It all started in the parking lot of Yoga Sol when Kimber gave me a sample of her homemade healthy chocolate after teaching me her beautiful yoga ways. That's when she told me about her cookbook and her eating/cooking philosophy. The only time I had heard of anyone make desserts out of nourishing foods (think sweet potatoes, raw cacao and sweetened with maple syrup when making desserts) were on my favorite food blogs (MyWholeFoodLife, Deliciously Ella and Hummusapien). Over the last few years, I have changed my eating habits and cooking to organic, healthy, nutrient dense food and obvz have seen how much better my body feels, the energy I have, and even the change in my skin. Let’s not get crazy, I still love pizza and chocolate everything (eating it as I type,duh), but now I actually crave vegetables and green drinks. I’m passionate about healthy living and I could research and read about super foods, clean eating, the effect of food on our bodies, meditation and energy all day long. Clovers, Natural Grocers and Yoga Sol are my happy places. I am fascinated that we have so much control over our health through food and lifestyle. (as is Kimber)
I was a Pharmaceutical Rep for nearly 9 years and it truly was a wonderful career. I learned an incredible amount about business, management, anatomy/physiology for the disease states my drugs treated. I was surrounded by absolutely wonderful, caring, influential people who were my co-workers, manager, doctors, nurses and office staff that I called on ( but of course with a few assholes sprinkled in ;). But I always knew I wanted to be a business owner, to make a direct impact on Columbia, put my MBA to use and bring an idea to life. I and everyone else knew it was crazy to leave such a stable job to start a business with the hopes of having more flexibility to spend more of my days with Bowen. (or at least when I was going to be away from him, showing him by example what it means to take risk, follow your heart even when it's scary as shit) And this has definitely been the scariest decision of my life and certainly the biggest leap. There is also so much vulnerability involved. If we fail, it's in front of everyone, in the public and for so many people to say "I told you so".
Back to the birth of Nourish...A few months after our healthy dessert exchange, and doing some serious soul searching, I sent Kimber a Facebook message to see her thoughts on opening a healthy, organic, locally sourced restaurant. We met at Dunn Brothers one morning and shared our visions to see if they were aligned. Of course, our concept has evolved but our overall goals as co-business owners and the type of restaurant we want to bring to Columbia were right on point. We knew we didn't want to contribute to the cycle of conventionally produced food just to keep costs down because we believe organic, pesticide free food is extremely important. And it's the way we eat and cook at home so there really was no other option. We wanted transparency and for every customer to be able to see all of the healthy ingredients in their food and the nutrition information as well. There you have it. One piece of chocolate from one talented yoga teacher got my entrepreneurial wheels turning and now we are 2 moms who have done what at times seemed impossible. I still have to take a step back and realize we did this. Nourish was created by us.
In the last 10 months we’ve taste tested (the best part…she cooks, we eat), driven to KC restaurants for inspiration, looked at 3 different spaces in downtown Columbia, worked on nutrition documents, have rewritten our menu 1000 times and had hours and hours and hours of conversations. Decided on every. single. piece. of kitchen equipment, flooring, tile, light fixtures, chairs, what smoothie recipes to put on the menu (I’d have cocoa everything if it were just my taste buds to consider), what local vendors are best for us (local farmers are good for the soul), what will our hours be (but really what should they be?), how many shifts and employees do we have, what in the hell do we use to for our menu display, RO or just filtered water (we did RO, you’re welcome!), what protein powder to use. Protein powder…I can’t tell you how much time, energy we have put into researching the perfect, healthiest protein powder. It had to be organic, not have xanthum gum, be affordable and taste great. We decided to go with Sunwarrior Blend which sources it's protein from hemp, goji berries and pea. Another huge decision was our juicer and researching if cold pressed juice is that much more beneficial...it is. We are so proud to make Columbia's only cold pressed juice!
Decadent key lime pie made of an avocado/lime custard and walnut crust. It's absolute heaven
Pesto quinoa bowl with chicken and roasted veggies
I had NO idea how much went into opening a business. It looks so damn simple from the outside. But there are licensees, tax bonds, architects and engineers, permits, accounting software, POS systems, merchant processors, vendors, health department compliance, and designing our space. I have freaked out multiple times, doubted myself, doubted my desire to take this on and tried to convince Kimber now is not the time. (Kimber just gave birth to her beautiful little girl Dillon in January and I have a 19 month old, Bowen). I've had many sleepless nights, but Kimber has balls of steel, and convinced me over and over again in her calm, assured way that “we've got this”. I’m actually surprised she still wanted to go into business with someone who had all of the anxiety. I knew nothing about running a restaurant (I've never even worked in one, I just really, really love going to them;) but Kimber knows how restaurants work. It really is a dream partnership. Everything she doesn't want to do, I do, and vice versa. And we have compassion for each other, support and encourage each other. Kimber runs the operations of Nourish and runs it like a boss. She truly is what the women's movement is all about and she does it well, without stress and burnout. She's actually become one of the people I look up to most.
Kimber and I laugh about how freely people want to share their opinions. Everything about starting a business from scratch is so similar to giving birth, starting with the unsolicited advice. The idea of a baby and owning a business is idealistic and fun to fantasize about. Then there is being pregnant/planning the restaurant, which has its fun and terrible moments and at the end you are just ready to give birth/open. I have a feeling the first year of Nourish will be much like having a newborn, harder work than I ever imagined but also incredibly rewarding. The few weeks before opening and the first week we opened were draining and exhilarating. We've cried in our office with the door closed because "holy shit what did we do" and "Bowen cried when the nanny left and I came home" and "I've worked 100 hours this week", we hug almost every morning because we are genuinely happy and relieved to see each other, high fived because there is a line out the door or Kimber just hired another bomb employee, laughed at anything and everything, Kimber pumps and nurses Dillon in there which is 15 minutes where we can finally talk with zero interruptions and discuss what business decisions need to be made.
We do believe wholeheartedly in bringing healthy (truly healthy, nutritious) food to Columbia. I love this city and can’t wait to make this little contribution to make it an even better place. Now come buy a green juice would ya??
Bowen helping out during construction. And by helping I mean making it impossible to get anything done.
Dillon helping mom pick out kitchen equipment
Babies of Nourish. From months of meetings, to construction to finally opening Nourish they've been on our hips (and nips...tmi? Oh get over it)
Picking out succulents for the famous wall
Yoga is the love of Kimber and I's life. (minus family, chocolate and hummus) But really, it's been the biggest gift and transformed my life. Through yoga we've learned gratitude, patience, breathing through the crazy and are some strong bitches.