How I Built My Small Business

Naomi Crawford - LUNCHETTE'S Secrets to a Sustainable Food Biz

• Naomi Crawford • Season 1 • Episode 38

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Naomi Crawford is the visionary founder and CEO of Lunchette. 

Naomi has been at the forefront of the sustainable business movement, transforming Lunchette into a model for eco-friendly and socially responsible practices. Lunchette has become Petaluma, California's go-to lunch spot and is renowned for its engagement in community building, zero-waste policies, commitment to paying living wages and partnership with small local farmers. 

Naomi's innovative approach not only champions sustainability, but also proves that doing good can positively impact the bottom line.

Lunchette was ranked by Sonoma Magazine as one of the 50 best restaurants in Sonoma County and has been recognized with a Slow Food Award for their business values.

Businesses mentions:

Zero Waste Sonoma

Rusty Hinges Ranch

Niman Ranch

Blue Zones

Recology

Sonoma Compost

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Naomi Crawford:

Take a look at what you're good at, what brings you joy and what needs doing, and the intersection of those three things is your action. That's where you should be.

Anne McGinty:

Welcome to how I Built my Small Business. I'm Anne McGinty, your host, and today we have Naomi Crawford, the visionary founder and CEO of Lunchette. Naomi has been at the forefront of the sustainable business movement, transforming Lunchette into a model for eco-friendly and socially responsible practices. Lunchette has become Petaluma California's go-to lunch spot and is renowned for its engagement in community building, zero-waste policies, commitment to paying living wages and partnership with small local farmers. Naomi's innovative approach not only champions sustainability, but also proves that doing good can positively impact the bottom line.

Anne McGinty:

Lunchette was ranked by Sonoma Magazine as one of the 50 best restaurants in Sonoma County and has been recognized with a Slow Food Award for their business values. You can find a link through to her business in the episode's description. Before we jump into the interview, there is one thing that you can do to help me reach more listeners' ears, and that is to please hit the follow button on your favorite streaming platform. This is incredibly helpful, so thank you in advance. Let's get started. Thank you to our listeners for being with us today. Naomi, welcome to the show.

Naomi Crawford:

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

Anne McGinty:

So can you tell us a little bit about what inspired you to start Lunchet and what your vision was for the company?

Naomi Crawford:

Yes, we are a very small hole-in-the-wall grab-and-go restaurant in Petaluma and a friend of mine owned the location. It was a cute little store and one day when I was walking by she was like have you ever thought about taking over my space and doing something here? And I went and looked at she had built out a little kitchen and I had already designed a business plan with my partner to open a grab and go at another location. And it fell through. And so I thought like, oh, this is only 800 square feet, you couldn't have an actual restaurant. It would have to be grab and go. This could work. And so I think four months later moved in.

Anne McGinty:

And what was it about the grab and go model that was so attractive to you?

Naomi Crawford:

I think it was important to us. We already were running another company called Pizza Politana and it was a wood fired pizza company. We had four ovens and we were at 12 to 14 farmers markets a week and we did catering. We were really, really busy and we realized if we had a full restaurant we'd have to have service staff and that would be a huge training procedure and just problems we didn't want to have and so grab and go to us made the most sense.

Anne McGinty:

Right Streamlined operations. It's a great business model, so can you share some of the biggest challenges that you faced when you started preparing to open Lunchette?

Naomi Crawford:

Yeah, I mean the biggest challenge was we had two kids, a 10-year-old and a 12-year-old, and they had grown up with pizza polatana. But that was always really hard, for us too, finding childcare. It was like running a second business having them, and I don't think that there's an answer to the problem. There's no good way to start a business while you have kids unless you have an incredible family to support you. Not to say, our families aren't incredible, but we didn't have that kind of support, and so the kids had to kind of come along for the ride, and so what it created was we had to overstaff, and labor is probably the most expensive part of any business I think for restaurants it's typically 35%, not including management and so we were way overstaffed. And then we weren't in the driver's seat either, so it felt to us like quality of both was diminished, and again, there's no real good solution for this.

Anne McGinty:

It's just a fact, it's just what you had to do. One of the things that I noticed when just looking at your site is that you really emphasize zero waste policies, so I was wondering if you could talk with us a little bit about how you developed those policies and then implemented them Of course I'm super enthusiastic about zero waste.

