It's relatively easy to set up a tech company, join an accelerator, and progress down a pathway towards success. It's more complex to do that with food.
People always ask what kind of restaurant we have, and it's like a five-minute conversation. The short answer is, 'We're creating community through food.' That's the big idea we had, the product we're exporting. And it has paid off.
Boulder should be next to the word 'community' in the dictionary.
Boulder was not the small town I had expected. It is a vivacious community of sophisticated people, who have the same aspirations and expectations you find in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
My advice for any entrepreneur or innovator is to get into the food industry in some form so you have a front-row seat to what's going on.
When you have the demand, you can change the government policies that create McDonald's and junk food.
Square Roots creates campuses of climate-controlled, indoor, hydroponic vertical farms, right in the hearts of our biggest cities.
Microwave sales have plateaued as people realize that reheated TV dinners give us no joy.
Twenty-first-century food is going to be real food. Real food is food that is truly nourishing for the consumer, the community, and the planet.
After I broke my neck, I began thinking more about The Kitchen: How can we come up with some way to make real food more affordable? Food that's locally-grown, if possible, fundamentally nourishing to the body, nourishing to the planet.
We want kids to value real food and understanding that it isn't just about feeding people but about nourishing the body, the community and the planet.
As a kid, I'd never have avocado. You'd get some melon and the odd fresh peach. But avocados? Mangoes? I'd never had a mango in my life.
For me, creating a supply chain of what we should be eating is incredibly complicated. It's complicated to figure out how to change the food system in America.
It is an interesting thing. Every time I try and stray from the path of food, I get whacked.
