A Portland Startup to Watch

MISE is out there making headlines as a “startup to watch,” according to Portland Business Journal’s sister publication, Portland Inno. In their annual report of the city’s most exciting startups of the year, READY FOR TAKEOFF Meet 13 Portland-area startups with big promise, we were included alongside fast-growing businesses across multiple industries.

It all started with a mission to make a sleek and durable shoe for the hospitality industry—a shoe that supports and empowers kitchen workers through the longest shifts.

“Portland knows shoes. It also knows food. But, those two industries haven’t teamed up like this before,” Portland Inno says of MISE in their year-end list.

Listening to chefs and culinary professionals was key in the development of our kitchen shoe: “The startup delivered 160 test pairs of shoes to chefs and professionals in 75 kitchens, bars and cafes across Portland as well as chefs across the country.”

There are 12 million hospitality workers in the U.S. alone: cooks, dishwashers, servers, runners, chefs, baristas, bartenders, and more on the hospitality front lines. “The service industry may be a niche market but there could be openings elsewhere,” Portland Inno concludes.