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Greg Menna never expected to become a food entrepreneur. Then a childhood friend approached him with the idea for District Doughnut while he was studying leadership and deciding between a career in the military or humanitarian work — and everything changed.
This week on Retail Gets Real, Menna says he talked with “everybody — my family, friends, people that would have opposing views ... and they all unanimously said, ‘You need to give that a shot.’” He took their advice and discovered a fascination with retail as a business, partly because of “the number of factors that have to coincide for you to succeed.”
“Trying to know people is the name of the game in retail,” Menna says. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by people who really like what we’re doing.”
District Doughnut co-founder and CEO Greg Menna
Building a community with customers and focusing on perfecting a fresh, handcrafted product has helped the company find success. Since opening the first store in D.C.’s Barracks Row neighborhood in 2014, District Doughnut has expanded with a second location and a franchise at Nationals Park, where baseball fans can enjoy fresh doughnuts. Listen to the episode to hear more about what Menna has learned from launching his company.
Jessica Hibbard is one of NRF’s co-hosts on Retail Gets Real. Meet all the co-hosts and learn more about the show.