From Home-Made Smoothies to $200 million in Revenue: Daily Harvest’s Journey
Release Date: 07/15/2024
No Palm, No Problem: Fermenting the Future of Fat
Business for Good Podcast
Palm oil is everywhere—from food to cosmetics to biofuels—but its production is a leading cause of deforestation, habitat destruction, and greenhouse gas emissions. What if we could have all the benefits of palm oil without the downsides? Enter , a Dutch biotech startup using fermentation to produce a sustainable alternative to palm oil—without the need for palm trees. Instead of chopping down rainforests, they’re upcycling agricultural waste, feeding it to their specialty yeast, and brewing a fat with the same characteristics as high-end palm oil in the process. The company’s...
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Turning Air Into Butter: Savor’s Revolutionary Approach to Alternative Fats
Business for Good Podcast
What if the fat in your butter, cheese, or even burger could be made without animals, without plants, without fermentation, and without agriculture at all? That’s exactly what is doing. Using a groundbreaking process that transforms compounds like CO₂ and elements like hydrogen into rich, animal-free fats that can mimic what animal fat does, this California-based startup is rethinking how we produce and consume one of the most essential ingredients in food. In this episode, I sit down with Kathleen Alexander, cofounder and CEO of Savor, to dive into the science behind their...
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Cleaner Air from Better Plants: The Neoplants Story
Business for Good Podcast
We spend about 90 percent of our lives indoors, yet the air inside our homes and offices is often far more polluted than the air outside. Volatile organic compounds—better known as VOCs—are constantly emitted by furniture, cleaning products, and even the very walls around us. Formaldehyde, benzene, toluene—these chemicals sound like something you’d find in an industrial park, but they’re actually in the places where we eat, sleep, and work. Well, what if nature could give us a hand here? What if plants, and even microbes, could be supercharged to clean our air at a level that...
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Helping Alt-Protein Startups Survive the Winter: Ahimsa’s Consolidation Approach
Business for Good Podcast
It’s no secret that the alternative protein startups are struggling these days. A combination of lower revenue, intense competition, and less available venture capital is leading to a contraction in the sector, with countless alt-meat and dairy companies conducting layoffs, declaring bankruptcy, and even folding altogether. Enter , a newly formed investment group acquiring promising but distressed plant-based brands. This isn’t charity, though. Ahimsa's belief is that, with their consolidation strategy and pooled resources, these brands that are built on a strong underlying product...
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Subtracting the Bean from Coffee: The Minus Story
Business for Good Podcast
Did you know that it takes 140 liters of water to make a single cup of coffee? Turns out that coffee, as far as plant crops are concerned, has a fairly heavy footprint on the planet. And it’s getting harder to farm, with climate change altering where and how many coffee beans can even be grown. You’ve heard of making meat without chickens, and milk without cows. Well, you can also now get coffee without beans. This episode’s guest is the CEO of , a startup reimagining how you enjoy your daily brew. Minus has developed an innovative way to replicate the rich flavor, aroma, and experience...
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Can a Problem as Big as Climate Be Solved by a Solution as Small as a Microbe?
Business for Good Podcast
In this episode we’re diving deep into the fascinating world of carbon recycling with a trailblazer who’s reshaping how we think about waste and sustainability. Our guest is Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of —a company on a mission to transform our biggest environmental challenge into an economic opportunity. LanzaTech is pioneering a process that takes industrial emissions—the kind of harmful gases that typically contribute to climate change—and recycles them into valuable products like fuels, fabrics, and everyday consumer goods. The concept might sound like science fiction, but it’s...
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From Harvard Business School to Rural Africa: Nicole Poindexter’s Journey to Advance Clean Energy Access
Business for Good Podcast
In this episode we’re taking you on a journey to some of the most remote corners of West Africa, where energy access is scarce, and innovation is changing lives. Our guest is Nicole Poindexter, the founder and CEO of , a company that's bringing clean, reliable solar power to off-grid communities in countries like Sierra Leone, Benin, and Liberia. Nicole and her team are doing something extraordinary: building solar mini-grids that provide electricity to tens of thousands of people who otherwise rely on polluting and expensive energy sources—or have no power at all. And, impressively,...
