How Does a Startup Survive the Pandemic? An Interview with Hungry

Jeff Grass and Eman Pahlevani are a pair of entrepreneurs who were working on a business when they stumbled upon a personal pain point - how can they access affordable, fresh, home-cooked food when they’re stuck in an office all day? That’s how they came up with the idea for Hungry, a platform that connects chefs with companies for catering. The business took off and the founders clinched some high-profile investors, including Jay-Z and Usher. That was in March of 2020. Almost overnight, the world went into lockdown , offices closed, and Hungry’s business was effectively eviscerated. Instead of coasting, Jeff and Eman were clawing their way back. Not exactly the script they had written when they started Hungry…but then again, food-tech was a path neither of them expected to take.