Small Business Innovators – Back to the Roots
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 7:00 am
Editor’s Note: We’re constantly amazed at the innovations we see happening in small businesses every day. As part of a periodic series, we’ll highlight some of the companies we think are turning traditional business models on their ear, starting today uganda whatsapp number database with Back to the Roots, who have built a business that is environmentally sustainable while also being profitable.
Alejandro Valez and Nikhil Valora sat staring at the bucket of used coffee grounds, now filled with gorgeous, plump pearl oyster mushrooms that had grown over the course of just a few days in the kitchen of Alejandro’s fraternity house. Of the ten buckets they had filled with spent grounds and inoculated with mushroom spores, this appeared to be the only success – the other nine were totally contaminated with mold.
Neither Alejandro nor Nikhil had any experience in the food industry. The two had met just weeks before in their ethics class at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School, Alejandro anticipating a career as an investment banker and Nikhil considering business consulting. After a lecture in which the professor offhandedly mentioned reading somewhere about growing mushrooms in spent coffee grounds, Nikhil approached him to find out more. The professor told him that another student, Alejandro, had asked the same questions, so he connected them.
Now, they sat pondering their one successful batch out of ten. “There’s no way I’m trying these,” Alejandro said.
So they took the bucket to a nearby expert in locally produced food – Alice Waters, founder of celebrated restaurant, Chez Panisse. Recognizing the mushrooms as safe, she grabbed her head chef, who quickly took a cluster of the mushrooms and sautéed them in butter. They were delicious.
Three years later, Nikhil, Alejandro and a team of 31 employees in Oakland produce and sell about 2,000 grow-at-home mushroom kits a week online, at Whole Foods stores, Home Depot and through direct sales at a variety of events. During the 4th quarter rush, they expect to produce and sell as many as 15,000 units a week and are currently hustling to get their products into Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond.
“The most fulfilling thing,” Nikhil says, “is no one even knew what a mushroom kit was. Now people have seen them around. It’s cool to build something that people recognize.”
Alejandro Valez and Nikhil Valora sat staring at the bucket of used coffee grounds, now filled with gorgeous, plump pearl oyster mushrooms that had grown over the course of just a few days in the kitchen of Alejandro’s fraternity house. Of the ten buckets they had filled with spent grounds and inoculated with mushroom spores, this appeared to be the only success – the other nine were totally contaminated with mold.
Neither Alejandro nor Nikhil had any experience in the food industry. The two had met just weeks before in their ethics class at UC Berkeley’s Haas Business School, Alejandro anticipating a career as an investment banker and Nikhil considering business consulting. After a lecture in which the professor offhandedly mentioned reading somewhere about growing mushrooms in spent coffee grounds, Nikhil approached him to find out more. The professor told him that another student, Alejandro, had asked the same questions, so he connected them.
Now, they sat pondering their one successful batch out of ten. “There’s no way I’m trying these,” Alejandro said.
So they took the bucket to a nearby expert in locally produced food – Alice Waters, founder of celebrated restaurant, Chez Panisse. Recognizing the mushrooms as safe, she grabbed her head chef, who quickly took a cluster of the mushrooms and sautéed them in butter. They were delicious.
Three years later, Nikhil, Alejandro and a team of 31 employees in Oakland produce and sell about 2,000 grow-at-home mushroom kits a week online, at Whole Foods stores, Home Depot and through direct sales at a variety of events. During the 4th quarter rush, they expect to produce and sell as many as 15,000 units a week and are currently hustling to get their products into Nordstrom and Bed Bath & Beyond.
“The most fulfilling thing,” Nikhil says, “is no one even knew what a mushroom kit was. Now people have seen them around. It’s cool to build something that people recognize.”