Host Jess Baum interviews Adam Schlegel of Chook Chicken, a B Corp-certified fast casual restaurant in Denver dedicated to serving delicious, responsible food sourced from those that care for and respect our land.
Soil to Soul: Farming, Food, Wine, and our Collective Future, dedicated to exploring diverse voices and perspectives as they relate to farming, food, wine, and the future we’re working to build. Soil to Soul is brought to you by Bonterra Organic Estates and is hosted by Jess Baum, Bonterra’s Senior Director of Regenerative Impact.
Today’s guest is Adam Schlegel of Chook Chicken, a B Corp-certified fast casual restaurant in Denver dedicated to serving delicious, responsible food sourced from those that care for and respect our land.
Before that, Adam co-founded Snooze, an A.M. Eatery in 2006 with his brother Jon, a breakfast and lunch restaurant that has grown to 59 locations around the country, where he led development strategy and sustainable and community initiatives and remains involved today. Adam is also active with various non-profits, start-ups, and government organizations working to improve agriculture, education, and food.
Jess and Adam discuss the evolution of Snooze and Chook and how they’re providing sustainable sustenance at an affordable price, the reckoning the restaurant industry faced during and after the pandemic, and the most important part of running a restaurant: taking care of staff.
Adam Schlegel (00:00):
How do we do the best for the most important element of our restaurant, which is our people?
Elizabeth Archer (00:23):
You are listening to Soil to Soul. Farming, food, wine, and our collective future dedicated to exploring diverse voices and perspectives as they relate to farming, food, wine, and the future we're working to build. Soil to Soul is brought to you by Bonterra Organic Estates and is hosted by Jess Baum, Bonterra's Senior Director of Regenerative Impact. Today's guest is Adam Schlegel of Chook Chicken, a fast casual restaurant in Denver dedicated to serving delicious, responsible food sourced from those that care for and respect our land. Before that, Adam co-founded Snooze, an A.M. Eatery in 2006 with his brother John, a breakfast and lunch restaurant that has grown to 59 locations around the country where he led development strategy and sustainable and community initiatives and remains involved today.
(01:13):
Adam is also active with various nonprofits, startups, and government organizations working to improve agriculture, education and food. Listen in as Jess and Adam discuss the evolution of Snooze and Chook and how they're providing sustainable sustenance at an affordable price. The reckoning the restaurant industry faced during and after the pandemic, and the most important part of running a restaurant, taking care of staff.
Jess Baum (01:45):
Hi Adam, welcome to the podcast. It's so good to have you here.
Adam Schlegel (01:48):
Hi Jess. Great to be here.
Jess Baum (01:51):
The first time that we met was when I interviewed for the director of sustainability position at Snooze, and you as a member of the board of directors and a founder who was really responsible for embedding sustainability and community into Snooze, you were interviewing me. It was great to connect then. I remember having just an amazing conversation with you and being so excited about the potential to be part of this amazing movement, which is really what Snooze is to me. It's so much more than a restaurant. It's a movement of people of as we call them Snoozers, the people who work at Snooze and of customers. So I'm curious, at the beginning, what inspired you to champion Snooze's commitment to impact through both community and the environment in those early days in 2006 when it wasn't part of the conversation the way it is now?
Adam Schlegel (02:47):
As I look back on Snooze and what we've done, it truly is what I'm most proud about. I do think it's one of our biggest differentiators in again, just that source of pride. I think what started it is I think I've always been someone who's wanted to try to impact change and haven't necessarily always known what that meant. But my brother is and has been just this restaurant guru since birth, really. He gave me the opportunity to come back and join him and help and I really tried to work in the facets that were different than his superpowers, which really are running a restaurant and getting that energy and flow. And mine always tended to be a little bit more in the back in business development and the finance side. But again, I had this concept of wanting to help change, and I spent most of my early twenties traveling quite a bit.
(03:39):
I think it was exposed to a lot of the different ways that other countries do things and I think it gave me this real appreciation for our environment and what we could do. And when I got into Snooze and into the restaurant industry, it was pretty evident out of the gate how detrimental really the restaurant industry can be to the environment. And it doesn't have to be that way, that there are real positive low hanging fruit changes that can be done. And as I've told people, I didn't study this at school, it is a passion of mine, but it is one of those onion layers that as soon as I got a few wins and started peeling back the layers, I realized how much more could be done.
(04:24):
And it really became this opportunity for us to find change, to elevate it, to keep on moving forward and it was constantly fed by our Snoozers, our team, who also wanted to be a part of something that was actually different, that was actually making a difference. That wasn't just a restaurant job, it was really like a restaurant cause that we could move forward on. The Spark was always there. I think the need was there and continues to be, but it was so much of it was really just fed by our Snoozers and our team. It's such a fascinating area that we all need to work on in the restaurant space was just right for it.
