They Started a Side Hustle Producing an 'Obvious' Food Item. It Hit $300,000 Monthly Revenue Fast — On Track for Over $20 Million in 2025.
Amanda Breen
created: July 10, 2025, 3 p.m. | updated: July 10, 2025, 8:32 p.m.
This Side Hustle Spotlight Q&A features Jason Rosenbaum and Hailey Swartz, co-founders, with Alex Swartz, of veggie burger brand Actual Veggies.
Rosenbaum: The idea for Actual Veggies started brewing in early 2020.
One night, I literally woke up from a dream with the name "Actual Veggies" in my head.
Rosenbaum: One of the first things we did was start talking to chefs — we had the vision but needed help turning it into an actual product.
(Actual Veggies started as an idea in January 2020, and we launched — albeit in a small way — with Pop Up Grocer in October 2020).
3 months, 3 weeks ago: Entrepreneur