good progress so far.

And, and what's nice is is return to office continues to happen here in the US, we we expect that will continue, you know, for the foreseeable future, and so that's translating into a fast growing market for us to to operate in. And, we have a very disruptive, you know, I think, you know, structurally superior model than anything else out there, and so it's really about, you know, trying to execute well and and and take advantage of the opportunity in front of us.

Richard Medcalf
And so if we're having this conversation in, you know, 3 to 5 years, what does multiplying your impact look for for for Hungary as a business?

Jeff Grass
So our our our focus is very much on, you know, you know, rapid expansions. You'll see us in in a much Broader, you know, sort of geographic set of cities, we we aspire to be in a position to go public by 2025. And And and I'd say 3 years from now, we'd be starting to look at, you know, and and beginning to do, more international expansion as well. So, lots of things, you know, internally that, you know, that, you know, we we wanna continue to improve upon that will help our chefs and provide, you know, more compelling solution for our our our clients. But a lot of it's just, you know, executing and, you know, growing and and getting bigger and better as we as we go.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. So, Yeah, many, many options. I mean, going public by itself is a whole thing, but then you say you've got your geographic expansion within the US then elsewhere. At the same time, One of my favorite questions is what will you need to do differently yourself as leader? So what's the kind of stretch for you That will kind of release more impact that will help you multiply your impact. Right? Because every leader is some stages. Every leader is effectively a bottleneck, right, by definition, We we're creating the results we're creating. So I'm always curious, what's the shift that you might need to work on to be that leader who can make this happen?

Jeff Grass
Well, I think as as as most entrepreneurs or CEOs, you know, we we tend to, because we're entrepreneurs, you know, love to get in the middle and solve every problem. And and so as the business grows and and the team expands, you know, part of what I need to to continue to work on is to not always sort of jump into the middle of things, but to really empower the team to to solve the problems and, and and be more strategic, you know, be more higher level. So as the company continues to grow, that's definitely an area of focus of mine, is making sure that I'm doing what the CEO is supposed to be doing and and, and empowering and and trusting in the team to do the things that, you know, they're hired for.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Well, it's that's not what I hear hear a lot, to be honest, as you can probably write it well...

I wrote my book, right, making time for strategy because, so many leaders, we get Distracted by all the things that, that we can where we can add value, and, unfortunately, it's we therefore missed some of those incremental the the exponential moments. Right. We we get stuck in the incremental.

Jeff Grass
We do. I think, yeah, I think sometimes it's, I enjoy it, you know, and sometimes it's, you you feel like you're you're needed, and, and you're right. I think Yeah. You're you're not creating the space to do that. So, like, I I actually am trying to force it more. I I I set aside time on Tuesday mornings to Not do, you know, anything tactical and and try to, you know, create space to to to think and be more strategic and then help kinda reprioritize my my my week and my month. But, it it for for me, it's still a learning process, so I definitely need to read your book.

Richard Medcalf
Yeah. Well, actually, one thing I talk about is is To help reshift people's, minds on this is I I think call it the infinity trap. You know, the infinity trap is really where we have an infinite amount of things on our plate, Pretty much everybody does because of technology now. Right? And we to go through that, we generally step on the accelerator And actually the more we work, the more tunnel vision we get. And so we actually feel that we're making progress because we can see all the things that we're doing, and we're feeling quite good about it, and we're getting the dopamine hit and, and and the like. But because our view of going in, our creativity has just Gone down and our ability to spot things just off to one side that could make a difference has has kind of vanished. And I think that's kind of often one of the biggest things the leaders have to struggle with I have to overcome, these days.

Jeff Grass
I think it makes all kinds of sense. I could very much relate to that. I feel like I get a lot done every day and but still, there's always more and And, like you said, you're struggling to find the time to pull back and and and be more creative and think more strategically.

Richard Medcalf
So, Jeff, it's been a a really interesting conversation. You know, I've I've loved, kinda looking at your journey from from this kind of multiple time, entrepreneur to really thinking you want to create something purpose driven about what that looks like in your particular business as you create a marketplace business, you should look at the stakeholders involved And and ethos that runs through the company, the culture, focusing on positivity, looking at what growth looks like for you. And, yeah, I think getting honest about, well, you know, where are the things where I might need to let go, right, and not jump in, in order to to step back and and release It's more time for myself, yourself and more, responsibility for others. I think we've covered a really interesting, Spectrum of issues today. If people wanna find out more about Hungary, or about you, where do they do that?

Jeff Grass
Sure. You go to our website at tryhungry.com, t r y, hungry, .com, and, yeah, you can learn all about us there.

Richard Medcalf
Perfect. Jeff, well, I look forward to, Watching along as you, as you continue to expand the business and, make lot of lot more people less hungry.

Jeff Grass
Thank you, Richard. It's a pleasure and honor to be here today. Thank you.

Richard Medcalf
Cheers. Bye bye. Well, that's a wrap. If you received value from this conversation, please do leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. We'd deeply appreciate it. And if you'd like to check out the show notes from this episode, head to x quadrant.com/podcast where you'll find all the details. Now finally, when you're in top leadership, who supports and challenges you at a deep level to help you multiply your impact? Let's cover more about the different ways we can support you at xquadrant.com.