‘day in my life restaurant owner’
Behind the scenes with Rooted, a next-gen restaurant taking on industry norms
Last month, Lily Rivkin opened ‘Rooted,’ a fast-casual restaurant in Manhattan focused on simplicity, transparency, and trust. It’s a fresh take on the health-forward chains that have dominated the past two decades like sweetgreen, Dig, and Cava – but with a sharper focus on ingredient integrity.
Young consumers are demanding straightforwardness in every aspect of their lives – from politics to skincare to what’s on their plates. That mindset is core to Rooted.
Rivkin, who’s 29, started in finance at Citi before jumping into transit-tech at Via. After eight months of culinary training under Chef Robin Ferriere, she got her MBA at Wharton.
Her olive-oil-only kitchen comes at a moment when the anti-seed oil movement is picking up steam, propped up by everyone from Joe Rogan to wellness girlies to the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ crowd. At the same time, headlines about rising rates of cancer amongst young people have sparked a conversation about how diet plays into long-term health and preventing illness.
For Rivkin, Rooted was personal before it was professional. An unexpected allergic reaction to a cherry (a fruit she’d eaten her whole life) brought her to the emergency room, and she was later diagnosed with a slate of adult-onset allergies. A trained chef with a love for food, that wake-up call made Rivkin aware of how little transparency exists in restaurant kitchens, something she believes should be a right for any customer to access, and she saw an opportunity to change that status-quo.
With a personality-driven social media strategy that looks no different from that of a lifestyle influencer, Rivkin posts daily behind the scenes footage of what it’s like to start a restaurant from the ground up, giving her customers visibility into where, and how, their food is made.
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I caught up with Rivkin this week to learn more about her vision and Rooted’s rapid rise. Here’s that conversation, edited for clarity and brevity.
What is Rooted, and why did you start it?
LR: Rooted is a fast-casual restaurant, that I like to say, we’re selling transparency. Our differentiating factors are that we’re rooted in transparency, hence the name Rooted, and we keep it simple. We’re olive oil only, we’re seven ingredients or fewer in every menu item, and you will know all the oil and spices used for every meal. When I was in college I was working in finance and my whole life I had been able to eat anything, always, and I bit into a cherry and suddenly I had trouble breathing. I went to the emergency room, and this is an abridged version, but it ultimately took months to figure out what was wrong, and I learned that I had adult onset allergies. These allergies required me to have to alert restaurants in advance because they were so new, and I would have to dig through ingredient packets.
I learned that while I was part of a minority, the majority of people actually want to know what’s in their food.
Whether they’re vegetarian, or keto, or they’re trying to start a new diet, live a healthier life, wanting a certain number of macros. I also was alarmed by the ingredients that these ‘healthy’ places were serving people. I thought I was ordering cauliflower, but that cauliflower was actually like 15 ingredients. With this in mind, I realized there's this huge untapped market of people who want transparent meals, and people just want simple food. The menu wasn't hard to create. It’s literally things you can cook at home.
Your core values of transparency and authenticity come up in all my focus groups with young people. Why do you think this resonates across industries — from politics to beauty to food?
LR: There was such a long time period of a perfectly curated social media presence. I think maybe with the rise of Instagram, maybe with teen magazines, there was kind of this sought after perfection. And I think that similar to diet culture, people just grew tired of trying to attain the unattainable. I don’t know whether it was Covid that brought it on or whether it became Gen Z’s mindset through this fight for perfectionism, ‘Why don’t we just show our true selves?’ Like ‘Why does Instagram have to be so serious?’ And that, in my mind, led to TikTok, and why transparency now is so core to this generation.
Speaking of Instagram and Tiktok, tell me about your social strategy. How are you using these platforms to build real-world buzz?
LR: So again, we're rooted in transparency and simplicity, and that extends to transparency among operations. So I wanted to show people what it is like to actually own and operate a restaurant. And it's not always pretty, you know, I like to say I like to watch the Food Network, but I also like to watch dramas like The Bear, and why not create a recurring segment that shows both and that people can actually dine at.
And in terms of how I’m using TikTok and Instagram, I really reflected on how I personally use TikTok and Instagram. And when I look at restaurants, I use Instagram as almost their website. I want to see how the food looks. I want to see the overall aesthetic. And then on TikTok, I really see what their vibe is, the more candid, the feel of the brand, and I'm more inclined to interact. So in my mind, TikTok is more of a way in which you can translate social media for sales, whereas Instagram is more to showcase.
