How a health scare made Pacific Northwest Chef Adam Hegsted rebuild his entire restaurant operation

The Health Scare That Changed Everything

Adam Hegsted, chef/owner of Eat Good Group (Baba, Francaise, Honey, Republic Kitchen + Taphouse, The Yards) in the Pacific Northwest, knows the importance of putting your mask on first before helping others.

The reason for his much-needed recharge a couple years ago? He almost died.

During a routine checkup in fall 2023, a doctor discovered a heart murmur Hegsted never knew about. Further testing revealed an aortic aneurysm. “I just went in for a regular checkup—I had a heart murmur, but I didn’t know that,” he says. “I had an aortic aneurysm, and they caught it before it exploded in my chest. I was pretty close to dying. They told me I needed to get my will together and basically get my whole life together. I went right into surgery that Wednesday.”

The experience was life-changing—literally and emotionally. Hegsted, who operated multiple restaurants at the time, had to step away to recover physically—and reconsider not just how he would return, but what he was returning to.

“Life is so fragile, and it can be taken away in any second,” he reflects. “It makes you kind of think about all the things you’re doing in your life, and whether those things are conscious choices. Like, why am I doing all this? Is the point to make money? Not really. It changes the way you look at everything you’re doing on a daily basis. I wanted to start making more conscious decisions in the way I was living my life—to be proactive instead of so reactive.”

Establishing Succession

The experience gave Hegsted the opportunity to pause and reexamine his lifestyle and operations. His new, proactive mindset sparked a major reframe, starting with leadership.

“I hadn’t really created the restaurant group in a way where I could step away; I didn’t have a plan for giving the keys over at the executive level if something were to happen to me again like that,” he says. “If a [health scare] were to ever happen again, we needed systems in place, so the company could function without me. Everyone should be able to do the same job I’m doing.”

Cultivating a People-First Culture

That changed everything. Hegsted says his experience reinforced a notion he had deep down that this industry really is about people, not just growth.

“We’re now letting culture guide the way we’re going, not the other way around,” says Hegsted, noting that he also let go a few people who didn’t fit his new culture of care. “Kitchens used to be about someone dictating—I help shape the vision and direction, but it’s really the people steering the boat every day. At the core of it, what I want to do is take care of the people; that’s literally why I built the restaurant. When [my people] are successful, I’m successful. We all have to be on the same page.”

Even deep in the kitchens, the cultural shift is intentional. “The old-school stuff—throwing pans, yelling in people’s faces—we just don’t do that,” Hegsted says. “That’s not valuable for anybody. The second you walk away from yelling at someone; they lose respect for you. You can’t just stand there and yell at people anymore. People stick around when you treat them with respect.”

Hegsted has also become more proactive about addressing problems before they spread. “If you have an employee causing issues, it needs to be addressed right away,” he says. “Otherwise, it’s like a virus—it spreads from one person to the next. They may be doing their job, but they’re hurting everything in a broader sense.”

Transparency and Team Education

Hegsted widened the circle when it came to menu development, pulling ideas from across the team rather than making decisions alone. Hiring followed the same philosophy. “We hire more for attitude than experience or having worked at cool places—that makes us a little different,” he says. “We’re looking for people who want to be part of the culture.”

Another major shift Hegsted made was investing more deeply in education and transparency. “We teach our managers and chefs about budgets, scheduling, the books—everything,” he says. “We want people to operate the restaurants as if they’re their own. If they leave here, they’ll know how to do it. And if something ever happened to me again, the company could function without me. Everyone should be able to do the same job I’m doing. We want people to act like owners and to work autonomously. And, if they want to leave and open a restaurant, we’ll help them. We want them to keep learning.”

“In the restaurant business, it’s easy to get caught up in chasing growth and money,” Hegsted adds. “But at the end of the day, it’s a people business. Our customers are important, of course—but so is our team. When you forget about your people, everything else starts to fall apart. I’m just trying to invest in them and hopefully that’s what I’m leaving behind when the time comes.”

To hear from more US Foods® customers and chef/owners who have taken steps to take better care of themselves and their teams, click here.