Founder Chats: Emily Cole Groden of Evergreen
Founder Chats: Emily Cole Groden of Evergreen
How an attorney and mom of two started a food brand that's helping families everywhere wake up with a win
Hey folks,
Welcome back to Everyday Empires, where we chat with everyday people building ventures that transform their lives.
Today, we’re sharing the story of Emily Cole Groden and her venture, Evergreen.
In late 2017, while working as an attorney full-time, Emily started making waffles from scratch, and freezing them. As a busy mom, she wanted something quick and easy to feed her daughter that wasn’t loaded with preservatives, refined sugars, and artificial flavors.
Emily went all-in, worked late hours, and made countless waffles to bring Evergreen to life. Today, Evergreen is in thousands of stores across the country, and she’s on a mission to help families everywhere wake up with a win.
In our interview, Emily shared:
The first steps she took to turn her homemade waffles into an actual business
How she got into her first stores (great story)
How customer feedback led her to overhaul her brand & packaging, resulting in a 50% increase in sales
The advice she wish she knew when she was starting
And here’s what stands out to me about Emily’s story:
She was General Counsel for two companies and a mom. She was BUSY. Yet, she made time to pursue her idea.
She worked incredibly hard for a long time with no guarantee of success. I’m talking making waffles at 3am hard work. With two little ones at home myself, I can’t even begin to imagine how hard this was.
She focused on what mattered and executed at a high level. Many founders might waffle (hah) for months trying to choose a name before taking any steps. Not Emily. Her first two steps were to hire a packaging designer and to get certified to work in a commercial kitchen. Then she took her waffles to stores, prepared them on the spot, and won their business!
Now, let’s get to the interview (6 min read) …
Founding Story and Inspiration
Hey Emily, I’m so excited to have you here on Everyday Empires! To start off, I’d like to take us back to early 2019. You’re working your dream job as the General Counsel for Alinea, when you have the idea to create instant waffles that might look like something you’d make from scratch if you had the time – waffles without a bunch of preservatives, where every ingredient has a nutritional purpose. Can you share more about the genesis for Evergreen, and in particular, what compelled you to actually pursue the idea?
Emily: One night, when I was driving home from Alinea, I heard a podcast that happened to be talking about frozen waffles. Long story short, the $1.2B grocery category was still dominated by that brand in a yellow box. At any other stage in my life, that fact would have gone in one ear and out the other. But I happened to be pregnant with my first daughter. Perhaps Alinea's reputation for questioning the status quo had rubbed off on me, because I found herself unwilling to accept that I was going to feed my future daughter "that brand." And so I bought a mini waffle iron on Amazon and got to work!
Not long after you started experimenting with waffles in your home kitchen, you made the decision to switch to part-time at Alinea so you could spend more time on Evergreen. At that point, how confident were you that your idea would succeed? Did you have any indication that you might be onto something, or were you simply willing to take the leap?
Emily: My waffle-making started as a hobby for my own family, but over the course of a year of tinkering with recipes, I came to the realization that I was only one of 33M moms in the US with kids 11 and under, and I couldn’t possibly be the only one looking for something better. While I thought I was onto something, perhaps my risk averse lawyer training got the best of me, because I wasn’t willing to jump in with both feet from day one.
What were the earliest steps you remember taking to turn your homemade waffles into a business?
Emily: The basics! I got certified to work out of a shared commercial kitchen and found a designer to make my first packaging. I decided to hire a real designer, as opposed to DIY, because I wanted to put my best foot forward. I wasn’t a 22-year-old right out of college with a ton of time for trial and error. I was in my 30s, with a baby, a mortgage, and a job that I loved and would be delighted to stay in if Evergreen didn’t work out.
Initial Momentum and Decisions
How’d you acquire your first customers? Did you go direct-to-consumer or was your first course of action to try to get your waffles into stores?
Emily: I walked into corner stores in Chicago with a duffle bag full of waffles, my household toaster, paper plates, and some maple syrup. I introduced myself to the store managers and said, “Hi, my name is Emily, I make waffles, and I think they’d be a great fit here! Can I heat some up for you?” Much to my surprise, everyone I approached was willing to try our waffles, and after tasting them, decided to bring us in. You never know until you ask!
