Outside the Lines with L&L

In 2003, Bryan Janeczko (Langone 1998) left a banker's paradise for a rented kitchen and a dream. Though his career at Morgan Stanley was both lucrative and challenging, Bryan followed his passion and ventured off to co-found online food retailer Nu-Kitchen. With the right ingredients and a little "special sauce," Nu-Kitchen grew to become a multi-million dollar company in only five years. After successfully selling the business to NutriSystem, Bryan is now using his talent and experience to inspire innovation in others. In a captivating conversation, L&L learned that when good ideas and passion converge, the possibilities are endless.

Can you describe the moment you decided to leave your job to start Nu-Kitchen?

The single most memorable day was my last day at Morgan Stanley. I walked out on Broadway and I thought my God, this is incredible… I gave up a big bonus…it was 2003, the market was good…but I didn't even think about that. I just felt so energized and empowered. I thought it was honestly the happiest day of my life…for the first time I was doing something that I believed was going to make a difference. I wanted to do something in Health and Wellness, I wanted to be my own boss, I wanted to do something that was innovative.

How did you develop an interest in Health and Wellness?

Health and Wellness is something that's been with me my entire life…from high school on the swim team to just general health and fitness…in my family people have died quite young of things like heart disease…so I wanted to make sure I addressed it early on and I wanted to take care of myself so eating right has always been key.

As someone with a professional background in finance how did you develop the expertise start a food company?

Moonlighting. I consider myself a corporate refugee. I was working in corporate America…as many of us are…whether it's an insurance company, banking, consulting, finance, you're smart you're educated, you know what's going on, but often the business idea that you have is going to be in something outside of [your area of expertise] so it's important to get experience. I took night classes at The New School. I spent years networking within the food service industry.

What inspired you about the idea of bringing meals to people's houses? Was there a specific unmet need?

I initially wanted to roll this out as a restaurant, as a quick casual concept where people could come in and buy portion controlled meals, but what I quickly realized was that there was a huge demand from people who, like myself at the time, were busy professionals. They were too busy to even go to the store to go to Whole Foods to buy meals. People that ordered online were tired of coming home to another Chinese box in the fridge. The white space I saw in the market was healthy, quick casual food that could be delivered right to your door.

Did you see an immediate interest in Nu-Kitchen from these busy professionals?

As I left Morgan Stanley I had amassed an email list of people who might be interested. Friends, family, probably about 1500 names. I sent out the email and to my dismay, shock, horror….I only got six people. So when I opened the doors and had the chef create meals for six people I quickly realized that I needed to do a little bit more. I was fortunate enough to have a connection; a good friend of mine was friends with Marcia Gay Harden [actress] so I thought let me try to get her on the program. She was pregnant with twins, she was looking for healthy eating solutions, so I helped her through that and she offered in return to give me testimonials. I quickly surpassed my goal of getting to 100-200 customers in a short period of time. It all happened because she actually ate the food, she enjoyed it.

One thing that really inspires me is the extent to which your network seems to have empowered you throughout this process.

Absolutely. My network is the most powerful tool I think that I have…other than having half of a brain. I don't think you need to be a genius, I don't think you need to be the most brilliant person. I think you need to have passion, commitment, and have some street sense, that will take you a very long way, but having a network is going to be enormously powerful for you.

How would you advise Stern students who are looking to build a strong network?

If you have an objective of starting a business, go to industry events; meet people who are connected to that industry. Take them out for coffee, talk to them, ask them questions, hear their stories, hear their experiences…people love to talk about themselves! Networking outside of your industry is always a good idea too because you're bringing in new ideas, you're bringing in new ways of thinking. I honestly think creative energy is going to drive this current millennium…any business school student today who can bring in a creative element is going to have an advantage.

So tell us about your latest endeavors!

Well, WickedStart is my advisory service. People who have ideas that I find to be interesting, I work with them to help launch that product and help connect them with capital. My role is to incubate new businesses.

Sounds more personal than the traditional consulting model.

It's very personal. I'm going to come into your business, I'm going to take a stake in your business, and I'm going to help you grow the business.

Like that show "Shark Tank!"

I've heard about it but I haven't seen it…I have to! And this book project we are hearing about?

The book is part of the WickedStart model. Its 100 things you need to do to start a business. If you are this "corporate refugee" and you've got this great idea that's just burning inside of you and you really feel that you want to make it happen, this is the book that gives you 100 steps that you need to take to make it happen. It's really meant to share my experience not just with Nu-Kitchen but I weave in stories of other entrepreneurs just to help you think about you're idea, your business model. What are your unique ingredients, what's your special sauce?