Naomi Crawford:

Part of this was a learning curve, for sure. I really wanted it to be compostable materials, and so we had to learn what that truly meant, because what I thought was compostable wasn't necessarily compostable, and luckily a new little ad hoc committee started around the time we started, called Zero Waste Petaluma, and I was able to join Zero Waste Petaluma, and on it were members from our local trash hauler, recology, and our local composter, which at the time was called Sonoma Compost, and we learned a lot about what was truly a way to have the goal of zero waste. Obviously, there's a lot of waste in restaurants, but because it's grab and go, from the outside it looks like we're extremely wasteful, but I'd say 90% of our products are actually compostable. The salad dressing containers are plant plastic, and plant plastic is not compostable in the state of California. It might be in other regions where they have cheaper land, but compost facilities require a lot of land and California, as you know, land is the most expensive thing.

Naomi Crawford:

I mean, these are plant plastic. It's not fossil fuel based, but it behaves the same way fossil fuel plastic behaves, so it doesn't break down all the way, and so it can't really be called compostable. It's called technically biodegradable, and so we learned about that. And then we really learned about diverting any food waste. And so we work with a little farm called Rusty Hinges Ranch and they take all our food scraps to feed their pigs and they have these adorable pigs who are fed lunch every day. And so our green waste bin is all just our plant-based materials, our fiber bowls. So we use wooden forks which are made from birch, and the paper napkins are 100% compostable, and then our fiber bowls are 100% compostable, and then our fiber bowls are 100% compostable.

Anne McGinty:

Why would you say that sustainability is such an important aspect of Lunchette's business model and of your values too? Where did this originate?

Naomi Crawford:

It probably originated in college, because I went to UC Davis in the late 80s, early 90s and at that time there was a huge community there. My first restaurant job was at a vegetarian restaurant. We were a real community hub for live music and working with local farms. So this was my education and I don't think I knew much about sustainability before then. And then, when I left Davis and I moved to San Francisco, I decided I wanted to become a chef and I picked out restaurants.

Naomi Crawford:

I didn't know what at the time drew me to them. They were based on sustainable models and so they were working with ranchers at the time, like Nyman Ranch, who were farming cattle out on Bolinas Ridge. So I was learning more and more about that and why it was important and why there was more nutrients in those types of food and why those foods tasted better. And so the model made sense and I've never veered from that since.

Naomi Crawford:

I think that we understood that we are part of a greater whole, that what we bring to lunch at which is mostly foods from small local farms who we tend to work with, farms who are farming regeneratively, meaning building soil health. That affects our local ecology, our local economy when we work with these farmers, we're part of that local ecology economy, and were we to choose products that were outside of that, then we would be outside of that, and so there's an interconnectedness to all of our choices and sustainability. There's a way to be sustainable that all you do is keep extracting, and there's a way to be sustainable where what you're building is thriving, and we want to be part of a community that is thriving and not just extracting and keeping something built just to keep extracting. We want to build something that is thriving for everybody that's involved.

Anne McGinty:

In any way would you say that your sustainability practices have ended up actually driving your business, and profitability too?

Naomi Crawford:

I have to think they have, because there is far cheaper food than what we produce, like our basic Caesar salad is $11. And you can get a basic Caesar salad at another place for $6. That is not organic, whereas our Parmesan is organic. All the lettuces that we use are sourced locally from different farmers. We cut the root off and wash them all, sort them all, dry them all, and there's a mixture of three to four different lettuces. We make our own focaccia and cut it up into croutons. Our process is expensive and people pay for that, and so would it be better, would we be more profitable, if we got cheap loaves of bread and cut it up into chunks? I don't think so. I don't know that people would go for it. I think people taste the quality.

Anne McGinty:

So how do you balance the need for profitability with your commitment to environmental and social goals?

Naomi Crawford:

If our main mission is to build a thriving community, then everything we do has to point towards that. That's our North Star. So there's a couple of things. One is we got lucky in buying a home in 2012 when the economy had tanked, and we wouldn't have been lucky had we not been saving to buy a commercial spot and the commercial properties were still out of reach and a mortgage broker suggested we buy a home instead. So we got very lucky and so we've never needed that much money as a result, and so we have kept our salary the same for the last eight years. We've never taken a raise. All the money that we make any profitability at all, and that money goes back into the business to get people raises every year. The more you pay your staff, you pay equitably. Then you keep people around.

Anne McGinty:

You're creating a sustainable model. Can you give us an idea of the size of your team and how financially sound your business is?

