The Other Musk's Defining Moment
After co-founding and selling the software company Zip2 with his brother Elon for a fortune in 1999, Kimbal Musk could have done anything. He moved to New York, enrolled in the French Culinary Institute, and was living there during the September 11th
attacks. In the aftermath, he spent weeks volunteering to cook for the firefighters at Ground Zero. He has described how that experience of creating community through food fundamentally changed him, sparking a passion that would pivot his career from tech to food. This wasn't just a hobby; it was a new mission. He decided to dedicate his life to changing America's food system, but he knew he couldn't do it with a tech-world mindset.
The First, and Most Crucial, Partner
In 2004, Musk moved to Boulder, Colorado, and co-founded his first restaurant, The Kitchen. His most important early 'hire' was his co-founder, chef Hugo Matheson. This decision is the bedrock of his entire approach. Instead of partnering with a seasoned restaurant operator or a financial guru to scale quickly, Musk chose a chef. Matheson was a culinary purist dedicated to the craft of food. This partnership immediately established the company's core value: the food itself, and where it comes from, would always be the top priority. The driving philosophy was that ingredients should be consciously sourced from local farmers, ranchers, and purveyors. This wasn't a marketing gimmick; it was the operational foundation.
Hiring for a Mission, Not Just a Resume
The early team at The Kitchen was built around a shared belief system. Their stated goal was fostering 'Community Through Food'. They weren't just hiring line cooks and servers; they were recruiting believers in a 'real food culture' who saw restaurants as community hubs, not just places to eat. This philosophy meant prioritizing relationships with local farmers, coaching them on how to scale their businesses to meet demand. Over a dozen years in Colorado, this approach helped grow the local food economy from $4 million to $20 million. By hiring people passionate about the mission, Musk created an organization where every decision, from the menu to the biodegradable toilet paper, reinforced the central goal of sustainability and community connection.
The Ripple Effect to Gardens and Gigs
That initial hiring DNA—mission first, skills second—is visible in every venture Musk has launched since. In 2011, he and Matheson co-founded a nonprofit called The Kitchen Community, now known as Big Green. Its purpose was to build 'Learning Gardens' in underserved schools, teaching kids where food comes comes from. The teams hired for this were educators and community organizers, not just landscapers. He later co-founded Square Roots, an urban farming company using technology to grow local food in climate-controlled shipping containers. Even as he sits on the boards of Tesla and SpaceX, his own ventures are consistently staffed by people who are activists and evangelists for what he calls the 'real food' movement. This consistent thread reveals that for Kimbal, the 'who' has always been the 'how'.
