Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a green thumb or a lot of land to grow good food in the comfort of your own home. One company that is helping to make that reality more widely understood is back to basicsOrganic gardening companies with a strong focus on sustainability sell US-grown organic seeds and seed packets, gardening kits, and live plants.
co-founder Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Aroratwo Well+Good 2022 Changemakers, Back to the Roots began in 2009 when a then college classmate learned in a lecture that gourmet mushrooms can grow from used coffee grounds. I spent a few months growing mushrooms from a fraternity in Velez, and finding leftover coffee grounds in a local coffee shop to use as fertilizer. Then the big break: a $5,000 grant from the school principal. They then dumped a job offer to become an urban full-time mushroom farmer in Oakland, California.
After successfully selling mushrooms at the local level, they found that the customers they interacted with were much more interested how I grow my own mushrooms. This led to expansion from local farming to national e-commerce and the first home mushroom growing kit product launched in 2011. At this point, Back to the Roots evolved from an agricultural-only business. Along with gardening products that help people grow their own food at home.
Today, the company has grown beyond its wildest dreams (quite literally), focusing on its rapidly expanding e-commerce business and forming partnerships that emphasize the educational value of its products. Now they partner with local educational programs (such as STEM) and welcome cookbook authors and TV personalities. Ayesha Curry on boardand occur $15 million in Series D All of our 2021 funding is to make the farm-to-table concept more accessible to people around the world. I recently spoke with Arora about Back to the Roots’ goals and plans for the future. Basically, Back to the Roots is how you water the seeds you plant along the way.
Well + good: How has Back to the Roots evolved since it officially launched in 2009?
Nikhil Arora: I think the biggest change for us, along the way, was realizing how excited people were about trying to grow their own food. We can inspire people across the country to grow their own food and empower them to do so.” , to make it easy for anyone to enter the garden. You don’t need a green thumb or a big backyard.
That’s what led Back to the Roots to create its first gardening product, the Small Home Mushroom Kit, which was launched in 2011, two years after it was founded. We want to help new generations grow their own food and discover ways to reconnect with the land. Because we know one experience can spark a lifetime of curiosity and a connection to where things came from.
In 2022, we doubled down on becoming a full-service outdoor gardening brand by expanding our product line. This now includes US grown organic seeds and seed packets, gardening kits and live plants. We helped over 5 million families start organic gardens last year.
W+G: How are you incorporating sustainability into your business model?
N/A: At one point, I was collecting £3 million of coffee grounds thrown away by local coffee shops. We became like valet waste collectors. I don’t do it anymore, but it’s still the spirit, heart and soul of the brand.We do our best to provide the most sustainable products in this category.We want to make the best gardening products for your plants When planet. But in order to do that, we have to be clear about what that means and be held accountable.
From a corporate governance perspective, we are proud to B Corporation It has been accredited since the movement’s inception almost ten years ago. We carefully consider sustainability across our various product lines.
As an example, one of our largest product lines, organic soil, at Walmart in Spring 2021. Traditionally, most dirt bags you buy in stores today are filled with partially accumulated peat. decaying vegetation or organic matterPeat releases large amounts of carbon dioxide when harvested. greenhouse gas level, is mined in the tundra of northern Canada, Europe and Southeast Asia before being shipped here. Ending the use of peat is one of the most important ways to solve the climate fissure. They are 3% of the world’s land and hold more carbon than all forests.. seems to be the biggest carbon sink We are on Earth, on land. And we’re mining it to fill America’s gardens.
We launched the first domestic peat-free soil using all local compost. We also have 20 different blending facilities that address local waste streams and composting. Our soil focuses on domestic sourcing. Our potting mix is 100% Made in the USA, no plastics, no synthetic fertilizers, and no peat. This is an increasingly important sustainability initiative in this area. We share this example of the same approach of building a nationally scalable and successful business while minimizing our impact on the planet while we are no longer collecting coffee grounds. This is because we are trying to obtain
W+G: What do you want your product to inspire?
N/A: Aiming to inspire new generations to reconnect with their food is a very big reason for what we do. They want to connect with everything around them. That’s why we are passionate about gardening and building a gardening company.
It’s not about how many ounces of tomatoes you can grow. That said, gardening is an important way to connect with what we eat, the land, and each other.
I’m not saying that the brand itself will solve world hunger. Instead, we see every product we sell as a way to spark the curiosity of someone, especially children.
W+G: What progress have you made to demonstrate your commitment to education?
N/A: We do a lot of workshops with children, and now we have a big non-profit organization. kids gardening I am on the board and I am a gardening stem [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] our school curriculum Garden Curriculum Toolkit It consists of a variety of fun, hands-on, and fast-growing products that are great for learning.
again, #GrowOneGiveOne A truly personal campaign.When a customer shares a photo of her Back to the Roots garden on her social media with the hashtag #GrowOneGiveOne, donate organic kits and STEM curriculum to an elementary school classroom of your choice. Don’t just buy one and give one to something else somewhere. People will tell you exactly which teacher they want to send the product to.
W+G: What’s the outlook for Back to the Roots in 2023?
N/A: Next year will be a milestone year for Back to the Roots. Major retailers such as Walmart, Target, Lowe’s and Home His Depot stock a full range of Kits, Seeds, Soil, Plant Food and Raised His Beds. Gardening has historically been very siloed, so this is an industry-wide change. If you want to start a vegetable garden, you will need to buy seeds from one brand, soil from another brand, and plant food from someone else.
For the first time, you can start a 100% organic garden under one brand through Back to the Roots. And this year, if we do our job right, the consumer will spend his $100 million on this brand of gardening products. Alex and I recall the first demo at Farmers’ Market, where Mushrooms sold one kit, built the S20, and had the brand at the biggest retailers this spring. I took the opportunity and became the top of the world.
We’re excited about that and don’t take it for granted. The whole team is very fired up and I will do my best to make the most of this opportunity now.
Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
