In Viral Suburban Bakery, recipe tests occur in his chef’s house and Baker: “You know how to be hungry”
It all started with a big meeting on bad food.
One night last year, Justn Lambert and Nate Crawford were sitting in a restaurant at the end of the evening in the city center. The pair had met on Tinder and had linked to a shared love of food. Their occasional conversation raped to the poor meal in front of them.
“Nothing was zero,” said Lambert, 33, at Chicago Sun-Totes. Then they had their light moment. “We look at him as:” We can do better “.”
This meal has helped give birth to Morning Jay’s, the restaurant company and the pop-up restaurant of Now Couple. Now eight months of operation, the company is a successful jostling for passionate partners, who make a modest profit by hosting ticket brunches with dishes such as their goat cheese and their onion jam and sometimes selling frozen dishes.
But the key to their brand is what they call “comfortable cafes”, where they invite friends and colleagues to their house in the plains to test their latest recipes, get comments and enjoy a feeling of community rather than food.
“Food is attached to a large part of our history, where we come from and where we are heading,” said Crawford, 29. “Eating food can tell you a whole story about this person.”
The customers and friends of Morning Jay’s co-founders Nate Crawford and Justn Lambert eat and chat in a pop-up coffee in the couple’s house house.
Serve a need
Morning Jay was launched as a passion project for a jump of faith while Crawford works as a gastronomic photographer for the home chef and Lambert Transitions of his career in automotive sales with independent food style.
Donations in comfortable cafes were essential to mitigate the profits early, said Crawford. Each event only an invitation, although free, gained around $ 500 in donations, compensating about $ 200 that they spend in ingredients and materials.
But when one of their videos became viral last fall, the company “was expelled in a completely different avenue which we did not even know”, which helped them to promote the company and attract new customers, said Lambert. Comfortable cafes have also opened the door to pop-ups and public collaborations.
The company made a small profit three months after the opening. Since its launch last July, they have gained $ 7,000 in income. Meanwhile, the use of social media has collected more than 10,500 Jay subscribers on Instagram.
“Being on the internet, you can see what people want,” said Crawford. “Many and many times I see people cry for a common space and not have the impression of being fed an openly marketed product.”
Comfortable cafes combine food and the community
In many ways, the personalities of Lambert and Crawford reflect their approach to food. Lambert, the chef, is carefree and follows the recipes loosely. Crawford, The Baker, is a meticulous perfectionist, as much a scientist as an artist in the kitchen.
They say the same personality traits that made them compatible because the partners also allowed them to manage a business together. They did not exclude the opening of a brick and mortar coffee, but it is not currently on their radar. They also play with the idea of bringing wholesale items to grocery stores and restaurants.
However, if the company puts too much break on its relationship, they say they are ready to choose the relationship rather than the company.
Nate Crawford of Morning Jay, Nate Crawford, takes place while Justn Lambert gives a Bretzel bun to a friend and a customer during a pop-up coffee in their apartment on plains.
But after having prepared an event since dawn on a Saturday morning this month, their link did not seem to be in danger. They had already spent the day before cutting, zesting, mixing and blowing up.
“It’s like feeling before going on stage,” said Crawford. “All this time and this energy lead to this act of opening.”
Ten of their friends and colleagues gathered at their home to taste a range of Jay’s menu items in the morning. The play burst out of chat which went from the little conversation to the link on books, movies and video games. The customers were nibbling pop-tarts with black sesame with chocolate, sipped slats and appreciated the balance of flavors and colors in Thai tea waffles served with whipped cream and starfruit. And they enjoyed the experience of meeting new people in an intimate space surrounded by food.
“It’s like going to your friend who, you know, cook very well, and you know that everything they give you will slap,” said Michelle Vanderwood, who met Crawford thanks to her work to the Bon vivant cake company.
“And you know how to be hungry,” added her friend Kristen Moran.
Nate Crawford (right) and Justn Lambert, co-founders of Morning Jay’s, share a kiss during a pop-up coffee in their apartment on plains.