Jess Baum (05:04):
In what ways do you think this commitment to a cause that Snooze was at the beginning and still is impacted? It’s really great success. It's growing at a huge rate. I know there's more Snoozes opening up every day in different states.
Adam Schlegel (05:22):
Again, it's so humbling to see from where it started to where it is now. I think restaurants always try to look for secret sauce, and I do think our commitment to both community and sustainability are one of those things. It's amazing how many times I'll talk to groups about Snooze's efforts and our guests by and large, I don't always think they know, so I can't necessarily say it's always the driver of the guests. I do think what it is it's the driver of our team. Especially in an industry that has such high turnover that has folks consistently trying to jump from job to job to job, Snooze, is really able to harness working with just exceptional people and continue to actually get them to grow. And finding people who never necessarily thought of this as a career but suddenly we're part of a company that aligned with their values.
(06:14):
Because of that, I think we were able to retain some of the best and the best, yourself included, that found this as a really amazing opportunity to be part of something. So I do think it's one of the biggest drivers. I think it's one of the biggest things that have really helped elevate us and because we've never wavered, I give a tremendous amount of credit to David Birzon, our CEO, who took over for John and I when we left. I think he was one of the first people, especially in our board meetings, to pipe up and say, this is not a bolt-on, this is not a fad. This is truly part of the fabric of this brand, and something that we can really harness and elevate our industry.
Jess Baum (06:59):
As somebody who's had the privilege of traveling to Snoozes all over the country and connecting with Snoozers there, specifically with the change makers at these restaurants, the folks who are really committed to sustainability and to community, I think you can feel a difference in walking in the restaurant. Whether you know what the commitment is or not, what you feel is a sense of community and belonging when you walk into a Snooze. And it's my belief that that feeling of going beyond hospitality where you feel like you're walking into somebody's home and where everybody is welcome and accepted and people can show up as their true authentic selves with piercings and tattoos and rainbow hair and whatever they feel most accurately shows the world who they are. I think that that really does make a difference.
Adam Schlegel (07:54):
I mean a hundred percent. I remember the first time after we departed my family from Snooze back in 2012, we moved away for a couple of years to Australia and came back and I remember going into serving at a Colorado restaurant. And having been a little bit departed from the feel of Snooze, coming into it and just feeling this incredible sense of positive energy. And I was like, this is the happiest place around. You get it from the guests and you get it from the design and you get it from the music. But you're right, the team there, they have so much pride in what they're being a part of and you can just sense a lot of joy in a restaurant that's busy, that has a lot of chaos going on. But their ability just to continue to smile and enjoy each other's company and Snooze is a unicorn. It really is. It's a magical little land that again, I feel very honored to have been there from the onset.
Jess Baum (08:51):
It certainly is a restaurant where workplace culture thrives.
Adam Schlegel (08:57):
I am so amazed that Snooze is 60 restaurants, and I feel like I can go into any of them and get that same sense and hear from locals that this is the very first Snooze ever or that they don't even know that there are other ones out there that it just has such a community feel to it. It's really neat.
Jess Baum (09:24):
I want to ask about your next foray in the restaurant world, which is Chook, which happens to be one of my favorite places in Denver.
Adam Schlegel (09:32):
Love to hear that.
Jess Baum (09:33):
So you've been a founder of not one, but two legendary restaurant groups that champion impact. Both Snooze, which we talked about in 2006 and then 12 years later took in 2018. In what ways did your approach to impact and your experience championing it, not just as sustainable for people and planet, but also for profit change between launching Snooze in 2006 and Chook in 2018? And in what ways has this evolution come to life through Chook?
Adam Schlegel (10:04):
Snooze was an evolution. We were writing the book as we were going. And with Chook it was almost cheating a little bit, because we had this 12 year roadmap on what were the best practices. So I remember walking with our original sustainability director and our sourcing director back in 2014 and trying to encapsulate our food philosophy, which we eventually called Snooze Approved. That was eight years after the start of Snooze to figure out where we were at and how that actually came to be. And so in starting Chook, that foundation was already set. We were able to, out of the gates, be at a similar level in sourcing and energy and water and waste management and community as it took us a long time to get to there at Snooze. So Chook really just had the advantage of experience.
(11:02):
Our whole concept, our whole thing, spending time in Australia, coming back, we wanted to have meals that were thoughtful, that were responsible, that were healthy, that were delicious and that were fast. Chook is not a sit down full service restaurant. It's really based on this whole idea. We've seen it in Australia. The neighborhood chicken shop is like a must, and it's a saving grace for so many days and nights. And so against all wisdom and experience about never jumping back into the restaurant business, I partnered with Alex Sidel, who is an absolute genius, great friend in coming up with this idea of Chook and seeing what we could do.
