Bountiful's Restaurant-Quality Meals from Home
/This week, Member Monday features Julian Cohen, Founder and CEO of Bountiful Kitchen. Bountiful is a community-driven dinner delivery service based in Somerville that works with local chefs, farms, and artisans to provide a fresh and seasonal rotating dinner menu featuring restaurant-quality dishes.
Keep reading to learn about launching a business during a pandemic, partnering with local farms and chefs, and more. Don’t forget to check out Julian’s Instagram takeover on our Member Monday highlight!
Prior to launching Bountiful, you worked in the non-profit education space. What inspired you to take the leap into launching your own food business?
I’ve always been a huge foodie and avid home cook. When the COVID shutdown hit, my main coping mechanism was cooking. I found that being able to continue to create (and eat) delicious food was a wonderful way to get through these really difficult times. When I realized that there were people in my community who couldn’t cook or grocery shop given the circumstances, I wanted to give them access to these meals as well. There was so much support for this concept of community-focused meals, the idea of bringing community to your dinner table, that I thought it was an idea I couldn’t pass up!
Pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors presents great rewards and great challenges for founders. What has been the most rewarding part of the journey for you so far? What was the biggest challenge that you faced?
There have certainly been many ups and downs in the short four months since we have started. The momentum at the beginning was crazy, we kept on getting new customers and it was incredibly exciting. I think the most rewarding part of that for me was, and still is, hearing feedback from customers about how much they are enjoying our food and service. It is just so nice to hear that we might be making somebody’s day a little bit better during these tough times. The biggest challenge is certainly trying to continue that momentum. Customer acquisition is never easy, especially during a pandemic, so we are trying to get as creative as possible in finding ways to help people learn and experience what Bountiful has to offer.
Bountiful began in March of this year. Do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs who are launching a business during the pandemic?
Network, network, network! Something that has been so gratifying for me to see is how willing people are to lend their time right now. I have had the privilege of speaking to so many people in the food and technology spaces and it has been incredibly helpful. If you are trying to start a business, speak to anyone you can and try to find some mentors and thought partners as quickly as possible. We of course have to thank Branchfood as well for bringing us into their incredibly supportive and knowledgeable community of entrepreneurs.
The Greater Boston area has a prominent food scene, and Bountiful is all about eating locally. What’s your process for forming partnerships with local chefs and farms?
I think it all comes down to networking, again. When we moved into Foundation Kitchen in Somerville, we were able to meet so many other food start-ups, such as Family Dinner, Perillas and The Rootastes. They were all so willing to help, collaborate, and connect us with various suppliers and farms in the area. In terms of chefs, I was incredibly fortunate to have found our current head chef Joe Schwartz, as I began this journey. He has been instrumental in adding on people to our kitchen. Unfortunately for us, Joe will be moving on to another opportunity next month, so we will continue to use this network to find more chefs to bring on board!
What’s in store for Bountiful?
We’ve definitely got some exciting things coming up! We are currently planning to expand our delivery areas and to bring on some new chefs and staff members. We are also building out our pantry section to continue to highlight local craft and artisanal goods to be purchased along with our meals.
How can our readers and our community support Bountiful?
First and foremost, try our food and see what the hype is about! Otherwise, definitely throw us a follow on social media @bountiful.kitchen and join our e-mail newsletter.
Thank you again to Julian and Bountiful for being this week’s Member Monday spotlight.
Interested in how a Branchfood membership can help you succeed? Learn more about our membership benefits, and stay informed with our newsletter. Be sure to follow us on Instagram for our next Member Monday takeover!
