“From Avocation To Vocation: How I Turned My Hobby Into A Career” With Ben McKean of Hungryroot

An interview with Phil La Duke

Listening is a skill. Practice it.

As a part of our series about entrepreneurs who transformed something they did for fun into a full-time career, I had the pleasure of interviewing…Ben McKean is the Founder and CEO of Hungryroot, a personalized online grocery service that makes it easy to eat healthy — and feel great — every day. Prior to Hungryroot, Ben was a vice president and general manager at Groupon, overseeing their food and beverage business. Ben came to Groupon through the acquisition of Savored, which he founded in 2009. Savored was the nation’s leading provider of yield management technology to the restaurant industry. Prior to Savored, Ben worked in Merrill Lynch’s technology investment banking group. Ben is a graduate of Georgetown University and currently lives in New York City.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?

I grew up in Massachusetts and was obsessed with playing baseball. My grandfather, who was an entrepreneur, came to many of my games. He always shared stories of the ice cream parlor chain called Bailey’s of Boston that he managed and that my mom worked at…