Jess Baum (11:46):
And the rest is history in the making. I would say.
Adam Schlegel (11:49):
Very much in the making. I assure you. Nobody predicted 2020, '21, '22. So it's a different world than when we started.
Jess Baum (11:59):
Speaking of that, coming from the perspective of an impact professional in so many ways, the pandemic showed the world that science fiction can become science fact, and awakened so many to the reality of climate change and the kind of desperation that we all face fighting for the future of humanity. In so many ways, the pandemic influenced the restaurant world in hard ways. Are there any ways in which you think that the pandemic reshaped the restaurant industry for good, both good in the way that it will evolve but also good in embedding impact more into restaurants?
Adam Schlegel (12:45):
That's a great question. I think that there's pluses and minuses to both. Obviously it was a gutting time, and really made a lot of us look into the mirror about what do we stand for and what can actually function. From a food aspect I would a hundred percent agree that people really realize the impact of the food system, the global food system that we've created that is in many, many, many ways very detrimental to our environment and just to our overall sustainability, to feed ourselves in a thoughtful way. That can be a very positive outcome if the opportunity is taken to actually act on it. It is one of those constant questions like what is the long-term effects of COVID? We, for this brief moment, we're actually able to highlight that our food system is just horrible, it's just wrong. And that we need to figure out how to have more regionally based food systems. That we really need to figure out how to source, how to grow, how to distribute and aggregate these foods in a more thoughtful way.
(13:55):
But that's hard work and that's high investment, low return infrastructure that's needed. But it's like a highway that it's imperative to have a healthy functioning food system, which is really the baseline of the health of our people. I think from a worker perspective, the pandemic, I think really highlighted to a lot of folks just how difficult this work can be, in that perhaps the wages or the benefits or just the overall work ethic was maybe misaligned with what people suddenly felt that they could do or with what they deserved. And so, again, I think we're still on this precipice of figuring this out, but I do think that there's a real awakening for our industry on how do we do the best for the most important element of our restaurant, which is our people. And is it a compensation? Is it the work-life balance? Is it just the overall workload balance that needs to be done?
(14:57):
And so I think from a restaurant industry, you see a lot of changes. The quick casuals and a lot of those things and kind of the slowing down of full service is an outcome that's hard for many, but also it's a business and you have to figure out how to make all these ends meet. There is a proliferation of quick casuals and counter services, but I still think it actually helps in the overall because how are we increasing pay? How are we trying to increase benefits? How are we trying to make this not this temporary? I'm here for six months, but I can actually be a part of something I believe in. I can get compensated in a fair way. I'm treated well by my people that I see this as a great opportunity rather than a fleeting moment before I find my real job.
Jess Baum (15:56):
Chook is a B Corp, which I'm so thrilled about. And in the B Corp community, we like to talk about using business as a force for good. And at Chook Chicken, food is the business. So in what ways does Chook use business or use food as a force for good?
Adam Schlegel (16:14):
It starts with sourcing. We know where it comes from. We know what is put into it and what is not put into it. Have been out to farms and understand our growers and our ranchers and pasture raisers. That underlying belief in the quality of food. And when you start with such a great source, the technique that's needed to bring it to that next level doesn't have to be extraordinary. I think the people, especially our staff, really loves the fact that we're putting out beautiful food, James Beard-esque award-winning food. But doing this in a very affordable fashion, in a quick fashion that this is the way that everybody should be able to eat. That it shouldn't just be a birthday and anniversary celebration. That you should be able to get this high level of food, this quality of food at reasonable prices, at reasonable timeframes. We've always had an equality of pay, so many times in our industry there's a large discrepancy between what's normally called the back of the house and the front of the house.
(17:18):
The back of the house is the engine that actually makes it all work. They cook the food. The front of the house is servers, wait staff, hostesses, and generally there's been a large pay discrepancy between both. We've always kept a baseline, same pay for everyone within the restaurant, and then we distribute tips based on tenure, based on their ability to do the work, based on their ability to train, based on their ability to take on more responsibilities. If you're at Chook, there really is not this divide of front of house and back of house. There really is a one house mentality which helps us all driving towards the most important thing, which is just like, let's just put out beautiful food. And certainly we still continue to do all of the sustainability minded things. It's composting and recycling and trying to divert as much waste out of a restaurant as possible. And then it comes into just the simple build and making sure that an environment is fun and bright and airy and a place that brings life. You just try to build a place that feels good, that has plants, that has life.
Jess Baum (18:27):
There were 12 years between when you co-founded Snooze and when you founded Chook, from 2006 to 2018. If we were to look 12 years into the future from 2018 to 2030, in what ways would you hope that Chook would evolve or that your next foray into the restaurant world would evolve on the concept of impact?
