We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Scott Hersch. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Scott below.

Hi Scott, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

I’ve always wanted to be in the restaurant business, since high school. I knew it was a bad idea, hard work, competitive industry, most fail, no formal training.
I tried a couple times where deals fell through, finally i had an opportunity to open at Hillel,@ CWRU ( jewish organization on college campuses around the world).
ended up being a startup that had some parameters and that helped, I had to keep it Kosher and Vegetarian, some might think thats restrictive, but it gave me focus.
It was in a basement off the beaten path, and with grit and determination, i stuck with it, and within a year we were a pretty popular joint on campus.
Grit was the key, and believing in myself!

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 in the previous Question about risk, I found an inexpensive gateway by going into a location with specific needs, Kosher and vegetarian food, I had no rent in the first 18 years, giving me an opportunity to hone my skills. the down side was an amenity to the school of law and Hillel. this gave me a chance to better develop my craft and business skills. Again discipline or grit was t5he main factor in my success, in 25 years i never missed a day of work. I learned how to create tasty soups, and through customer engagement and feedback developed lasting unique recipes for our customers.
Coming from being vegetarian, i was able to make healthy foods and that gave me another layer of purpose.
for me, it was never about money, i figured if i made nutritious , delicious, fare, people would come, word of mouth would work, and at any moment people would begin to eat better. the masses still favor fast food over healthful, and i develope my niche.
Munch became synonymous with quality, value, and most importantly yummy

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

In cleveland, ohio. Munch is well known. really we are small, a single location. I think what has set us apart is consistency, and adaptability. We are a favorite of many, being small allows easier pivoting when necessary, better control over products and development of new products. we’ve also pride ourselves being a local community oriented business, and with that came lots of press, local Tv appearances and local newspapers llike ‘the Cleveland jewish news’ follow our every move, the irony is i’ve never spent a dime on advertising

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

pivoting is vital in business, each location i’ve operated (4) has had different needs. here in Solon where we are now. we’ve developed a reputation for soups, so we ran with that and in the last 7 years created a repertoire of 25 vegan soups, and during the pandemic was recognized as the ‘best soups in Ohio’.

before that, at the school of law, it was smoothies. parfaits and daily specials.

At Hillel, we had a falafel bar.
each one is customer driven

Contact Info:

• Website: www.munchasimplekitchen.com
• Instagram: munch_cle
• Facebook: Munch
• Yelp: Munch a simple kitchen