From Angel To Exit · 2026-06-03 · 47 min
Building a company is hard. Exiting successfully is even harder. In this episode of From Angel to Exit, Ana Chaud shares the remarkable story behind Garden Bar and the lessons she learned scaling, selling, and transitioning beyond founder life. Born and raised in Brazil, Ana spent over a decade as a business consultant working closely with entrepreneurs before launching her own company. Following a major life transition and frustration with the lack of healthy lunch options in Portland, Oregon, she founded Garden Bar, a fast-casual salad concept inspired by brands like Sweetgreen and Chopt. What started as a personal need quickly evolved into a rapidly growing business. Ana discusses how Garden Bar expanded from one location to nine locations in just three and a half years by focusing relentlessly on operational efficiency, customer experience, and financial performance. She explains how understanding throughput, labor costs, food costs, and unit economics allowed the business to scale sustainably while creating strong brand recognition.
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