Setting The Table

No.305

Krystle Mobayeni

BENTOBOX

Three-year growth 1,480.3% | 2018 revenue $4.4M New York City | Founded in 2013

- Zoë Henry

When Krystle Mobayeni launched BentoBox—which helps restaurants build state-of-the-art websites—her experience in hospitality was mostly limited to dining out. Today, her startup serves more than 4,500 restaurants worldwide. She’s succeeded by persevering through a time she thought her company might lose everything—and because of the great sacrifices her parents made for her.

I’m a first-generation American. My parents emigrated from Iran to the U.S. in 1976 so my father could study at American University. They intended to go back, but then the revolution there intensified in 1978, four years before I was born, and they didn’t.

My father had been in the Air Force in Iran. My family gave up so much to come here, to provide for me. That’s always in the back of my mind. I couldn’t settle for being average. I wanted to make my mark.

I’ve always been excited by hospitality. A lot of first-generation Americans feel this way, I think. You have your one culture at home, another where you go to school, and then there is a third culture you create, to bridge the others. For me, bridging happened in restaurants. Going out to eat was the only experience I had when I was young that made me feel I was bringing my parents into my world.

I started out as a web designer and consultant, and started taking on restaurant clients.