Q&A with Jeremy Day, CEO & Co-Founder of The Honest Stand
Jeremy Day received his International Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Denver in 2015. During his time at DU, he co-founded The Honest Stand with Alexandra Carone (MSW 2014).
The Honest Stand began as a stand at the Highlands Farmers Market in Denver. What started as plant-based alternatives for milk and cheese sauces has become a national organization with a whole line of vegan products, which can be found in several national grocery store chains. The Honest Stand also manufactures store-brand products (private label/white label) for national and regional grocery retail chains.
We sat down with Day to learn about The Honest Stand’s origins, the ethics of the company, and Day’s entrepreneurial journey.
Q: How did The Honest Stand start?
A: The first product concept that we had started making in our homes and sharing with friends and family was a plant-based cheese-style sauce. It was similar to a cheddar cheese sauce that mimicked a Kraft Macaroni and Cheese type of idea. You could use it for pasta dishes and potatoes, and other dishes we Americans would define as nostalgic “comfort foods,” but we provided it in a way that was healthy and made from simple ingredients. It pulled on those emotional strings—that nostalgic indulgence we would get from foods like mac ‘n cheese.
Our farmers market stand started in summer 2014. We wanted to share food that made us happy with others in the community. At the time, there was not a larger conceptual idea of what The Honest Stand would turn into. We did not know it would turn into a national organization that would produce for stores from coast to coast. We just wanted to make this great tasting, healthy, organic product and give it to people on the streets! But in our first year of the farmers markets, we started to receive requests from local stores that only carried vegan products like tofu, soy or almond milk and veggie burgers. They said, “We want to offer more vegan products. Would you consider putting your stuff in our stores?” And we said to ourselves, “Yeah, sure! It gets it in front of more folks, makes more folks happy—let’s do it.”
Jeremy Day
Q: How do ethics tie into The Honest Stand’s mission?
A: As we started selling in stores, we realized why people eat vegan. At that juncture, it was highly politicized and emotionally charged. Being vegan was about animal rights at the forefront. For dairy specifically, there were only two reasons you avoided it: either you were lactose intolerant or it was about politics. But we started learning more. There is more of a mission to plant-based foods than “Hey, I’m lactose intolerant” or “I believe in animal rights.” There are the environmental impacts and the human resources impacts—the rough work environments that large dairy and meat processors subject their workers to.
Our mission and vision started with taking nostalgic, indulgent animal-based foods and turning them into plant-based foods. Now, in conjunction with that, we consider the carbon footprint and workplace conditions of food manufacturing. Not only do we manufacture products for our brand, The Honest Stand, but we also co-manufacture other brands’ products and national grocery stores’ private label brands. We manufacture at those quality standards and ethical standards at which we believe all foods must be manufactured.
We work with private label brands, but it is our principles that our products stem from, and that is what we provide to our retailers. Our principles are the foundation of everything we do.
Q: Have you always been an entrepreneur?
A: You could call it cliché, but for me, it goes back to being a kid and mowing lawns. I grew up in central California, and I lived in an area that was a large plot of suburbs. I built a little mowing kit, and then it was a car-washing kit as well, and I would mow certain days of the week and wash cars on the weekends. I was probably 9 to 11 years old when I was doing that.
My stepdad is an entrepreneur, so it was encouraged for me at an early age. He was a nationally renowned farrier or a “horseshoer,” and while growing up I learned a lot about what it means to be an entrepreneur: having a balance of vision, discipline, adaptability and grit. It takes a lot to bring your vision to fruition. I will add another characteristic: humility. Every entrepreneur needs to have the self-awareness to recognize their strengths, acknowledge the areas that need improvement, and have a willingness to ask for assistance whether you are starting a lemonade stand, washing cars, working with digital entities or manufacturing food.
I started The Honest Stand when I was 25 and in grad school. I only had two years of work experience outside of the part-time jobs I worked while going to school. This is my primary entrepreneurial venture, and I have learned a lot along the way. I learned that vision and adaptability are the two things I have had to work on continuously.