The Leap

When it comes to food business startups—some entrepreneurs prefer to start on wheels before expanding to a brick-and-mortar locations. Tune in to hear how Mike Lenard scaled DC's beloved fast casual Takorean from a single food truck to five locations in two cities.

Kristof Grina has big plans to enhance DC's urban agriculture landscape. Across DC, Up Top Acres operates 7 rooftop farms, producing locally grown vegetables and herbs for city dwellers. Everything they grow travels no more than 1/4 of a mile—redefining the local food movement.

Vermouth has regained its swagger and Kat Hamidi is helping to lead the way. Thanks to the cocktail boom—the once dormant US vermouth category is experiencing remarkable growth and theirs great potential for craft makers. Listen to the ins and outs of starting a vermouth co as Kat chats about her growing DC startup.

pineapple began in 2015 with a simple, yet powerful idea: bring women together around good food. Today, Ariel Pasternak and Ariel Bernstein run a collaborative of over 60,000 women who convene online and offline, with food as the centerpiece. They believe food is a great activator for women to connect and share with each other and strengthen our collective voice.

Danielle Vogel, owner of Glen's Garden Market, guest hosts this week's episode with two of the three finalists of AccelerateHERdc. Hear from Chelsea Barker, Director of Operations at Little Wild Things Farm (winner!!) & Danielle Russo, Founder of More Than Water.

As the Colombian-American founder of El Camino Travel, Katalina never meant to start a travel company. A quick conversation (about drug cartels) with a taxi driver in Guatemala dramatically changed the course of her life and veered her from international development to hospitality and tourism. El Camino Travel is a culmination of Katalina's experiences working extensively throughout Latin America for over a decade, and her creative side that is obsessively on the hunt for those locals that make a destination tick. Katalina, and her team of experts at El Camino Travel are on the ground in the destinations, working extremely hard to make sure you have the experiences of a lifetime. This is exactly how they would want to experience these countries if they were traveling there for the first time.

This week's guest is Ben Eisendrath, owner and designer-in-chief of Grillworks. Grillworks makes the purist's premier wood-fired grills. For over 30 years, since the ground-breaking Grillery, home grillers and chefs have turned to the grills that are truly Argentine Inspired, American Made. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

Ann Yang is the co-founder of MISFIT Juicery. Yang started MISFIT as a college student at Georgetown University with her best friend, Phil Wong. Two years later, MISFIT is now found in 65 wholesale accounts throughout the D.C. area and in New York City including Blue Hill at Stone Barns, an eatery recently named the best restaurant in the United States. MISFIT has been featured in Vogue Magazine, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine, and is one of six companies nationwide in the inaugural class of the Chobani Food Incubator. MISFIT has also created partnerships with Baldor Specialty Foods, National Geographic, DC Central Kitchen and Jubilee Jobs. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

Jenna, the founder of Whisked!, is originally from Eugene, Oregon. Jenna has always been a passionate baker, spending hours making cakes for her college committee meetings at the University of Washington and baking through almost every recipe in Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible. In 2005, Jenna moved to Washington DC and never looked back. After a few years spent getting to know the city and falling in love with the up-and-coming DC food scene, Jenna started ModernDomestic in 2008; a blog about baking and pastry, which quickly became a local hit. On the blog, Jenna discussed the science of baking, shared favorite recipes, and interviewed DC-area pastry chefs. In 2010 she decided to follow her passion and quit her full-time job to become a baker at Treet, an online bakery. She worked at several other area food businesses, including Soupergirl, The Big Cheese Truck, and Spilled Milk Catering, to learn the ropes before launching Whisked! in 2011. The influence of Jenna's enterprising spirit and love of homemade baked goods on Whisked! products is unmistakable. We don't take shortcuts, ensuring every pie, cookie, and quiche is made with the same attention as if you were baking in your own home. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week's guest on The Leap is Michele Tsucalas of Michele's Granola. Michele's Granola started with Michele's love of fresh, healthy food and passion for supporting local food markets. Love is the first ingredient in every batch our team bakes in Baltimore, MD. Michele makes her granola the old-fashioned, all-natural way--blended by hand, with organic whole grain oats and loads of crunchy seeds and nuts. Just like in her home kitchen, there are never any additives, preservatives or artificial ingredients. Michele's Granola is dairy, egg and honey free--which means it is free of cholesterol and transfats, and 100% vegetarian friendly. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week's guest on The Leap is Carlie Steiner, co-owner and beverage director of Himitsu. Himitsu is an award winning fine dining restaurant in the Petworth neighborhood of Washington DC. They serve sushi, cocktails, and cuisine inspired by Japan, Latin and South America. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week's guest on The Leap is Angie Fetherston is the CEO of Drink Company. She oversees the company's business operations as well as partnerships, corporate development and strategy. She co-founded Drink Company with leading spirits and cocktail expert Derek Brown in 2010 and together they own several bars including the James Beard Award-nominated and Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Award-winning 2017 "Best American Cocktail Bar" Columbia Room. They are also well known for their successful string of pop-up bars including Miracle on 7th Street (in partnership with Cocktail Kingdom), Cherry Blossom PUB, Game of Thrones PUB and PUB Dread. Both Angie and Derek have headed multiple community initiatives such as supporting the National Archives Foundation with programming surrounding their Spirited Republic exhibit and helping the D.C. City Council to proclaim the Rickey as the official cocktail of Washington D.C.

