Kristen Barnett

CEO, Hungry House, Inc.

Kristen is the founder and CEO of Hungry House, a New York City-based startup that partners with creators and chefs to launch new food brands and concepts.

Kristen found herself in the food industry after first starting her career in management consulting working for The Boston Consulting group. She had battled chronic Lyme disease for years and finally decided to utilize dietary change to feel better; she had miraculous results and, determined to make a bigger impact, she left consulting to pursue a career in the food industry.

Since then, she’s worked at Dig (formerly Dig Inn) where she was director of strategic operations and led their supply chain strategy, menu development team, and delivery business, for which she launched their first ghost kitchen. Kristen then went on to work for Zuul, a New York City-based ghost kitchen startup where she served as chief operating officer and led the creation of their proprietary tech stack and multiple virtual brands.

After witnessing the explosive growth in the industry, mainly with a commoditized and unhealthy product offering, she decided to pursue building Hungry House in the summer of 2021 to create a ghost kitchen company focusing on sustainability, diversity, quality and transparency.

She graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude and is passionate about plant-based eating and supporting other women in the food industry through hosting a semi-regular women-in-food dinner series. Kristen lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with her partner and their 16 plants.