Where did Evergreen’s early growth come from? Were any particular channels or strategies most effective?
Emily: Whole Foods Market was our first big break and completely changed the trajectory of our business. After getting into our first few corner stores, I was feeling bold and sent an email to the Local Forager for the Midwest region. Much to my surprise, she was interested in trying samples, and shortly after I dropped them off, she said she wanted to put them on-shelf. Winning Whole Foods Market was not only a huge stamp of credibility that helped with future sales but it also enabled me to get out of the shared commercial kitchen and partner with our first manufacturer.
How did you finance the early stages of Evergreen? Did you seek outside investment, or did you bootstrap the business?
Emily: For the first 3 years, I bootstrapped the business. Because we were so cash strapped, it also meant that I did not hire a team. While this may mean we grew more slowly in the beginning than we would have otherwise, I also think it was an extremely valuable experience. First, I knew - and as a result, today, still know - everything about my business. Second, I learned how to spend wisely. Third, by the time I finally did hire, we had enough traction and proof of concept that I was able to attract top talent who have really accelerated Evergreen’s growth.
What was the most critical feedback you received early on, and how did it shape the product?
Emily: At our first major trade show in March 2023, we took the opportunity to ask 1,000s of people what they thought about our product. The number one piece of feedback we received was “I had assumed it was vegan” and “I didn’t expect it to be so delicious.” After hearing this over and over again, we decided we had to take a hard look at our packaging, and in January 2024 after nearly 12 months of hard work, launched a total rebrand. Whereas our packaging used to be white with cold, green block letters, now it has bright, warm colors with bubbly font. The goal was to make Evergreen more accessible and approachable, and the early data suggests we succeeded. Our retail sales jumped over 50% overnight when the new packaging hit shelves.
How did you come up with the name “Evergreen”? What does it signify for you and your brand?
Emily: Over my lifetime, I’ve watched lots of diet fads come and go. First, fat was bad; now, it’s good. And so on and so forth. Because food trends are so fleeting, and the whiplash and confusion they leave in their wake can often be harmful to our health, I was determined to create a product that transcended any one fad or trend. In our products, we use only real ingredients that you could have found in your great grandmother’s pantry and you will likely be able to find in your great granddaughter's as well. We want our ingredients - and our brand - to be evergreen.
What steps did you take to build awareness and social proof for Evergreen in its early days?
Emily: Very little, to be honest. We launched in the second week of March 2020, right when the world was shutting down. At the time, Evergreen was barely a business and there were so many more important things happening in the world. It felt tone deaf to me to be out there posting on social media. We didn’t really start building a marketing strategy until my VP of Marketing joined our team, first as a contractor in late 2022 and then as an employee in 2023. Now, we are hyper-focused on spending as close to checkout as possible: promos, retailer media advertising, and in-store demos.
Insights and Reflection
What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from your journey with Evergreen that you wish you had known when you started?
Emily: Building a food brand is really hard. So much harder than I could have ever imagined! It’s also so much more fun and fulfilling than I could have ever imagined. The emotional roller coaster is real, and if you don’t believe in what you’re doing 200%, it will be too easy to hop off the roller coaster ride. So before you get going, make sure you’re all in and then buckle up!
How has your experience with Evergreen changed you?
Emily: I used to hate public speaking. I would get so nervous that my husband had to remind me to breathe. Not kidding! Today, it feels like 50% of my job is public speaking, and it’s one of my favorite parts. I’ve come to the realization that it wasn’t that I was scared of public speaking, it’s that I wasn’t speaking about the right thing. When you find something you love, everything gets easier. I am so grateful to get to wake up every day and build a company and a product that I wholeheartedly believe in. I feel more fulfilled, more confident that I’m doing what I’m meant to be doing, than ever before.
Lastly, where should readers follow you and Evergreen to stay updated on your journey?
Emily: Please follow us at @eatevergreen on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, and check out our store locator at https://eatevergreen.com/find-us to see where you can find us on shelf!
That’s a wrap
A massive thank you to Emily for sharing her time with us!
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See y’all next time,
Ken