Chris & Stephanie Stout

Before Chris Stout ever heard of Graze Craze, his career looked nothing like charcuterie boards. After nearly 11 years in the U.S. Navy, Chris transitioned into manufacturing sales, where his technical background gave him a natural edge. He could speak his clients’ language, and it showed, helping grow his market by 40% when the company had only asked for 20.

But when an unexpected ownership shift led to that contract being pulled, Chris found himself absorbing a 40% pay cut along with 13 colleagues. It was a turning point. The security he’d worked to build felt suddenly fragile, and the experience planted the seed for something different.

Around the same time, his wife Stephanie, who Chris affectionately calls his “Director of Operations and Training” was navigating the balance of wanting to work while still being present for their kids. The two started exploring their options, and a franchise recruiter reached out through LinkedIn.

The recruiter introduced Chris and Stephanie to several franchise concepts. Nothing clicked right away. A shipping and receiving franchise fell apart in the due diligence phase. Another would have created a conflict of interest with his existing industry contacts. A third required cold calling. A hard pass.

Then came Graze Craze. Stephanie’s immediate reaction to the word “charcuterie” was something Chris still laughs about. But when the recruiter described the concept as “adult Lunchables,” something clicked. They decided to take a closer look and didn’t look back.

Not everyone in their circle was immediately on board. Chris’s father, a retired small business owner, had one question: “Do you need employees?” His friends ranged from puzzled to cautiously supportive. But Chris and Stephanie saw the opportunity clearly, and they went for it.

The Stouts’ approach to ownership is intentional. From the beginning, Chris wanted to work on the business, not be consumed by it. Stephanie runs day-to-day operations and is in the store most days, managing inventory, scheduling their team of nine part-time employees, and keeping things running.

Chris handles the administrative side from home, fitting it around consulting work he still does.
Events have become one of the more unexpected highlights. What started as a business obligation has turned into something the two genuinely enjoy.

Chris is quick to credit his team and his role in supporting them: “My responsibility is to make sure they have the tools and the opportunities to execute the mission.”

Ask Chris what’s surprised him most about owning Graze Craze, and his answer isn’t what you’d expect. It isn’t the logistics or the marketing grind. It’s his community.

Murrieta is what’s known as a bedroom community where roughly 96% of residents commute out of county for work. For years, Chris was one of them. Owning a local business changed his relationship with his own hometown entirely. He discovered nonprofits, military organizations, parks, and community events he never knew existed after 20 years of living there.

The brand’s growth also brought some unexpected challenges. Four months after opening, California raised the fast food minimum wage, and Graze Craze qualified. It prompted Stephanie to step further into the store, and it sparked honest conversations between the two about how they each envisioned the business. Working through that, Chris says, has ultimately made them stronger as a couple and as partners.

For anyone seriously considering Graze Craze, Chris has a few things he wants them to know:

Be ready to market. He often echoes a line from Graze Craze leadership: “We’re a marketing company that just happens to sell charcuterie.” If you’re not naturally inclined to get out in the community and build relationships, you’ll need to develop that muscle.

Trust the playbook. Chris sees it firsthand in his business networking group, where fellow entrepreneurs often push him to do things his own way: change this, ignore that, reinvent the model. He gets it. They’re independent operators who built something from scratch. But that’s exactly why he went the franchise route: the system works because it was built by people who already figured out what works. Owners who come in wanting to rewrite the playbook tend to struggle. The ones who commit to it, and then find ways to grow within it, are the ones who thrive.

The Stouts hold multiple territories, and Chris’s goal is to have at least two to three more locations open within the next five years. He’s also watching the brand’s upcoming marketing initiatives closely, with genuine excitement.

But when asked about his proudest moments, Chris doesn’t go straight to revenue or growth. He talks about his employees, the ones who’ve moved on to buy houses, finish trade school, or launch their own businesses, and still check in to share the news.

For Chris Stout, Graze Craze isn’t just a business. It’s the thing that reconnected him to his community, deepened his partnership with his wife, and proved that the stability he’d been chasing in a corporate career was something he could build himself, one board at a time.