Inside Honeygrow’s scaled-down concept

Honeygrow founder and CEO Justin Rosenberg wanted to expand his fast-casual stir-fry concept, but, too often, locations were too big, too small or too expensive. His solution: spin off a concept that’s a fraction of the footprint, with a simplified menu that requires minimal back-of-house equipment. The end result is Minigrow, designed for high-volume efficiency in urban centers with heavy lunch traffic. Minigrow opened in New York City in October; three more are in the works. 

Honeygrow offers 89 menu items;  Minigrow has just 36, including its signature three-wheat mazemen noodles that can be prepped in advance and held. The menu allows for assembly-style ordering and a streamlined kitchen, with a smaller exhaust hood and lack of fryers that cut square footage from Honeygrow’s 2,500 to 1,800.  

Minigrow ditches Honeygrow’s  kiosk ordering for two reasons, Rosenberg says. First, kiosks are a big investment. Second, Minigrow, with its limited SKUs, can serve more guests with face-to-face ordering. Still, Rosenberg says he expects Minigrow to be less labor intensive than Honeygrow and operate with fewer employees.