Social Entrepreneur Profile
Jay
Friedlander
Chief
Operating O’Naturalist
O'Naturals, Inc.
Shadowed
by:
Carrie Braddock, Laura Haverland,
Nick Parks and Brett Rothman
Entrepreneur
Contact Data:
44 Exchange St, Suite 305
Portland,
ME 04101
Email: jayfriedlander@gmail.com
Phone: (207) 329-8307
Website: www.onaturals.com
Basics:
Founding Date: 1998
Corporate Form: S Corporation
Geographic Focus: New England (Maine and
Massachusetts)
Full-time employees: 5 at the corporate level,
80-100 in the stores
Industry: Food
Social Mission Area:
Agriculture, Environment and Health
Mission:
"You are what you eat.
Organic and natural foods are better for you and the planet too. We
have a responsibility to prepare and serve food in the most
environmentally responsible way possible. We are borrowing the planet
from our children. Food should be beautiful, delicious and fun."
Q
and A with Students:
Q:
Can you give us some background on Jay Friedlander?
A: Jay Friedlander is the chief operating O’Naturalist
for O’Naturals, Inc., a natural and organic fast-food restaurant
revolutionizing the industry by quickly serving delicious, fresh food,
in a comfortable atmosphere. Since opening its prototype in May of
2001, O’Naturals has been covered by numerous media outlets including:
The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Boston Globe, and Vogue, as well
as in Europe and Japan. Jay is involved with all elements of the
start-up, including fundraising, concept development, menu creation,
day-to-day operations, expansion into two New England states and
franchising.
Prior to joining O’Naturals,
Jay worked as a strategy consultant with the Forum Corporation,
developing and implementing global customer-centered growth strategies
for Fortune 100 clients. In addition to these activities, Jay has a
wide range of work and life experiences. He has designed and taught
graduate and undergraduate courses on socially responsible
entrepreneurship; served in the Peace Corps in Mauritania; written an
ecotourism business plan in Costa Rica; broken fundraising records for
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy; counseled Native American students; taught
environmental education; and been a ski bum. In addition to speaking
English, Jay is conversant in Spanish, French and Hassiniya Arabic.
Jay received his MBA from
Babson College, where he specialized in new venture creation and
graduated Summa Cum Laude, valedictorian of his class. Jay earned his
undergraduate degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Colgate
University where he graduated with Honors. Jay is an outdoor sports
enthusiast and has spent time living and traveling throughout the North
America as well as Africa, South and Central America, and Europe. He
looks forward to his new son Max joining him and his wife Ursula on
future adventures.
Q:
What led you to choose to shadow him?
A: One of our team members was interested in the natural
foods industry and had previously been in contact with the
entrepreneur. The company also seemed to be in a very interesting place
since they were about to embark on franchising.
Q:
What issues did your social entrepreneur face during the project?
A: 1. How to market to and recruit the best potential
franchisees and partners 2. Managing growth: in which geographic
regions should O'Naturals franchise (and therefore legally register) 3.
Management processes: if and when the company should bring on extra
staff to handle new franchises.
Q:
What was interesting, surprising or inspiring about shadowing this
SE?
A: Jay's patience in finding the right franchise
partners for O'Naturals was definitely inspiring. Because O'Naturals is
a for-profit company with a strong social mission, Jay compared the
partnership to a marriage; it has to be the right fit, personality-wise
and mission-wise, plus the partners have to have significant experience
and the financial resources to make a new store successful. O'Naturals
is not only interviewing franchisees; the interested partners get to
interview O'Naturals at the same time. We admired Jay's foresight in
making it a priority to have their partners be the right fit since they
will have a long-term relationship.
Q:
What did you learn about being a social entrepreneur from this project?
A: The need to be really
flexible. Jay often emphasized the need to have a plan but be able to
work off of that plan since things can change so quickly. Also, it was
evident that you need to have great patience; at the beginning, Jay
thought he would have 3 franchisees signed up in the next few months,
but that did not happen and he wasn't getting frustrated.
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