Outside the Lines with L&L
Bryan Janeczko's Recipe for Success
Titilola Bakare and Larisa Terkeltaub
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: Voices
In 2003, Bryan Janeczko (Langone 1998) left a banker's paradise for a rented kitchen and a dream. Though his career at Morgan Stanley was both lucrative and challenging, Bryan followed his passion and ventured off to co-found online food retailer Nu-Kitchen. With the right ingredients and a little "special sauce," Nu-Kitchen grew to become a multi-million dollar company in only five years. After successfully selling the business to NutriSystem, Bryan is now using his talent and experience to inspire innovation in others. In a captivating conversation, L&L learned that when good ideas and passion converge, the possibilities are endless.
Can you describe the moment you decided to leave your job to start Nu-Kitchen?
The single most memorable day was my last day at Morgan Stanley. I walked out on Broadway and I thought my God, this is incredible… I gave up a big bonus…it was 2003, the market was good…but I didn't even think about that. I just felt so energized and empowered. I thought it was honestly the happiest day of my life…for the first time I was doing something that I believed was going to make a difference.
I wanted to do something in Health and Wellness, I wanted to be my own boss, I wanted to do something that was innovative.
How did you develop an interest in Health and Wellness?
Health and Wellness is something that's been with me my entire life…from high school on the swim team to just general health and fitness…in my family people have died quite young of things like heart disease…so I wanted to make sure I addressed it early on and I wanted to take care of myself so eating right has always been key.
As someone with a professional background in finance how did you develop the expertise start a food company?
Moonlighting. I consider myself a corporate refugee. I was working in corporate America…as many of us are…whether it's an insurance company, banking, consulting, finance, you're smart you're educated, you know what's going on, but often the business idea that you have is going to be in something outside of [your area of expertise] so it's important to get experience. I took night classes at The New School. I spent years networking within the food service industry.
Can you describe the moment you decided to leave your job to start Nu-Kitchen?
The single most memorable day was my last day at Morgan Stanley. I walked out on Broadway and I thought my God, this is incredible… I gave up a big bonus…it was 2003, the market was good…but I didn't even think about that. I just felt so energized and empowered. I thought it was honestly the happiest day of my life…for the first time I was doing something that I believed was going to make a difference.
I wanted to do something in Health and Wellness, I wanted to be my own boss, I wanted to do something that was innovative.
How did you develop an interest in Health and Wellness?
Health and Wellness is something that's been with me my entire life…from high school on the swim team to just general health and fitness…in my family people have died quite young of things like heart disease…so I wanted to make sure I addressed it early on and I wanted to take care of myself so eating right has always been key.
As someone with a professional background in finance how did you develop the expertise start a food company?
Moonlighting. I consider myself a corporate refugee. I was working in corporate America…as many of us are…whether it's an insurance company, banking, consulting, finance, you're smart you're educated, you know what's going on, but often the business idea that you have is going to be in something outside of [your area of expertise] so it's important to get experience. I took night classes at The New School. I spent years networking within the food service industry.
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