Edible Food Find: NU Kitchen
Photos by Michael Piazza
Josh Van Dyke knew from an early age that he wanted to start his own business. The only decision left for the 2005 Providence College business management graduate was what it would be. His family has long been in the construction and real estate businesses and Van Dyke worked for them growing up, particularly enjoying real estate. A fortuitous poker tournament win less than a year after graduation gave him the financial freedom to take a step back from working with the family and think about his future.
Van Dyke moved to San Diego in 2006 and fell in love with Southern California’s fresh and local food and coffee culture. He had found his calling. Less than a year after moving, a brother’s friend persuaded him to return to Massachusetts and join him in opening a café and juice bar in Gardner. They soon opened another store in Worcester, and shortly thereafter Van Dyke bought out his partner’s interest and sold the Gardner store. He lived in Worcester at the time and, while working there and managing the store, he saw a lot of potential in the city. NU Kitchen Worcester remains their flagship store.
Although Van Dyke always planned on having multiple locations, he thoughtfully took his time before opening the next one. Originally focused on quick growth, his goal became perfecting the Worcester store. Renovations, personnel and technology became focuses. Menu development centered on breakfast, açaí and grain bowls as well as smoothies, salads and sandwiches with clean protein add-ons. With NU Kitchen Worcester thriving and experiencing consistent growth, Van Dyke was ready to expand. His real estate experience led him to conclude that it was a better long-term financial decision to purchase the real estate for future locations, if possible. He was able to do that with the Somerville location in 2016 and the Newburyport location in 2021.
“Our mission is to make healthy living approachable, delicious and convenient,” Van Dyke emphasizes, “by offering clean and energizing food that becomes a part of people’s lifestyles. We want to be a place where you can come with your friends or after the gym or for a meeting because the food’s always great, it’s healthy and you feel good when leaving. We want to help you reach your goals and kind of see us as your partner in that.”
Van Dyke spends most of his time at NU Kitchen focusing on business operations, including vision, branding, menu, growth and real estate, while working closely with the general managers at each location. He notes that their expansive menu allows them to be busy for breakfast, lunch and dinner all four seasons with many customers returning multiple times a week. They recently built out the Newburyport store’s basement as a commissary for cold-press juicing and from-scratch sauces and baked goods for the stores, allowing them to have consistency and efficiency across all three locations.
“I’m really excited about the team we’ve built,” says Van Dyke. “It’s important that they really understand and value the vision we have and live by and appreciate our core values. When you have that as a foundation of your relationship, you build trust and make it through the highs and lows that are inevitable in this business. Our managers share that vision with the staff so that we embody it from leadership through to our customers. This helps guide us in every decision we make from hiring to coaching to identifying needs for development. Our goal is to keep growing.”
This story appeared in the Winter 2024 issue.
