How Emily Cole Groden Built a 9,000-Store Brand From Her Kitchen: Family Dinner

A former corporate lawyer trying to sneak more vegetables into her daughter’s breakfast once walked into Chicago corner stores with a toaster in one hand and homemade frozen waffles in the other, offering on-the-spot samples. 

Emily Cole Groden's company Evergreen is now stocked on 9,000 grocery shelves nationwide.

“Making frozen waffles was most definitely not my life’s plan, and not the career path that I had laid out for myself 11 years ago,” Groden told student founders at Family Dinner on Tuesday night. 

She spoke to Residents about the unlikely pivot that took her from reviewing private equity contracts at a corporate law firm to building the 16th fastest-growing food and beverage brand in the United States – designed to be “crave-worthy first, and quietly nutritious behind-the-scenes.”

Groden described food as her “true love.” A cold email eventually landed her an in-house counsel role at The Alinea Group, the restaurant group behind Michelin-starred concepts in Chicago.

“I deprogrammed my brain from a big law way of thinking to an entrepreneurial mindset,” Groden said. “These guys are famous for constantly questioning the status quo.” 

The idea for Evergreen surfaced on an ordinary drive home. Groden was pregnant with her first daughter, listening to a podcast about frozen waffles, when she realized how often she would soon rely on quick breakfasts. After flipping over ingredient labels at the grocery store and feeling underwhelmed, she decided to make her own.

“I bought this mini waffle iron and I started making waffles on Sundays,” Groden said. “I would open my pantry and my fridge and pull out the most nutritious ingredients I could find: whole grains, cage-free eggs, real fruits, real veggies, nuts, spices. I’d throw them into my Vitamix blender, and that’s how I made my batter.”

What began as simple Sunday meal prep quickly became something she couldn’t shake.

“I found myself lying in bed at night, staring at the ceiling, thinking about waffles,” she said. “It just got louder and louder and louder. I finally decided I have to give it a shot.”

That sense of personal urgency carried her through the earliest and messiest stages of building a company from scratch, and a food company at that.

“It would be really easy to throw in the towel if it hadn’t come from such an authentic place, and a need that I live every day,” Groden told Residents. “My kids eat our waffles, in some form or another, at least once a day.”

In the early stages, Groden produced fewer than 100 bags a week out of a shared commercial kitchen. She personally delivered them to local retailers, pitching store managers face-to-face.

“I would walk into a corner store and say, ‘Hi, my name is Emily. I make waffles. I think they would sell great here. I have my toaster. If you let me plug it in, I will heat some up for you,’” Groden said. “Much to my surprise, every store manager was like, sure, plug in your toaster and heat me up some waffles.”

As demand grew, manufacturing became the next hurdle. Groden opened her own facility while seven months pregnant, overseeing production during what she described as the most physically and emotionally taxing stretch of her career.

She recalled driving home to say goodnight to her daughter, then returning to the facility to finish overnight production runs. She still carries burns on her arms from the ovens.

“I screamed into the silence a few times,” she said, prompting sympathetic laughs from the audience. “It was truly the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

When Evergreen began expanding nationally, a different challenge emerged: perception. Consumer feedback revealed that the original white packaging and green lettering unintentionally signaled “too healthy,” leading shoppers to assume the waffles would taste “like cardboard.” After gathering data at organic food show Expo West, the company overhauled its visual identity by introducing brighter colors, rounded edges, and more crave-worthy photography.

The week the new packaging hit shelves, in-store sales jumped 62 percent.

“Everybody said, ‘Oh my God, these waffles are so delicious. They’re so much better than we thought they’d be,’” Groden told Residents. “Branding is really powerful. You want to get it right.”

Today, Evergreen continues to expand its team and product line. Groden described this chapter as simultaneously demanding and energizing: the hardest six years of her life, but also the most fun.

During Q&A, one student founder asked Groden how she navigates self-doubt. Groden concluded her talk by returning to the same principles that initially launched Evergreen six years ago. 

“I live my brand every day. I cannot ignore how important the product is to people like me. My kids would never be on time for school if it weren’t for Evergreen,” Groden said. “If possible, find a product that fills your own need.”