The team behind the popular recipe website Fit Foodie Finds are all best friends, and they’ve never been a team to follow a predictable path.
“We’ve always loved doing things our own way, doing things a little differently,” founder Lee Funke said, “so when we were looking for our next venture, we kept coming back to our love of meeting people on the internet to share food with. We love feeding the people we meet in our lives. So it was always in the back of our minds: a restaurant, a food truck, what would that be?”
It appears to be a 40-foot-tall mobile kitchen parked outside Forgotten Star Brewing Co. in Fridley.
It also turns out that Funke and her colleagues, editor-in-chief Emily Richter and recipe developer Linley Hanson, are family friends with Forgotten co-owner Andy Risvold.
“He’s also a visionary, and we talked to him about how we could partner and bring our businesses together to create something really great,” Funke said. “And we did.”
Hodgepodge opened quietly a few weeks ago, and with a 50-50 partnership between the website and the brewery, it’s having its grand opening this weekend.
Richter said their goals were threefold: “We wanted to have options for everyone, so a balanced but indulgent menu. This is a family-friendly space, so the whole family can dine together. And something different and fun, which is why we decided on the name Hodgepodge, honestly.”
The beginning of university life
The three women behind Fit Foodie Finds are graduates of the University of Minnesota, where Funke launched the website College Foodie Finds in 2010.
“I was reading healthy living blogs during my college days and was looking for a way to connect with like-minded people,” she says, “but things started to grow really fast and I realized my favorite niche was sharing recipes and food with people, which I think resonated with most of my followers. Then, since we were both no longer at college, we changed the name.”
After working in corporate social media, Funke worked “a million” part-time jobs to support himself while trying to turn his passion into a full-time job. Hanson joined the company 10 years ago, started out helping with social media and is now a recipe developer. Richter joined a year later, first in branding and now serves as the site’s editor.
“We grew up on social media, even though we weren’t majoring in it in college, but it was basically our stepping stone,” Richter said. “We started on Instagram when it first started to take off, so we call ourselves the OG influencers.”
“One of our first popular posts was how to cook quinoa in your dorm room microwave,” she said. “And it just means our audience has grown with us over the years. We’ve grown with the company and our following has grown.”
The website attracts 2-3 million visitors per month (it has 334,000 followers on Instagram), and generates enough revenue from branding and partnerships to give away its content for free. New recipes are added weekly, and the archive contains nearly 2,000 recipes, from dips and bowls to casseroles and cocktails. All of the recipes have accessible ingredients, are easy to make, and exude a Midwestern vibe.
A new adventure
When it came time to expand, part of the draw for Forgotten Star was the brewery itself, which they liken to a vibrant community center that they frequent.
“We feel very supported by the team at Forgotten Star because we’re doing what we’re good at and they’re doing what they’re good at,” Funke said. “The three of us have been together for almost 10 years now, so it’s really great to branch out into new territory.”
There was a learning curve when it came to implementing the mobile kitchen; prepared-food technology was new, so they turned to the experts for help. Lily Altemos acts as the liaison between the two businesses, serving as general manager of both. Consultant Evan Sjodin brought his decade of restaurant experience to advise on everything from scaling up recipes that typically serve four people to working with suppliers.
Hodgepodge values seasonality and the team’s Midwestern upbringing, and the menu reflects that.
“Our food philosophy is healthy eating. We knew people wanted indulgences and people wanted healthier options, and we wanted something in between,” Hanson said, “and we wanted to make it really affordable for families.”
The most popular dish is the Sweet Corn Smash, a smashburger topped with cheese, special sauce, and sweet corn relish. (“Now that we’ve discovered sweet corn relish, I don’t think there’s anything that goes with it,” says Richter. The Wild Rice Brat is a close second. The team is also embracing trends: dill pickles are featured in the Dilly Dally Chicken Salad. (“We posted that on Instagram and it was a huge hit,” says Funke.) And they love a good sauce; they have six of them.
The summer menu will evolve as Hodgepodge evolves, with new ice cream flavors and hearty hodgepodge bowls for non-meat eaters to try, as well as seasonal specials and menu items aligned with the brewery’s events. They’re making the most of the partnership by suggesting beers to pair with each dish, and Hanson is still fine-tuning the formula for the Forgotten Star beer that’s perfect for the cheese sauce.
