Meet Kalle LeMone of Nourish Cafe & Market

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kalle LeMone.

Hi Kalle, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I grew up in St. Joseph, MO, on Hamburger Helper, Dunkaroos, and Gushers. Our home was full of love and we were an active family but we were in the era of convenient and processed food. I was also a competitive athlete, and even though I didn’t realize it at the time, it became evident that my hormone issues started early on. I attended the University of Missouri and graduated with a degree in business. I was a pharmaceutical representative for over 8 years. I returned to school to get my master’s in business administration from Columbia College while working full-time as a pharma rep. I always knew I wanted to open a business in Columbia, but I had the “maybe someday” mindset. When my son was 10 months old (I used fertility medications to get pregnant since I wasn’t having periods), I had this overwhelming feeling that it was time to open a Columbia business that helped others get healthier. In my late 20’s, when I still wasn’t having periods, I started to live a healthy, holistic lifestyle. And the more I learned, the more passionate I became about wellness and how it directly affects everything about our health (mentally, physically, and emotionally).

I wanted to create a restaurant where people could eat and feel truly nourished. I approached my yoga instructor, Kimber, who was a private chef and had a similar “food is medicine” mindset about opening a restaurant together. We founded Nourish in 2016. Nourish is a nutrient-rich, locally sourced, organic restaurant in downtown Columbia, MO. Everything we serve is free of gluten, soy, corn, refined sugar, preservatives, and inflammatory oils. We source from over 30 local farmers and vendors. We make healthy, nutrient-rich food taste delicious. This restaurant truly came to life because I had a deeply personal reason for taking my health into my own hands and wanted to inspire others to do the same. I got pregnant without fertility medications with my son Oaks. I went a total of 18 years without having a menstrual cycle naturally, but through lots of testing and healing, I got to the root cause of my hormonal issues that inspired Nourish. I wrote an entire blog post on this because it was an in-depth journey.

You wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
Where do I even begin with all of the challenges? First of all, starting a restaurant from scratch is no small undertaking. My business partner and I truly were learning as we went. Nourish is unlike so many restaurants in that we make everything from scratch (even our almond milk!), and we don’t use preservatives, so sourcing the food is challenging. Kimber and I had babies, went on maternity leave, and exclusively breastfed our babies (often pumping in our tiny office or running home every couple of hours to nurse!) throughout these last 6 years. Being a business owner and a mom is hard. The pull in every direction feels impossible at times. And the guilt is something I hear people talk about but never understood. Even when I’m with my kids, I often find myself not fully present thinking about the business and what needs to be done.  But we also can bring our kids to work as they have gotten older, and I am grateful for that. I love that they learn to talk to customers, clean, cook and work with our staff.

It comes as no surprise owning a restaurant during a pandemic was challenging. We were trying to keep jobs for our staff, navigating the restrictions, and keeping staff and customers feeling safe and comfortable.

Most recently, we have had a huge change at Nourish. Kimber and I dissolved our partnership. Going from a partnership to a sole owner has an adjustment. Even though, in the long run, it was better for us both and the business, it was still a stressful transition. However, we had some amazing updates to our menu, and I have core stuff that I am lucky to work with.

Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Nourish Cafe & Market is a health-focused fast-casual restaurant in downtown Columbia, MO serving breakfast, lunch, cold-pressed juice, and superfood smoothies. We source organic, local, and nutrient-rich food. Everything is made from scratch, including our almond milk, and every ingredient is carefully selected to ensure we don’t have any preservatives in our food. We only cook with avocado or olive oil rather than cheap inflammatory industrial seed oils. Even the water that we serve and cook with is filtered. We are obsessed with making nourishing food taste delicious and with the idea of food as medicine. Nourish sources local food as much as possible, composting our food waste. We use compostable, eco-friendly to-go containers. We are in business for the health of our customers and our planet.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
How to listen to my intuition. As an owner of a business, you will get a million different ideas and opinions from customers, employees, business partners, etc. Many of these are valuable ideas and can help inspire me and the business. I have learned to separate influence and noise from my intuition. But I truly don’t even have regrets because any “mistake” created so many lessons and learning opportunities and strengthened my intuition. I can also apply this same principle to my health and parenting. We are inundated with information and expert opinions that often we need to pay attention to what we inherently know is best for us, our kids, and our business.

Contact Info:

• Website: nourishcafemarket.com
• Instagram: nourishcafemarket
• Facebook: nourishcafemarket
• Other: https://nourishcafemarket.com/blog/amenorrhea

Image Credits
Laura Rowe, Emma Dorge, and Jessica White