Seth Goldman & Chef Spike Mendelsohn (Eat The Change & PLNT Burger) - Why they decided to found two companies together, and their approach to making the world a better place

Our guests today are Seth Goldman and Spike Mendelsohn, co-founders of Eat The Change and PLNT Burger. Eat the Change is a snack company that’s on a mission to create chef-crafted and nutrient-dense snacks that are kind to the planet. PLNT Burger are plant-based burger restaurants. Currently they have 11 of them. Prior to going into business together, Seth is well known for being the founder of Honest Tea and Chef Spike Mendelsohn was one of the Top Chefs on the show Top Chef and started quite a few restaurant establishments including VIm & Victor, We, The Pizza, Santa Rosa Taqueria, my personal favorite Good Stuff Eatery. I’m on the record that Good Stuff makes the best burger I’ve ever tried. I’m really excited to have both Seth and Chef Spike on the podcast, not only because they are legends, but they started each of their businesses where I grew up. Seth started Honest Tea in Bethesda, which is where I was raised, and many of Spike’s restaurants are in DC and the surrounding areas. This was a thrill to have them on. Without further ado, here is Seth Goldman and Chef Spike.

Some of the questions I ask them –

1. What were each of your attractions to entrepreneurship and food?
2. Activist
3. When you think about all the businesses each of you have started, what’s been the common thread?
4. How did you guys meet each other?
5. When was the moment that you realized you wanted to work with one another? What makes your partnership special?
6. What was the inspiration behind PLNT Burger?
7. How do you think about products that are better for you vs. better for the planet?
8. Has “plant based” become a catch-all term for better for you, even though there is now a debate if plant-based alternatives are better for you than the original meat product?
9. When you think about releasing new products, how do you make sure they are better for you and not just the planet?
   1. Incredible planet challenge
10. Why did you decide to start Eat the Change and what is it?
    1. How did you measure impact?
    2. What’s been the reaction so far?
    3. Have to have something that’s different
    4. Did you raise outside capital
    5. Why did you found it in Bethesda?
    6. What’s your approach to creating new better-for-you products?
    7. How do you measure impact?
    8. What’s your retail approach?
11. How do you think about launching new restaurants and CPG brands? Is there an overall strategy that ties the two together?
12. How do you approach consumer education when it comes to what people should eat?
13. What’s one book that inspired each of you personally and one professionally?
    1. Mission in a bottle
    2. My Life in Full - Seth
    3. The Call of the Wild - Seth
    4. Danny Meyer - Setting the Table - Spike
    5. Zappos book - Tony
14. What’s one piece of advice each of you have for founders?
15. What’s your favorite piece of advice that you received?