About Chyve
Good food belongs in everyday life.
Food carries more than a price. It carries someone's work, a place, a livelihood and the care that goes into making something worth sharing. Chyve began with Sonny's belief that good food and the chance to build a life around it should be within reach of more people.
The beginning
Good food should be within reach.
Sonny saw places in rural Arkansas with the potential to grow good food where everyday choices were still limited. Chyve grew from his belief that good food, useful food knowledge and the chance to make a living around it should be within reach of more people.
Built from a working kitchen.
Running Sonny's Homemade Lasagna made the practical problem clear in 2026. Ingredients, batches, stock, pickup times and orders all had to work together. The available software did not fit that work, so Sonny built Sonny's Kitchen Manager. It grew into Chyve Food Operations: software for Food Vendors who need their day to make sense.
How it began.
Chyve was formed in 2017. Sonny began with a local-food directory designed around listings owners could claim. Both that directory and its second version, BiteMaps, covered daily specials, chefs, caterers, Food Vendors, food trucks, venues and farmers. The wider food community was always part of the vision.
While driving Uber in Indianapolis, he put Chyve on his license plate and its old logo on the dashboard, discussing the directory with hundreds of passengers. On a ride to The Loft in Zionsville, farmer Joel Salatin and Corlyn Nation asked whether he knew much about local food. Sonny launched into the Chyve story. Joel sat in front, grinning and glancing back at Corlyn; Sonny wondered what he was missing. Sonny recalls that, at the end of the ride, they revealed who they were and offered to help share Chyve's story through an article.
A January 2019 feature in The Stockman Grass Farmer, written by Becky Gillette, covered local sourcing and culinary entrepreneurship. He remembers the SmallChainFoods idea following around 2022.
From one kitchen to Food Operations
Useful software. A wider purpose.
Food Operations is where Chyve starts today. It brings Products, Inventory, Recipes, Production, Purchasing and Orders into a connected workspace for independent Food Vendors.
Bakeries, meal-prep kitchens, caterers, food trucks and market vendors face many of the same daily questions: what can we make, what is available and what needs to happen next? The tools grew from those practical needs.
See How It Works
The purpose behind the work
“The food goes back into the hands of the people.”
Sonny, founder of Chyve
Local-first. Open to good change.
Chyve starts with local food communities and the people who grow, make, buy and share food. Useful ideas can come from many places and work at different scales. The purpose is better food and more room to take part.