8 min.
4.4.2022
The goal is to get GRØD all over the world
Text
Casper Hindse
Photo:
Lasse Jacobsen & Jannick Børlum & Malthe
They didn't stop to think about whether the wall was load-bearing or not. Lasse Skjønning Andersen and his friends hammered away at a wall in a small print shop on Jægersborggade in Nørrebro, Copenhagen. They wanted to make room for the world's first porridge bar.
Lasse was in his early 20s and had just officially dropped out of a music bachelor's program in London. His family wasn't thrilled about the porridge idea. Only his uncle thought the entrepreneurial adventure sounded exciting—though he did suggest combining porridge with sushi.
In the middle of the construction chaos and the flow of ideas, the friends were interrupted. An engineer knocked on the window and stepped into the sunken premises.
No manual
Today, GRØD is a small empire in the Danish food market with 10 stores, a webshop, and products in places like 7-Eleven and Føtex. Lasse Skjønning Andersen has even published a cookbook about his passion.
While eating GRØD's own 'Chicken Congee', he talks about the journey:
– I was 21 when I started GRØD, and I had barely had a job before. No one in my family or my network had taken the entrepreneurial path. My father is a professor of sociology and is still trying to get me to get a degree.
Lasse believes, however, that it was an advantage for him that he hadn't spent many years in business school before starting his porridge project:
– There is no manual for opening a restaurant. You can learn Excel at business school, but there are no guidelines for converting an old print shop into a porridge bar.
Most people probably think of a mushy oat mixture with greasy fruit or some sugar on top when they hear the word 'porridge'. But GRØD has changed that perception. Lasse Skjønning Andersen also started with oatmeal himself – a lot of oatmeal.
His interest arose when he decided to change his lifestyle at 15. He had been caught by the police while painting graffiti. After some self-reflection, he decided that his diet was the easiest thing to change.
– I was lazy and weighed too much, and I decided that a physically healthy life would change me. Porridge sounded simple and nutritious, but it quickly turned out to be boring.
He began experimenting with flavors and immersed himself in the history of porridge. Porridge became a very special passion for me.
– I lost weight and felt better. That's why I became more and more addicted to exploring porridge. In a way, I created my own little porridge education. No one my age could relate to it, but I was really happy with what I was learning.
I want to steal a lot of McDonald’s customers so we can all start living a little healthier.
– Porridge shouldn't just be a hipster product in the big city; it should be something healthy and nutritious for everyone. That’s why the retail side is important, but honestly, I hit a wall of complexity and new information when I had to figure out how to expand on that front, says Lasse Skjønning Andersen.
Fortunately, he got help from GS1, including through an online course on barcodes. If there was something he couldn't figure out, he would pull his phone out of his pocket and call, so that, for example, products could be set up in the system quickly and efficiently.
– It was great to be met with pragmatism and understanding. I’m genuinely surprised that there is a user-owned non-profit organization that can help. Without GS1, we probably wouldn't have been able to realize the retail project at the pace we have.
Wants to change food culture
Lasse Skjønning Andersen isn't a man who makes plans many years into the future. But when it comes to GRØD, the ambitions are high.
– The goal is to take GRØD to the whole world. We’re opening a restaurant in Oslo soon, and I’m really looking forward to that. After that, I dream of us having restaurants in five international cities within a few years, he says, taking a mouthful of porridge.
He sees 2024 as the year where GRØD should be on equal footing regarding its restaurant and retail divisions, but the long-term vision is clear:
– I hope that in 10 years, we’ll be an international brand. I want to steal a lot of McDonald’s customers so we can all start living a little healthier.