Adam Schlegel (18:49):
I wholeheartedly believe in Chook. It's not egotistical or any of those concepts. I believe that we need more clean food options. I believe that we need more quick responsible food options. That as I travel the state for soccer tournaments and games and everything and trying to, in a quick fashion, figure out how to feed my family, that Chook and places like Chook are a hundred percent where they should be. So I hope that Chook has a real opportunity to develop and grow. I think that the way that we source food, prepare food, treat our staff, provide this opportunity for our guests, I really believe in it, and think that there should be a long runway for it. And I also believe in that because as I've seen Snooze do, the power and impact that happens with growth is an awe-inspiring thing, that if Chook didn't work, I will still look back with tremendous pride on Snooze and know that this had a really strong ripple effect on the way food is sourced, the way our team is cared for, the overall thoughtfulness.
(20:05):
I mean the amount of times that we've gone into brand new cities and have been the first commercially composting entity there, and working with regulations and working with cities to try to understand how we do these things, that impact just continues to grow as you grow. I would love to see Chook have that same opportunity. I'd love to see a lot of restaurants have that opportunity. I'd really love to see this new 2.0 3.0 version of food. And the more people that are doing that, it does drive the overall prices down for everyone, so that there isn't a choice between Styrofoam and a recyclable or compostable takeaway container, that there's price equanimity. The more that we can do that, then we can stop necessarily worrying about why this and why that. We can start to bring real food to everyone.
Jess Baum (20:55):
I'm going to move us into our quick question segment. So I'm just going to launch right into it. What did you want to be when you grew up?
Adam Schlegel (21:10):
This will be weird. I either wanted to be a priest, I wanted to be Michael Jordan, or I wanted to be the mayor of a small town so that I could do a lot of experiments on trying to figure out the best way to run. Let's see.
Jess Baum (21:26):
What's your eco confession?
Adam Schlegel (21:30):
Probably Coke Zero. Diet Coke. Sometimes you just need it.
Jess Baum (21:35):
What's the most impactful thing you've read in the last year?
Adam Schlegel (21:39):
Actually right now I'm reading a book called Signs. And I cannot think of the author right now, but it's essentially a woman who's a medium and discusses how there are impactful signs that we can see if we open up our eyes that can help us connect at a deeper level.
Jess Baum (21:59):
What place brings you joy?
Adam Schlegel (22:02):
Oh, Australia brings me joy. Mornington Peninsula brings me joy. I would say anytime I get to stand on the sidelines and watch my two little boys play, soccer is my happy place.
Jess Baum (22:18):
And what's your life motto?
Adam Schlegel (22:21):
Well, let me see. My life motto. If I was going to try to paraphrase, my favorite book of all time is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. Essentially, it's his actions in his life are more important than his speech, so actions are more important than words.
Jess Baum (22:40):
That reminds me of the Maya Angelou quote, "People won't remember what you say or what you did, they'll remember how you make them feel." And we make people feel certain ways through actions and education. I know that's kind of not the same thing, but it makes me think about what you're doing at Chook and what you've done at Snooze and how perhaps the way to get people to change and to awaken is to give them experiences that are resonant, that help them to feel connection through action and through understanding, which will then create more action.
Adam Schlegel (23:18):
Yeah, Alex and I, when we first started Chook and talked about it and we're like, we don't want to create another restaurant. We don't necessarily need to do that to ourselves, but we do want to have an impact. And for both of us, the means that we found on having an impact is through restaurants. And so again, that really is that basis of it, is trying to put this idea into action. How can we actually move these things forward? And anyone can write a business plan. There's brilliant ideas all of the time, but an idea is only smoke until it actually becomes an action. And that's how we actually will make progress.
Jess Baum (24:02):
Adam, as always, so much good food for thought. And I just want to see Chook grow and expand. I'm a big believer in what you're doing there. I love that. I have a restaurant locally I can go to that's a B Corp, because there's not that many B Corp restaurants. And beyond that, your food is just beautiful and delicious and feels good to eat. So thank you for all you're doing there and for taking the time to talk to us today.
Elizabeth Archer (24:49):
Thank you for listening to The Soil to Soul podcast, hosted by Jess Baum and produced by me, Elizabeth Archer, right here in Mendocino County. On behalf of Bonterra Organic Estates, the largest regenerative organic winery in the United States. If you love wine, look for Bonterra's first ever regenerative organic certified estate collection, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in a store near you. To learn more, visit bonterra.com. Original music composed by Mendocino County musician, Julian Sterling. Thanks again to today's guest, Adam Schlegel of Chook Chicken. We hope you join us again next week for our season one finale.