Blooming Mushroom Gardens. Two mushroom gardens cultivated in
2012
Oakland, California.
BACK TOGrow-at-home THE mushroom ROOTS garden
LOHAS Conference 2012. Cofounder Alejandro Velez, team member Ed Rainey, Co-founder Nikhil Arora chat with mushroom expert, Paul Stamets about the future of green business.
WASTE INTO WAGES
Inspired by the idea of turning waste into wages, Back to the Roots was founded by Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora during their last semester at UC Berkeley. During a business ethics class, the pair learned that you could grow mushrooms on recycled coffee grounds. The entrepreneurs decided to forego careers in investment banking for a life as full-time urban mushroom farmers! Back to the Roots continues to divert waste from Bay Area landfills, grown their team and sell their grow-at-home mushroom kit at more than 1,500 retailers nationwide including Whole Foods and Home Depot. Our founders, Nikhil and Alex have been named among Forbes 30 under 30, BusinessWeek’s Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25 and CNN’s 10 Next Gen Entrepreneurs. Alejandro and Nikhil are working to build a movement to connect everyone with their food again-- green thumb or not!
Back to the Roots believes that we can make money and do good. The company continues to grow and accomplish more than just the bottom line. Back to the Roots has: ★ Diverted and reused more than 1 million pounds of coffee grounds from Bay Area landfills in 2011, ★ Reached over 10,000 elementary school students through our “Inspire the Next” Facebook campaign, ★ Sustained 10 East Bay school gardens and, ★ Created 31 urban, green collar jobs. in the West Oakland community.
Company Mission:
“To make food personal through the passionate development of tools that educate and inspire, one family at a time.”
Recommended green gift by:
“Nikhil and Alex are proving that the up-andcoming youth are becoming extremely conscious of their environment. I’m thrilled to be working with them on expanding their vision further.” Alice Waters, Founder, Chez Panisse
AWARDS 2012 ★
Sofi Gold Winner: Outstanding Food Gift
★
LOHAS Business Plan Competition Winner
★
Oxford Saïd Global Entrepreneur Challenge Winner
★
UC Berkeley Bplan People's Choice Winners
★
Mother Nature Network - Top 30 Fresh Thinkers
★
Poder 30 Under 30
★
Forbes 30 Under 30
2011 ★
Wall Street Journal Finalist, Most Innovative Small Business
★
CNN 10 Generation Next Entrepreneurs
★
John Muir Business of the Year Conservation Award
★
Oakland Indie Award: Innovative Newbie
★
Miller Coors Urban Business Plan Competition Winners
2010 ★
BusinessWeek Top 25 Social Entrepreneurs
★
SVN Innovation Award Winners
★
Hitachi Foundation/Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneurs Winner
★
Wal-Mart Better Living Competition, Western Regional Winners
2009 ★ ★ ★ ★
BusinessWeek's Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25 BBC / Newsweek Social Venture World Challenge, Top 3 Finalist UCLA Green Conference Top 25 Sustainable Company UC Berkeley Social Venture Competition, Winner