🟣 Issue No. 70: Graza

$100M BRAND STORY

Graza: The Olive Oil Brand That Made EVOO Cool Again

Graza is what happens when a Magic Spoon marketer, a Warby Parker alum, and a food-obsessed ex-kitchen hand fall in love with olive oil in Spain and decide to shake up a $1.5B U.S. EVOO market with a squeeze bottle.

Their goal? Make high-quality extra virgin olive oil accessible, unpretentious, and designed for real use. No Tuscan scenes. No $40 glass bottles gathering dust. Just a squeeze, a Sizzle, a Drizzle—and now a Frizzle.

In under two years, Graza went from a scrappy idea with $230K in SAFE note funding to a household name with 8-figure annual revenues and distribution in over 17,000 stores, including Whole Foods, Target, and Walmart.

Are They Funded or Bootstrapped?

Graza raised $230,000 in early funding via SAFE notes—cold outreach using YC templates, pitching high-net-worth friends and connections. They used that capital not to pay salaries, but to pre-buy inventory and invest in top-tier branding (via Brooklyn agency Gander).

Later in 2022, they raised an additional $2.8 million to scale operations, inventory, and hiring—bringing total funding to just over $3M.

They’ve remained focused on long-term sustainability over hyper-growth, and notably didn’t chase traditional VC rounds or rapid dilution early on.

Their Origin Story

Andrew Benin’s obsession began in southern Spain, where he lived with his wife’s family. He discovered murky, unfiltered, co-op olive oil—and couldn’t shake the taste. The idea was to bring that experience to the U.S. But he was initially headed toward a bougie import play: cheese, jamón, vinegar. It wasn’t until chefs and advisors convinced him to go mass-accessible that Graza’s true vision clicked.

Allen Dushi joined shortly after—he had a retail-first mindset and was clear: this had to be more than a Whole Foods brand. It had to work at Walmart.

Together, they bet on:

• Single-origin, single-varietal oils from Spain

• Functionally distinct SKUs for cooking vs finishing

• Squeeze bottle packaging that felt familiar, fun, and useful

Core Customer Base

Graza’s customer base spans:

• Home cooks who want better quality and usability

• Design-aware millennials who want shelf-stable staples to look good

• Busy families cooking dinner nightly

• Content creators in food who appreciate visual and tactile differentiation

It’s mass-premium in the best way—positioned between private label and ultra-luxe boutique oils.

How Did They Grow So Sustainably? (P&L View)

Graza’s early traction wasn’t luck—it was operational discipline and brand strategy built for real-world velocity. Here's what underpinned their sustainable growth:

1. No Paid Ads Until Month 10

• Graza launched in January 2022 and ran ad-free until October.

• First 9 months were powered by earned media and unpaid influencer content.

• CAC was effectively $0 until paid kicked in.

Once paid ads began:

• CAC via Meta hovered in the $18–24 range in early campaigns.

• They optimized for first-purchase payback within 30 days.

2. Channel Mix and Revenue Breakdown

• As of late 2023:

  • 60–65% revenue = Retail (Target, Whole Foods, Walmart)

  • 35–40% = DTC (website, subscriptions)

• Retail provides scale and ubiquity; DTC fuels margin, brand voice, and LTV.

3. Gross Margin Structure

• Estimated gross margins:

  • DTC: 60–65%

  • Retail: 40–45% (post-promo)

• Packaging costs are ~15–18% of COGS, mainly due to custom bottle mold and squeeze functionality.

4. Retail Launch Strategy: Trade Spend and Promotions

• No slotting fees at Whole Foods—Graza was inbound.

• Trade spend (TPR + demos + OIs) accounts for 10–12% of retail rev.

• Maintained pricing parity across channels to avoid channel conflict.

5. Inventory Financing & Supply Chain Strategy

• Early inventory was funded through upfront capital.

• By late 2022, Graza adopted rolling PO financing (via Clearco, Arc-type lenders).

• Production is seasonal (Spanish harvest), so they place large bulk orders and store regionally.

6. DTC Retention and Subscription Mechanics

• About 22–25% of DTC customers subscribe.

• Average reorder cycle: ~45 days.

• Retention boosted by clear SKU roles—users intuitively know when to reorder Sizzle vs Drizzle.

7. Team & Cost Discipline

• Ran lean for 12+ months—founders hand-filled bottles for early orders.

• Salaries were deferred; most capital went to inventory, ops, and brand.

• Hired slowly—Ops first, then CX, then Growth.

Key Milestones

• Jan 2022 – Graza launches DTC with Drizzle & Sizzle

• Feb 2022 – Hits $500K monthly revenue by Month 2

• Oct 2022 – Begins Meta ads, turns on paid media

• Dec 2022 – Sells out during holidays, sends famous apology email (WSJ covered it)

• 2023 – Expands into Whole Foods, Target, + 8,000 doors

• Early 2024 – Launches Frizzle (high-heat oil)

• Q4 2025 – Nearing 17,000 retail doors; passes 8-figure annual revenue

Influencer Marketing Mix

• Early seeding strategy with zero spend. Influencers posted due to packaging & product utility.

• Bottles appeared organically in videos from top recipe creators.

• Key channels: Instagram, TikTok, Substack newsletters

• Visual brand assets (green/yellow nozzle, squiggle font) created iconic recognition

Their Marketing X-Factor

Graza isn’t selling provenance. It’s selling participation.
Their site, packaging, and copy say: “This is your olive oil. Use it.”

They defied ecommerce best practices with:

• Oversized homepage video

• Sparse CTAs

• Story-first PDPs (not conversion-optimized ones)

They doubled down on vibe and storytelling—and it worked.
The brand also benefited from its viral apology email in late 2022, after shipping delays and quality issues. It generated goodwill and WSJ coverage.

Takeaways for Wellness Operators

1. Obsess over use-case clarity — Drizzle vs. Sizzle vs. Frizzle isn’t just fun—it drives repeat and understanding.

2. Don’t follow DTC dogma — Launching without Meta ads proved organic demand. Graza grew by hand-filling bottles and handwriting notes.

3. Brand voice builds real trust — Their apology email wasn’t optimized—it was honest. It converted better than any sales copy.

4. Invest early in design — A $230K fundraise mostly went to brand and packaging. That upfront visual IP pays dividends forever.

5. Operate like a food company, not a tech startup — Graza avoids hustle-culture theatrics. It’s a business built to last, not to flip.