Authenticity now on aisle 7

James beard award winning Chef, Chris Hastings is many things: gifted, entrepreneurial, and supremely authentic to name a few. When he approached us about creating a line of prepared meals that families could buy at their local grocers and prepare at home, his challenge to us was simple, but far from easy: help his product line jump off the shelf, but maintain his personal brand’s authenticity. His concern, and rightly, was that too many chefs had leveraged their celebrity at the expense of authenticity. Our answer was to listen. Intently listen. Not only to what made his product worth buying, but what him who he was. The truth of the brand, we believe, is far more than the sum of its features and functionality. It is the underlying truth found in its reason for being. This rather high-minded curiosity lead us to the story which was Chef Hastings’ personal story, rooted in hunting and gathering from his local waters and fields. Bringing that bounty to his family’s harvest table, and then making mouthwatering meals from those hard-gained, but honest ingredients.