The combination of both beer and business is a perfect fit for the longtime friends, who have been frequenting the brewery with their families since long before the Hodgepodge story began. But with that mix of longstanding friendships, both with each other and with the new Forgotten Star family, was there any resistance to jumping into a partnership?
“That’s the only thing we know,” Funke said.
“It was just perfect that Andy approached us and was like, ‘You guys are our people,'” Hanson said.
“This was a really unique way for us to see our recipes being eaten right in front of people outside of their own kitchens,” Richter says. “You can see the photos, you can see the videos on social media, you can see the comments with the photos, you can see the lovely emails, but you can’t see people eating your food.”
“That first soft opening weekend, at some point we all took a step back, and we thought, ‘Wow, people are eating our food. This is so amazing.'”
About Hodgepodge
Location: 38 Northern Stacks Drive, Fridley, hodgepodgeeats.com, forgottenstarbrewing.com
Hours: 11am-8pm daily, except on Wednesdays when the team resets for the weekend and the brewery will have guest food trucks. The grand opening will be June 15th and 16th with food and beer sales, the release of Hodgepodge beer, kids’ storytime, Father’s Day specials and more. Visit the website for more information. Brewery hours are Monday-Thursday 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday 11am-11pm and Sunday 11am-9pm.
How to order: Walk up to the truck’s window and you’ll receive a text when your food is ready. QR codes and online ordering are coming soon, which will be a blessing for area workers. (The closest dining option within three square miles is Hodgepodge.)
The food: You can get everything from pretzels, burgers and sausages to bowls and chicken salads. (The highest price is $14 for the sweet corn smash.) Recipes change seasonally; some come from the Fit Foodie Finds website; others are dreamed up for the food truck; and still others come from requests by staff and customers. “That’s the beauty of the name Hodgepodge,” says Funke.
Favorite recipes: Richter’s favorite is sweet corn smash, while Funke’s is sweet potato fries with hot honey dressing. Hanson’s go-to combo is smash and sweet potato fries. They’re all big fans of sauces, especially the burger sauce (inspired by Thousand Island dressing) and Top the Spud, a yogurt-based, tangy take on the Minnesota classic.
Most authentic recipe: Hodgepodge bowl (kale salad, quinoa, meat protein, hummus). “This is so true to us because it’s the same thing we actually eat.”
Non-negotiables: When planning the menu, ice cream, sauces and kids’ menu items were all on the must-have list for all three.
And that colorful truck. Formerly a Boomin’ BBQ smoker truck, the 40-foot truck now has a full year-round commercial kitchen. Now with its façade and greenery, it blends seamlessly into the brewery’s exterior, its bright design inspired by graffiti on a nearby train.
Fithoodie Discover Fun Facts
Home office: Fit Foodie Finds is based in St. Louis Park, with all recipe development and photography happening out of a one-bedroom apartment.
Another website: Cheeseknees.com, a sister site built as a pandemic project. “We kept going back to cheese and our Midwestern roots,” Richter says. You’ll find more than a dozen mac and cheese recipes and puns like “Brie is our guest.”
Teamwork: The team works together to develop recipes two to three months in advance, taking seasonality and trends into account. “When cottage cheese was all the rage and everyone was adding it to dips and ice creams, we jumped on board,” says Richter.
The addition of another cook to the kitchen – Kitchen Manager Rosie Rodien – has made it easier to share the work. A former cheesemonger, Rosie helps Hanson develop recipes for his Cheese Knees and also brings a “baking brain” to complement Hanson’s “cooking brain.”
A little help from a friend: They now outsource the photography for the site, but continue to do the art direction. They still produce videos, doing 20-30 shoots every six weeks.
Burger Sauce Recipe
Serves 4.
You’ll never make a burger without this easy burger sauce again. Say goodbye to commercial burger sauces filled with ingredients you can’t pronounce. From Fit Foodie Finds. This sauce is served topping Hodgepodge’s Sweet Corn Smash Burger, but you can also order it as a side.
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons pickle juice
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
direction
Place all burger sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix until combined. Keep burger sauce in the fridge until ready to serve. It can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days, but be sure to stir before serving.
