Philly-based Honeygrow just had its best year. The CEO still gets behind the wok.

Justin Rosenberg, founder and CEO of Honeygrow, was doing a routine check-in at one of his restaurants last February when he realized things weren’t going well.

It was a Friday afternoon and Rosenberg was visiting the Collegeville outpost of his fast casual eatery where customers order stir fries and salads from kiosks. The place was packed, an exhaust hood was broken, a wok wasn’t working, and orders were backed up.

“It was just total mayhem,” said Rosenberg, 41, who lives in Gladwyne.

He ran back to his car, grabbed his chef shoes, and began cooking for customers.

“Tickets keep coming up, and it’s very anxiety inducing,” he said, recalling the experience of working the line that day. “You push through it.”

More than a decade after starting Honeygrow and expanding it from one location in Center City to 40, Rosenberg still keeps his chef shoes in his car.

“I don’t want to be the CEO and founder that’s watching and yelling,” said Rosenberg, who, in addition to running the company’s business operations, still develops recipes at Honeygrow’s 11th Street location.

Rosenberg’s efforts have paid off. Honeygrow recorded its most profitable year in 2023, a 30% increase from the year before.

Now, he’s figuring out how to keep up the progress.

The concept for Honeygrow began in Rosenberg’s home kitchen.

In 2008, he turned to a plant-based diet after a doctor told him he needed to get healthy if he wanted to see his newborn daughter walk down the aisle one day. He made salads for lunch and cooked stir fries for dinner.

“I realized that no one’s really doing this from a restaurant concept standpoint,” he said.

He was working as a financial analyst for PREIT, the real estate company behind many Philly-area malls, when he began pitching investors on his concept. He pitched 94 investors over two and a half years before he got one to commit.

He recalls it as a “very humbling period of my life.”

David Robkin, who cofounded the company with Rosenberg as Honeygrow’s first investor, has also backed Stephen Starr. He was intrigued by the idea for customers to order off screens at Honeygrow, and impressed by the business plan. Rosenberg seemed like the “real deal,” he said.

“One of the things that really intrigued me was his focus on using technology, that he was going to use the touchscreen for interfacing with the customer,” Robkin said. “No one was really doing that at the time except maybe Wawa in Philadelphia. ... He was sort of ahead of the game.”

On a recent Thursday around noon, the workers at Honeygrow at 11th and Ludlow Streets were busy cooking noodle dishes. Only one customer was eating on-site but cooks were busy rocking woks back and forth, as a steady flow of customers grabbed to-go orders.

Brian Caldwell, who works nearby, orders Honeygrow frequently, he said.

“It’s healthy, it’s well-prepared. Definitely tastes good,” he said while picking up a sesame garlic stir fry. He ordered through the Honeygrow app, which gives customers rewards. He was eligible for a free brownie. Getting rewarded made him feel great, he said.

In a market flooded with fast casual healthy food options, Rosenberg said Honeygrow isn’t just another “bowl concept” — which is important in distinguishing his business from others.

The majority of their sales are stir fries made with noodles specifically developed for the company and served in cardboard take-out boxes.

“We could save millions of dollars if we just had a standard noodle or bought a lo mein noodle, but [it] kind of defeats the purpose of the experience and the quality,” he said.

Last year, Honeygrow opened nine new outposts, expanding its footprint to 40 locations across seven states. The company is expected to grow even more this year with over 12 new locations set to open in 2024, including in Plymouth Meeting in March. Rosenberg said his team has also been eyeing South Philly as a potential next stop.

The company has over 1,000 employees, with wages starting between $12 and $17.15 an hour. Last year, Honeygrow launched an “elite general manager” role which allows workers to grow into higher-paying, more senior roles.

“It’s so key to have great general managers. That focus over the last few years has been key to the success,” said Rosenberg.

Kent Beaverson, an elite general manager at the Honeygrow in Radnor, started working at the company in 2016, and has stayed because of the opportunity to expand his position and because he believes in the company, he said.

“Justin’s ... got a really great vision for what he wants to do, and that means something to me,” he said.

Beaverson was promoted to EGM in November, and is one of only three people in the company who were awarded the inaugural positions.

Now, he’s thinking about moving into a district manager role. After that, he’d like to scout new Honeygrow locations or work on supply chain and product costs, he said.

“I’m happy with where I am,” Beaverson said.

In 2015, Rosenberg started seeing some businesses copying Honeygrow’s model — ordering stir fries and salads from a kiosk.

He said competitors “were finding out our vendors. If we changed one bread to focaccia bread, they would change to focaccia bread,” said Rosenberg.

It felt like a good opportunity to get ahead of the copycat businesses in new markets, Rosenberg recalls. In 2016, the company opened a location in Washington, D.C., and a test kitchen and headquarters in Fishtown. Then in 2017, the company moved into the Chicago market and brought a smaller-format ”minigrow” concept to New York.

But in 2018, expansion came to a halt. Some Honeygrow locations were “dragging down profitability,” Rosenberg told The Inquirer at the time. Outposts in Chicago, Washington, and the minigrow in New York shuttered.

“Closing restaurants sucks,” said Rosenberg. “Everyone’s questioning the business, they’re questioning me as a leader, they’re questioning their investment, they’re questioning, why are they working here?”

Looking back now, he attributes the closures to poor real estate, and the company growing too quickly.

“I learned you never open seven markets in one year, and never do a new concept in the middle of Manhattan on top of that, and never hire a brand new executive team in the middle of it,” he said.

Honeygrow faced another challenging period in 2020 when the pandemic forced food establishments to stop in-person dining. Initially, the company’s sales dropped by about 75%, said Rosenberg.

Securing a Paycheck Protection Program loan allowed the company to stay afloat. In 2021, the test kitchen and headquarters in Fishtown were shut down.

Delivery programs also became key to Honeygrow’s business. Prior to the pandemic, only 8% of sales came from delivery services, which blossomed to 45% while many people were stuck at home. Now, delivery makes up 36% of sales.

While delivery has expanded their audience, it presents its own challenges. The company loses control of the product once it leaves their hands, Rosenberg said.

“A lot of times, you’ll wait an hour for your DoorDash, and that’s not because of us, it’s because the DoorDash driver is stuck in traffic or the DoorDash driver has four other orders he’s picking up. And we then get the complaint,” said Rosenberg. “That drives me crazy.”

Even after 12 years and 40 locations, Rosenberg said opening new locations is still difficult.

Getting permits and inspections is a lengthy process that has pushed back timelines, said Rosenberg.

Staying open in cities like Philadelphia also presents challenges.

“You may very well see folks pounding on the door and trying to get in,” he said. “In certain pockets of the city, there’s still significant problems, notably homelessness, and that really needs to be fixed and addressed.”

He’s optimistic Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s new administration can change that.

“I have tremendously high hopes for the new administration,” he said. “There seems to be a business focus and community focus to really clean things up in town. ... If and when that happens, I can’t wait for more folks to come back into the city.”

But despite these challenges and last year’s successes, Rosenberg keeps his focus on growth.

“It’s like you’re an athlete,” he said. “It’s great that you did this last year, but what are you gonna do this year? ... That’s really what’s key to stay in the game.”