Graza's $240M Brand Launch Playbook

These are the big olive oil brands until these guys turn to squeeze bottle option into a $240 million business. And here's their story. Andrew Benen had always been drawn to entrepreneurship in food, and his roles at startups like Casper, Magic Spoon, and Oura, as well as an internship at Michelin star restaurant Gramercy Tavern. But in 2019, everything changed when he took a trip with his now wife to Spain and noticed how frequently high quality olive oil was used in everyday life. Before Graza, the US olive oil market was composed of two extremes: expensive boutique options, and low quality mass market brands. So Andrew teamed up with Alan Dushi, who brought operations and Costco experience. And together they launched a high quality affordable olive oil brand that worked for three main reasons. First, they made it fun and functional. Squeeze bottles and fun branding made olive oil feel modern and usable. Instead of dark glass bottles and serious labels, they showed up with chef inspired squeeze bottles, bold playful illustrations, and a kitchen friend. Second, they kept it simple. Instead of a confusing array of options, they launched with just two: "Sizzle" for cooking oil and "Drizzle" for finishing oil. Lastly, they let the product speak for itself. Instead of spending big on ads, they sent 300 packages to food creators with no strings attached, just hoping the bottles would serve their purpose in everyday food moments. And it paid off because they did 100k in sales on day one of launch and sold out of six months of inventory within a week, which helped them land in Fox Trot and Whole Foods. And now the brand is available in 17,000 stores and valued at $240 million because they didn't invent olive oil, but because they created a better experience using it.