From the Editor #01

Dear Foodie,

Have you ever wondered about the people who make the food you love? Or why they got into food business in the first place?

What about the grocery store? Have you ever wondered about the people who decide what products you'll find on their shelves? Or the mouth-watering food visuals you see all over your social feeds and on product packaging?

So many talented people work behind the scenes to bring you the food you find on your table, on store shelves, in coffee shops, restaurants, airplanes, and countless more places.

I can tell you they think about you all the time. It's time to turn this into a two-way street. Welcome to Salt & Main: The Intersection of Food & Business.

I'm Lex Evan, a brand designer, strategist, and self-taught pastry chef turned food founder. In 2022, I left behind my 15-year-long career designing for beauty, health & wellness brands to launch LEXINGTON BAKES, a luxury bakeshop serving organic brownies and cookies online and in grocery stores like Erewhon and Foxtrot. I dove into the food world without prior experience and fell in love with every aspect.

Over the last two years, I have met hundreds of food people and have become ever more curious about how and why they got into food business. So much love, passion, and dedication behind the scenes goes into preparing food for the world. And I want to shine a light on all of it.

This is Salt & Main, a platform dedicated to food people, where I plan to explore my newfound curiosity—borderline obsession—and bring you into the world of food business.

It starts with our upcoming interview series, Conversations with Food People.

Conversations with Food People

I'm so excited to bring you our first series; here's what you can expect.

Conversations with Food People is a weekly interview series in which I talk to various food people to learn about their passion for food business and how food has shaped and impacted their lives.

From celebrity chefs and caterers to coffee shop owners and restauranteurs, nutritionists and publicists, ice cream crafters and pastry chefs, grocery buyers and airline food providers, food photographers and stylists, food critics, editors, and designers, and so many more professions in food business.

I want to dive deep and understand food's role in their lives. From daily diets and eating habits to familial and cultural food traditions to fast food and fine dining experiences, I want to uncover where passion for food is born and how that passion turns into food business that shapes the world around us.

We're building a community of food people who love to talk and think about the impact of food on people, culture, and the economy. That includes you.

Conversations with Food People goes live once we reach 1,000 subscribers. And we need your help to get there.

Until then, I’ll leave you with a brief background on naming this food business.

Naming ‘Salt & Main’

I love it when there’s an aha moment behind a brand name. When it’s intriguing at first, but as soon as you get it, it seems so obvious and effortlessly perfect.

That’s how I feel about Salt & Main, but landing here was anything but effortless.

Our name had to convey two conflicting concepts. We needed a name that would clearly articulate our focus on food & business yet stand out as a unique platform that is neither entirely food nor entirely business.

I spent weeks agonizing over what words could possibly convey this unique intersection that aren’t “food” and “business”. Then, one day, I had an aha moment in the kitchen, of all places.

While preparing dinner, I impulsively reached for the salt cellar on my counter before even checking for the recipe’s ingredients. It’s there because I use salt so often throughout the day, from cooking to baking, breakfast to dinner.

I can’t count how many times I’ve reached for salt during the weeks I spent thinking of a name. Then, at that moment, it became so simply obvious.

“Salt” is the perfect word to ground the focus of this platform because it is an integral part of nearly all prepared and preserved foods. Further, salt was once valued so highly that it was considered currency.

With its ubiquitous use across food in every culture and rich history in trade, “salt” alone may have been a perfect name for this platform, but after simmering for a few days, it needed a dash of something else to feel seasoned.

Our name needed to ground us deeper in our purpose, our “why.”

I’ve found that the passion behind small business is what drives the food industry forward, and that’s why I’m starting this platform. To support, uplift, celebrate, and amplify the food people who drive food business forward.

“Main”, taken from “Main Street,” focuses us further on the small business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs who make the food world so magical with their love, passion, and dedication to excellence in serving food to communities across the globe.

That’s when the name felt effortlessly perfect, when I arrived at Salt & Main.

Thank you for meeting me here to help kickstart this platform. 🫶

Sincerely craving ice cream,

Lex Evan, Editor in Chief