We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrew Arrospide Co-founder | Alfalfa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Andrew Arrospide, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Myself and my co-founders Dan Sobsey and Dan Londono, all shared our formative years in Hoboken, NJ. After completing high school at St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, located nearby, we each took divergent paths to pursue separate careers in the corporate world. However, our common aspiration to enact a meaningful impact on the world reunited us in Hoboken, where we conceived what would eventually transform into Alfalfa.

During our early days, as we brainstormed potential business ventures, we would extensively contemplate where to dine in the neighborhood. Our simple requirement was a place offering convenient, top-notch salads in an inviting atmosphere. Our quest consistently yielded unsatisfactory results. We pondered, ‘How could Hoboken, a densely inhabited area situated a stone’s throw away from Manhattan and other culinary hubs, lack options for wholesome eating?’ This realization sparked our “aha” moment, propelling us to address a challenge we personally encountered: providing the community with genuinely high-quality, health-conscious, and accessible food. To mitigate the risks of directly launching a restaurant, we began our journey by crafting salads within a modest 10′ x 10′ tent at a weekly farmers’ market in Hoboken in 2018.

As the weeks passed, our following burgeoned, and we sold more salads than we had ever envisioned. At the season’s end, two fellow local restaurateurs extended a pop-up opportunity to us in their cherished community establishment, a 1930s-era diner known as Schnackenberg’s, conveniently located on Washington Street. The community warmly embraced the Alfalfa pop-up concept, leading to our gradual expansion. Ultimately, these restaurateurs invited us to take over the entire space due to our organic growth. In 2019, this spot became our inaugural brick-and-mortar location, where we proudly remain situated today.

What initially commenced as a salad-focused concept underwent transformation to better align with our vision and palate. The menu diversification encompassed homemade doughnuts, breakfast burritos, and premium coffee. The physical setting materialized to embody the sense of joy and comfort that are integral to Alfalfa’s essence. Our ultimate pursuit was the promotion of happiness and mental well-being. Hence, we dedicated ourselves to interweaving our menu and customer experience in a manner that fosters delight and positivity.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As founders, we believe that our brand & product should reflect our values. Balance is at the forefront of what we collectively believe in. Our company mission is simple – to inspire joy through balance. While we enjoy eating healthy, we also like to indulge and that is directly reflected in our menu. Our core offering includes healthy & delicious salads, but we also offer specialty homemade gluten-free doughnuts for those who appreciate a tasty sweet treat.

We also strongly believe in inspiring joy to those who spend time in our stores. We spend a great deal of time training our team members to make sure every guest is treated with white glove service. Our goal is for you to leave an Alfalfa experience feeling great, whether it was because of how you were treated, the way our food tasted, that feeling of calm in our space, or even what music was playing. It’s all in our pursuit of balance.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

The early Alfalfa days definitely tested our patience as founders. Our first struggles were finding a place in our community that we could call our own. Before even being able to have our own brick & mortar space, we began our journey as a farmers market stand. We used this in order to test our concept as we scoured the market for a perfect space we could call our home. It took us over a year (between a farmers market stand and pop up) to finally open our doors.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

There are several ways we’ve been able to foster brand loyalty for Alfalfa. We’ve always been very intentional with how we communicate with our guests & audience which goes a long way in developing deep and meaningful relationships. We always do our best to keep our communication personalized so it resonates more with our clientele. Wether it’s over email, or social media, we always approach each guest the same and make sure to listen to their needs while also providing them with exceptional service. We’ve setup loyalty programs so that we can reward our repeat Alfalfa customers. This shows them our dedication for staying strong supporters of our brand. We also find other ways in which we foster brand loyalty such as hosting local community events, partnering with outside businesses, and even supporting various charities that align with our mission and values.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.eatalfalfa.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eatalfalfa/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eatalfalfa/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/eatalfalfa/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/eatalfalfa

Image Credits
Taylor Mahon