David Rust is the founder and CEO of Sagra, a hospitality business whose mission is to bring awareness to regenerative agriculture and support the farms that practice it.

In this episode, you'll learn about David's journey to founding Sagra and what he learned about sustainability and hospitality along the way:

00:50 - David talks about his influences growing up

03:12 - Joining Lyft as an early employee and launching in cities like LA, Seattle, and Chicago

05:11 - How he got to know a place quickly

08:49 - Transitioning from tech growth guru to hospitality founder

15:20 - The role of customer experience in business success

19:12 - From watching Chef’s Table on Netflix to taking action and reaching out to participate

21:45 - Regenerative farming

26:37 - Weeks building tech companies, weekends on farms

31:06 - Prototype development (solving problems for both the guest and the farmer)

33:53 - Why food builds such a strong connection with us

37:15 - Solving problems for farmers

40:49 - How Sagra is structured and operates

45:27 - Sagra’s impact on guests

49:01 - What’s most exciting for David now

If you liked this episode, listen to our other episodes on sustainability.

A few more resources:

If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here.
You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions
If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.
Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.

If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!

Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Snacks Minute for Monday, November 8th