Naomi Crawford:

Sure, I mean, we only have eight employees, because the grab and go model doesn't require a huge staff. We only have one location and we have a commercial kitchen that provides for that location. So the commercial kitchen, basically, is the engine, and the only thing that we need at the store itself is people who really enjoy being there, people who want to connect with customers every day and create community, and so they're bringing people in. That's their only job is to just connect, and so it feels like if we did decide to open up other locations, because the idea when you have a commercial kitchen is that you then have satellites that it feeds, but we still have a kid at home.

Naomi Crawford:

We have a 17-year-old who's going to be a senior this year. We have a daughter in college, and it's been really important for us to maintain a balance, to be able to spend as much time with them as possible. Our son is interested in studying business, and so he asked if, at the end of college so we're talking five years down the line could he come back and build out that model in a way that we haven't really wanted to, because we really prioritized family, but where a young person absolutely could, because it is a model that you could scale. It absolutely makes sense to scale. One of the things he wants to study is how do you scale culture, because we've created a culture of connection and community wellness, well-being, and how do you scale that? So this is something that he's interested in considering and I'm really excited to hear what he learned and be on for the ride.

Anne McGinty:

That's really exciting. So, beyond your quality of food, which obviously is going to bring in a certain number of customers as it is, what would you say has also contributed to your success at a time when so many businesses are closing?

Naomi Crawford:

That's such a good question. I mean I really do believe, because we give back to the community a lot. I'm on a lot of boards, I'm in the community. I'm asking other business owners to be part of that community. I'm asking our customers to pay attention to matters that are important to all of us to engage.

Naomi Crawford:

I wrote a zine for Lunchette called Launchette, and in the zine I give information on local artists, local authors, musicians, nonprofits, ways to donate, ways to volunteer time, local farms, CSAs, community supported agriculture and ways to become a CSA member, Because I feel like if we can, like I said, build that thriving community, it helps us too. It helps bring people in to lunch at they're interested to be there. And I think when businesses fail, it's a lot to do with time and place and getting lucky, like having their grab and go. Who would have known the pandemic would have been exactly the right thing for a grab and go? Who would have known the pandemic would have been exactly the right thing for our grab and go? There's no way you could have predicted that it's luck.

Anne McGinty:

Luck to an extent, but then to keep it thriving isn't luck.

Naomi Crawford:

No, it's also practices, it's hard work, it's a love for what we do. We get to go to work every day. It's our joy, it's our purpose. I didn't even realize our purpose is perfectly aligned to what we do. That's a phenomenal success right there.

Anne McGinty:

Absolutely. Yeah, I love that what you just said. Right there, you get to go to work. It's not a have to go to work, and maybe that's part of the magic formula right there have to go to work, and maybe that's part of the magic formula right there. What would you say are some practical steps that other small businesses could take to become more sustainable and afford to do so?

Naomi Crawford:

I think doing the research before you open, because we learned the harder way, which was like we kept having to change out packaging and that becomes expensive. So, doing the research before, which is talking to your waste hauler, talking to other business owners, having a real vision for what you want and that's authentic to you, not creating something that you think is on trend I do see people do that a lot Like oh it's trendy to do plant-based restaurant, I'm going to do a plant-based restaurant now, but without having it be personally attached to your values, to your knowledge base. I think people also don't do the research on other businesses in their community to make sure that they're not replicating something that already exists, that they're unique and that they have values embedded in their business. I think it's a mistake to open a business without values. They have to be clear and present and they have to serve the community.

Anne McGinty:

I had somebody ask me the other day how to figure out what your values are. Wow, how did you figure out what your values are?

Naomi Crawford:

Wow, that's so interesting out what your purpose is. And, like me, having two young people in my life, my teens nobody ever asked them what's your purpose. People always ask them what are you going to do? What are you going to be? What are you going to study? What's your job going to be? What are you going to study? What's your job going to be? And I think the more important question is what's your purpose? And just have that as your guiding light. Whatever it may be and it may change over time, but it could be something fundamental to who you are. I mean, I think mine is to nourish, whether that's just nourishing through healthy food or nourishing people's minds through these kinds of conversations and engagement.

Naomi Crawford:

My values, I think, stemmed from my mom, who was involved in civil rights. She was marched with Martin Luther King, and when I was a kid we marched with Cesar Chavez, and I don't think you can grow up like that without having the values of social justice embedded in you. And then I don't think there's any justice that exists in a silo or injustice that exists in the silo. They're all connected. So food injustices, environmental injustices, economic, they're all linked. And so the values that we've embedded into Lent Chat with Zero Waste. I mean that has to do with economic and environmental justice and where materials are made and then where they're disposed, and I think shipping things from far distances typically harms marginal, marginal Spence Line communities and so I think everything is kind of linked and if you just sit with like, what do you value? Most people value their family, they value health of their family and if they can connect to that, then everything they do in their business will work towards creating a healthier family.

