Graza seeds 300 packages to food creators before its 2022 launch
Graza had no marketing budget, so it mailed bottles to Instagram food creators such as Justine Doiron and Molly Baz. Co-founder Andrew Benin says those 300 packages were its entire ad spend for eight months. After the January 11, 2022 launch, six months of inventory sold out within a day and Whole Foods called. First-year sales topped $4 million.
- Company
- Graza
- Year
- 2021-2022
- Outcome
- Mixed result
What they ran
Graza started with no marketing budget. Before launch, it mailed bottles to Instagram food creators such as Justine Doiron and Molly Baz so they could post about the oil. Benin told CNBC in its 2024 profile that the 300 packages made up the company's whole ad spend for its first eight months.
What happened
The oil went on sale on the Graza website on January 11, 2022. Benin says the company had raised enough money for about six months of operating with its launch inventory. Whole Foods called the next day. Sales passed $4 million in the first year and $19 million by the end of 2023. The company projects 2024 gross sales above $48 million.
What the account does not show
The profile does not say how many orders came from creator posts, so the sell-out and later revenue are not tied to the seeding. The source gives no baseline. Doiron and Baz each have hundreds of thousands of followers, so this case does not show results from small niche creators. Creators were also not the only channel, since the company's own interview with Benin names Suerte ATX as its first restaurant partner. The 2024 number is a company projection, not a result. Graza also hit packaging problems, and Benin sent an apology email to around 35,000 people.
Questions
How many packages did Graza send to influencers before launch?
Benin says Graza sent 300 packages, and that this was its entire advertising budget for its first eight months.
Which creators did Graza seed with free olive oil?
The CNBC profile names Instagram food creators Justine Doiron and Molly Baz, who each have hundreds of thousands of followers.
Did influencer seeding drive Graza's launch sell-out?
Launch inventory sold out within a day and Whole Foods called the next day, but the source does not attribute those results to the seeding.
Sources
- 31-year-old built a company that could bring in $48 million this year—all due to olive oil, CNBC, 2024-06-07.
- Casual Chats with Graza's Co-Founder, Andrew Benin, graza.co, 2021-12-10.