When I was scrolling on your pages, I noticed that it looks almost like the social media pages for other influencer-driven industries, whether it be fashion or beauty. Some of my favorite creators or influencers in those spaces go behind the scenes with a get ready with me video or day in the life. Did you look to other industries for inspiration for how to create your own content?
LR: I definitely treat my restaurant like it is a product. I used to work in finance and tech, and I'm a pretty data-oriented person. I would look at how a video performed, and if something did well I would recreate it. You can see this across all successful creators. They find a hook. Alix Earle found ‘Get ready with me.’ Boom, she ran with it.
In terms of my actual products, at Rooted I'm looking at how much sweet potatoes I sell, I’m looking at what videos translated to sales, I’m talking to customers, I'm looking at specific value boxes. I think I should look at other creators for inspiration. I mostly looked at data. Maybe there’s an overlap that when you look at data, it’s reflected in your videos.
Now I start every video with ‘Hi my name’s Lily, I own a restaurant in New York City, and welcome to a day in my life.’ I hope no one does this, but if you go back to the very beginning, you’ll see my hook is changing. I was trying to figure out what’s a good way of telling people what they’re about to watch, like the Friends’ intro.
Do you have a dream TikTok or Instagram collab?
LR: Martha Stewart. She is the definition of someone who made simple, home cooked meals elevated. And also she’s so unapologetically herself and authentic. Her documentary showcased that.
The other is more scientific. Peter Attia. His ethos and philosophy on reducing inflammation and longevity is core to Rooted’s brand identity. He would be an incredible person to partner with, and I think that Rooted would be so in line with his work.
How are you thinking about building community in the early days of launching your business?
LR: A lot of restaurant ownership, even if it’s fast-casual, is building community. It’s meeting people right when they walk through that door. It’s hospitality. Right now, I make sure that I’m on site and talking to customers every single day. If there’s an order issue, you bet you’re getting a text from me. It really matters to me to hear feedback, whether it’s a good or bad situation.
You can also see on my Instagram, I repost every person that posts Rooted. I’m not picking and choosing what pictures look good, I’m not picking and choosing who posted. It could be someone with 2,000 followers, it could be someone with 2 million followers. What matters is that they’re a Rooter and they loved their meal. I’m trying to do it very organically of like, all inclusive, we’re authentic, we’re transparent. We’re not trying to be one of these cool girl brands, we’re trying to serve simple healthy meals to anyone, anywhere and everywhere.
In choosing the modality for your business as a fast-casual restaurant, did you think about the fact that there is a desire for instant gratification, especially from younger consumers? (And I know your company is not specific to young people – you’re making food for all people.) But as a next-gen restaurant that is founded by a 29-year-old, was there an aspect to the fact that our generation is used to getting things really quickly and warning to create a product that passes our generation’s sniff test?
LR: I find myself wanting instant gratification. I if anything have found that I will go up to customers and say, ‘Don’t worry your food will be just out,’ and these customers can be my age, they can be younger, they can be older, and the common response is ‘I just ordered, it’s fine!’
I’m my harshest critic, and I personally think that maybe is one of the reasons why the orders are out so quickly and efficiently. Since we are a fast-casual restaurant that is serving healthy food, I do want that fresh food that can be made in two and a half minutes, like that’s what I’m expecting. And I think people are pleasantly surprised when it does take four to six minutes to get their meal. But I think, actually, I’m the problem.
In a similar vein, what does our generation want from restaurateurs both virtually, and in person?
LR: It’s two fold. At least for me, there’s this mystery of who is behind these successful restaurants. And you have no idea, and you can Google, and there’s usually some story on a website, but you really don’t know anything about them. These individuals usually live pretty private lives, and they’ve created these incredible businesses, which by the way is so hard, and it’s remarkable.
So I think this generation, interested in urgent transparency, they kind of want these restaurateurs to be more like previously [what you saw] on the Food Network — and then become restaurateurs. You see Wishbone Kitchen, you see a bunch of kind of lifestyle and food creators who are starting their brands, going behind the scenes and then building bigger brands. I think it’s still evolving. I don’t think there’s a need for more influencer restaurants, but I think there’s a desire to unveil the curtain. Who is this person who is creating this concept, like what’s going on here, this is very cool. That’s why you see also the rise of Elly, the candy shop creator, Brokeback Contessa, who’s launching a gourmet grocer. Seeing people build on this is so fascinating.
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