Honeygrow’s founder on the brand reset that sparked consistent growth
Take-Away with Sam Oches
Nation's Restaurant News
4.9 • 17 Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Justin Rosenberg, founder of Honeygrow, a Philadelphia based stir-fry brand. The first Honeygrow opened back in the fast-casual boom of 2012, and much like his fast-casual peers at that time, Justin quickly scaled the business into major urban markets like New York, Boston, and Chicago. But the brand found itself mired in some bad leases, and Justin realized he needed to close some locations and double down on brand excellence in order for Honeygrow to meet its full potential. Today, Honeygrow has 76 locations, and Justin and his team have created a model that ensures continuous growth in cities both big and small. Justin and Sam sat down in person at last week’s Restaurant Leadership Conference in Scottsdale to recap a session they did on the mainstage, in which they covered Honeygrow’s early brand reset and how it’s developing loyal fans in cities that aren’t always on restaurants’ radars.
In this conversation, you’ll find out why:
- Potentially strong AUVs should not fool you into bad leases
- You shouldn’t reinvent the wheel if the wheel keeps spinning
- There are no bad teams; only bad leaders
- Fast casual has a copy-cat problem
Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | restaurant operators, get ready for the 29th annual menu masters, the culinary event of the year |
| 0:05.4 | happening May 16th at Morgan Manufacturing in Chicago. |
| 0:09.5 | Presented by Nation's Restaurant News and sponsored by Ventura Foods, this premier gathering |
| 0:14.1 | celebrates the industry's most iconic innovators and showcases the winners of the prestigious |
| 0:19.4 | menu masters awards. |
| 0:21.3 | Plus, you don't want to miss the epic after party, where the vibe is cool, the music is hot, |
| 0:26.6 | and this year's party swag is top notch. Join fellow tastemakers and industry leaders for an |
| 0:32.3 | unforgettable night of inspiration and connection. RSVP today at the link in our show notes. |
| 0:38.1 | Early registration is strongly recommended |
| 0:40.2 | as this event sells out every year. |
| 0:43.3 | Welcome to Takeaway with Sam Ocas, |
| 0:45.4 | a podcast for leaders of growing restaurant companies |
| 0:47.7 | looking to take their businesses to the next level. |
| 0:50.7 | In nearly two decades covering restaurants, |
| 0:52.6 | I've gained access to some of this industry's |
| 0:54.3 | most influential decision makers, and I'm letting you in on the conversations. In today's |
| 0:59.8 | episode, you'll hear from the founder of a fast-growing, fast casual about the brand reset that he |
| 1:05.5 | needed to make in order to be successful and about the strategy that he's employed to quickly |
| 1:10.3 | open high-performing stores |
| 1:12.0 | across the eastern U.S. Justin Rosenberg is the founder of HoneyGrow, a Philadelphia-based |
| 1:18.5 | stir-fry brand. The first HoneyGrow opened back in the fast casual boom of 2012, and much like |
| 1:25.1 | his fast-casual peers at that time, Justin quickly scaled the business into |
... |
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