Anne McGinty:

Yeah, that's beautiful. What an incredible upbringing you had. What do you wish that other businesses and restaurants knew about? The environmental aspects of the food business.

Naomi Crawford:

Oh, my goodness, I wish that restaurants would commit 100% to sourcing locally and having seasonal food and the goal is 100%. Then maybe you get there by 50, 60, 70%, but so many restaurants, because the bottom line is so small, they're going to try and cheat that and get cheaper products. But what you're feeding is feedlot animals and like a system that is just unjust to our earth and our human population and our non-human population. And so I guess I just wish that restaurants if they understood the gravity of their buying decisions and the power of their buying decisions, that when they decide to opt for feedlot chicken instead of organic pasture-raised chicken, that what they're supporting is an oppressive system, a system that hurts not just the animals but the farm workers that work with those animals, and the earth doesn't support that kind of a system. It's a degenerative system versus a regenerative system and that you can create sustainability out of that degenerative system where all you're doing is keeping inputs the same, that hurt the health of the land and the animals and the people working it and the people eating it. Or you can support a regenerative system where everything is working towards better health of all of those same systems. Incrementalism is the only thing we can really do like one thing at a time and I know that because I'm on the committee for our downtown businesses and we can't just ask people to upend everything and change everything they know. So it's just like one little thing at a time. The first thing that we asked our business community to do is so you know, we all get a power bill and on the power bill you can click a box that says I want to use only green energy. It costs you an extra $10 a month, but by clicking that box you're ending fossil fuel and coal and all that use in our grid. So it's just this one small thing that it does cost money to do.

Naomi Crawford:

But then, when you can have that little logo on your window that tells people that you have at least an awareness, and then all restaurants have to get supplied by vendors for produce, meats, all that I would talk to my sales rep and say I want my business to be a little bit more sustainable, a little bit greener. When I order from you, can you try and give me as much organic produce as possible, can you try and get me as much local produce as possible? And so it's just that one little thing. And then you have to look at your bottom line and say do I need to raise my prices?

Naomi Crawford:

How do I message that to my customers? How do I make sure that they know it's important? And is that through social media? Is that through coming and talking to customers when they walk in and saying, hey, I'm letting you know we had to raise our prices because we really want to use organic? I don't know if that's important to you, but it's important to us. And here's why. And why it matters to the people eating at your restaurant, or should matter. And how can you message?

Anne McGinty:

that. So you're just saying have an open line of communication to your customers and explain it in a way that just feels right, yeah, and the truth is that you might push some people away because of the price point.

Naomi Crawford:

They might have a very small budget for when they eat out and it is unfortunate that some of these higher prices will push some people away. But you might bring more people in because they might say, oh, that brunch place I avoid has now got organic eggs, pasture-raised eggs Now I'll eat there, and so I actually think you'd be expanding your clientele. But the truth is, yeah, there's going to be people who can no longer afford to eat that quality and unfortunate system, and there are organizations in every community, and there are organizations in every community. Here we have many like Sonoma Family Meal and Una Vida, who are feeding food, insecure families, high quality, delicious meals, and so there's ways to feed people like that. For me, I sit on the board of Sonoma Family Meal and Lunchette donates to Univita. That's how I can still contribute to service that section of our community so that they're thriving too, because I don't want to just be here for people who can't afford it. I want to be here for people who can't afford it too, and that's how you do it.

Anne McGinty:

You're an amazing person.

Naomi Crawford:

Thank you, it all feels like too little.

Anne McGinty:

This is such a core part of you. It all feels like too little. This is such a core part of you.

Naomi Crawford:

It is, it is. It's why it's my joy, because I get to do that.

Anne McGinty:

Beyond your son, potentially helping you to scale this business, whether it's franchising or opening multiple locations. What are your future plans for Lunchette in the near term?

Naomi Crawford:

Right now, it's to keep trying to do what we do better. We are part of an organization called Zero Food Print, and Zero Food Print raises money to give grants to agricultural entities to either better or convert to regenerative agriculture. I would like to see that grow. They've identified 650,000 agricultural acres in Sonoma County and they have a goal of regenerating all of it. I would love to see that happen and be part of that, and so I think over these next couple of years, it's really doubling down on all the good work and seeing if we can't do ourselves even better.