This week's guest on The Leap is Victoria Lai, founder of Ice Cream Jubilee. Victoria started making ice cream in her apartment kitchen in 2009 and that creative pursuit has transformed into an award winning successful business. Hear about her story and more on The Leap! Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week's guest on The Leap is Lisa Zechiel of Washington's Green Grocer, a unique home delivery service of organic/local produce, dairy, grass-fed meat and other specialty items. They have proudly been serving the Washington DC Metro Area since 1994! Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week's guest on The Leap is Daniela Moreira, Executive Chef of Timber Pizza. In late 2015 Chef Dani Moreira found the Timber team at a local market. Fast forward a few months and she has taken the reins as executive chef. Hailing from Argentina, with her CIA degree in hand, Dani's experience includes time at Michelin star restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York City. Since then she has been bringing her fine dining credentials and Argentinian flair to elevate the Timber dining experience. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week on The Leap, Sarah Gordon is joined by Doron Petersan of Sticky Fingers. Sticky Fingers is the food-child of Doron Petersan, junk-foodie genius. Life as an Italian-Jew from New York-turned-vegan was ever so challenging. Craving traditional guilt laden foods, she was determined to unlock the secrets of creating their animal-free counterparts for everyone to enjoy. With a degree in nutrition and food science, Doron brought memories of favorite treats to vegan reality. Everything Doron does is so she can eat, create, cook and feed. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week's guest on The Leap is Danielle Vogel of Glen's Garden Market, a climate-progress-motivated grocery store, deli and craft beer bar with stores in Dupont Circle (at 20th and S Streets) and Shaw (at 8th and Florida Ave). Tune in to hear how Danielle took the leap and left behind her job in politics to create change through grocery. Sponsored by: Glen's Garden Market. Good food from close by. Learn more at www.glensgardenmarket.com.

This week on The Leap, Sarah Gordon chats with Amanda McClements, founder of Salt & Sundry. Raised by free-spirited, food-loving parents in North Carolina, owner Amanda McClements opened Salt & Sundry in November 2012 to share her love of cooking, entertaining and design. Amanda and her team are constantly on the hunt for new pieces that reflect the shop's urban bohemian aesthetic. Amanda's father, a North Carolina craftsman, creates one-of-a-kind tables for the shop's clients out of salvaged and locally milled wood. In addition to being a go-to source for gorgeous tableware, home furnishings and gifts, Salt & Sundry hosts special events and demonstrations with local chefs, bartenders and food experts in the store.

This week on The Leap, Sarah Gordon chats with Bettina Stern, co-founder of Chaia. Chaia offers seasonal, plant-based tacos, sides and natural drinks in a stylish, casual setting. Chaia's "farm to taco " is a unique relationship between farmers and urban-style street food.

This week on The Leap, Sarah Gordon chats with Meredith Sheperd, founder of Love & Carrots. Meredith has been working in organic agriculture and environmental sustainability for 15 years. Before founding Love & Carrots in 2011, she was the manager of Chaily Farm in VA, which produces organic herbs and vegetables for DC restaurants. Meredith received the 2013 DC Mayor's Sustainability Award, 2014 Green America Award, and Business Insider's Top 50 'Coolest' Businesses in America.

Tune in for the debut episode of The Leap, as host Sarah Gordon talks to The Soupergirl! Soupergirl is Sara Polon, a former stand up comedienne turned soup-maker. After reading Michael Pollan's book, the Omnivore's Dilemma, Sara decided to get involved in the local food movement. She thought about being a farmer but she can't even keep her house plants alive. Tune in to hear how she made the leap into small business and what advice she has for aspiring food entrepreneurs.