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From Korea to the US: UNLIMEAT Puts its Signature on the Plant-Based Meat Movement
Business for Good Podcast
Most plant-based meats in the US have centered around American staples like hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and sausages. But there’s a world of meat consumption out there, and some of the most popular meat dishes are ones many Americans may have never even tried. In recent years, South Korea has seen great success exporting its culture around the world, with mega-popular K-dramas like and , K-pop like , and yes, K-food like . Now, South Korean plant-based meat player is bringing its twist on K-meat to thousands of US supermarkets. Already, the company’s Korean-style alt-meats...
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Bringing Clean Energy to African Businesses
Business for Good Podcast
Imagine trying to run a small business without a constant supply of energy. With electricity intermittency, you may not have access to wifi, a phone, a computer, a way to service your customers and more. One way to solve this problem is to have constant access to fossil fuels to run diesel generators, but this is an expensive and dirty way to operate, creating unsustainable costs for the business and the planet. Enter , a South African company specializing in the design and production of advanced lithium-ion battery storage solutions for residential, commercial, and industrial applications....
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One Good Human: Eric Schulze on Cultivated Meat’s Past and Future
Business for Good Podcast
Eric Schulze loves the intersection of science and food so much that after many years as an FDA regulator, he decided in 2016 to leave the federal government to join the then-nascent Memphis Meats (now ). He’d go on to spend the next seven years working to advance the cultivated meat pioneer’s science, technology, communications, and ultimate regulatory approval by the agency for which he used to work. Now, Eric’s charting a new path for himself, founding , a consultancy aimed at assisting and even launching biotech startups seeking to bring their new innovations to the world. In...
info_outlineImagine thinking it would be a good idea to try to help people eat more fruits and vegetables, so you start making whole foods smoothies for your friends and family. Soon you’re selling them to more people than you personally know. Next thing you know, you’re running an all-vegan frozen meal company with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, a billion dollar-plus valuation, and hundreds of thousands of customers all enjoying your whole foods plant-based meals.
That’s the true story of Rachel Drori, founder of Daily Harvest, whose success with the company landed her on Forbes’ list of America’s Wealthiest Self-Made Women.
But it wasn’t all success along the way. Two years ago, after the company had achieved its unicorn status, tragedy struck. Dozens of people were sickened by one of their products, and it wasn’t clear why. Some people were even hospitalized. In addition to the serious suffering of some of its customers, the crisis captivated national headlines, threatening to put an end to the Daily Harvest story after so much growth and success. Eventually, the root cause of the problem was found: A little-known ingredient called tara flour (not to be confused with taro flour) caused a seemingly allergic reaction in a small number of people—and policies were put in place to prevent a recurrence.
Yet, the story didn’t end there.
In the two years since the tragedy, Daily Harvest has since branched out away from just direct-to-consumer sales and is now in thousands of supermarkets too, making it easier than ever for consumers to choose healthy plant-based meals. And as you’ll hear in this conversation with Rachel, they’ve even achieved that lucrative land known as profitability.
So, how did this all happen, and what’s next for Daily Harvest? Listen to the episode to find out.
Discussed in this episode
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Rachel recommends Brené Brown’s Power of Vulnerability TED Talk—apparently 65 million viewers agree.
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Some Daily Harvest meals are about $5 per serving.
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Rachel landed on Forbes’ list of America’s Wealthiest Self-Made Women
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Our past episode with Doug Evans of Juicero.
More about Rachel Drori, Founder of Daily Harvest
Rachel Drori is taking care of food, so food can take care of you. As the Founder of Daily Harvest, Rachel and the company are on a mission to improve human and planetary health by making it convenient to eat more sustainably grown, organic fruits and vegetables every day.
Since launching the business out of the trunk of her car in 2015, more than 20 million pounds of sustainably grown fruits and vegetables have been delivered to consumers' doorsteps while supporting farmers’ transition to regenerative and organic practices.
Drori founded Daily Harvest with just 12 smoothies. The company, now valued at over $1 billion, offers meals and snacks for any time of day. In 2023, the company built on its successful direct-to-consumer business with its launch into national retail. Daily Harvest is now found in the freezer section of grocery stores across the country.
Prior to Daily Harvest, Drori spent years honing her skills as a customer-centric marketing executive, leading teams at Gilt Groupe, American Express and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. She has been named one of Inc.’s "Female Founders 100". Drori graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. She lives in NYC with her husband and two sons.