Anne McGinty:

So what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs in general?

Naomi Crawford:

Well, one have enough funding to get through that first year, because that first year is tough. You've put all your money into getting open. You've got to have some pockets to carry you through that first year. We were lucky in that we had Pizza Polatama that could cover lunch at for that first year, as people got to know who we were and what we were doing. But it costs more than you think it's going to cost. The other thing is use resources like SCORE, the Senior Corps of Retired Executives. It's a free service that you can sign up for and get a mentor.

Naomi Crawford:

But working with SCORE before you get open is probably a better idea for creating a better plan and then again reiterating, just like being really in touch with what appeals to you. I mean, seth, I think it's interesting to go into a community and say you know what's missing. You know what's missing here. This frozen yogurt's missing. I'm going to create a frozen yogurt tub. If it doesn't speak to you, then why do it? It's got to be something that's in your wheelhouse. I think I read in Dr Ayanna Pressley. She's like an incredible scientist, biologist, environmental, writer and she said, like when you're looking at climate action and how you want to get involved. Take a look at what you're good at, what brings you joy and what needs doing, and the intersection of those three things is your action. That's where you should be of those three things as your action, that's where you should be. So if it brings you joy to like bicycles and you know that e-bikes are necessary and that you're really good at sales, then starting a bike store with e-bikes is probably a good idea.

Anne McGinty:

That's a great way to look at it. I've never heard anybody approach it from that perspective before, but that makes a lot of sense.

Naomi Crawford:

I think so too.

Anne McGinty:

So for a final question if you could go back and talk with yourself when you were in your early 20s, what wisdom would you give yourself?

Naomi Crawford:

I would tell myself to probably get a therapist. To probably get a therapist, I think I like left home and went to college and hit the ground running and I never really understood how to understand who I was in relation to who I thought I should be. And I feel like giving my kids that knowledge, whether they take it or not, because you don't have to, you know, but is have an ally there, someone who can help you with all that, because I, I think it would have helped me a lot. I was, you know, at the same time, like all the things that maybe I see as negatives, are really helpful.

Naomi Crawford:

And starting a business and running a business which is, I'm, very dogged and very aggressive when it comes to defending what I think is just. And so these are good things and bad things. Nothing is entirely good or bad, right, but yeah, I would probably give myself a hug and tell myself, like it's okay to not always be so strong. You can be weak and vulnerable and that's beautiful too. Being older, we have the benefit of pattern recognition. You can't have that when you're young. You just you can't see it, you haven't seen the patterns, and so we can now help other people who are younger than us and say like well, what would you think if you did something differently than that? You know what would it look like.

Anne McGinty:

Well, Naomi, thank you so much for coming on the show and sharing your insights with all of us 100%.

Naomi Crawford:

I think what you're doing is great too. It's great to share wisdom.

Anne McGinty:

As always, thanks for being here. Today's key takeaways If you're interested in a food business, the grab-and-go model allows for streamlined operations, less training procedures and fewer problems. A commercial kitchen can act as the engine for your business and multiple satellite locations can work off that single kitchen. Look for ways to integrate sustainability into your business model to enhance profitability and growth. Sustainable practices can be a significant driver of success. Establish a clear mission for your business. For example, naomi's mission is to build a thriving community. Let your mission be your North Star guiding all your decisions and actions. Actively participate in and give back to your community. Build relationships with other local businesses. Supporting them can, in turn, attract people to your location.

Anne McGinty:

Identify what brings you joy and purpose in life. Reflect on how you can adjust your job, business or aspirations to transform I have to go to work into. I get to go to work. When exploring business ideas, have a clear vision. If sustainability is part of your vision, conduct thorough research before starting. This includes knowing the other businesses in your area and making sure that your concept is unique. Clearly define and communicate your business values.

Anne McGinty:

Continuously ask yourself what's my purpose and be open to the evolution of your purpose over time. If feasible, consider switching to green energy. It can be cost-effective and demonstrates your commitment to a sustainable future to your customers. Focus on continuous, incremental improvement in all aspects of your business. Identify what you're good at, what brings you joy and what needs doing. The intersection of these three areas is where you should focus your efforts. Lastly, recognize the significant issue of food waste, with 40% of food in the US ending up in landfills. Consider innovative solutions to divert food waste and help feed undernourished people, turning a problem into an opportunity. That's it for today. I release episodes once a week, so come back and check it out. Have a great day.

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