In a category where the bottle has not meaningfully changed since the 1980s, Graza put its extra virgin in a green plastic squeeze tube and asked home cooks to keep it next to the stove instead of in a dark cabinet. That single packaging decision, paired with single-origin Picual olives from Jaén, Spain [New Hope Network], is the wedge. It is also the reason a brand founded in October 2020 [CNBC, Jun 2024] is now stocked at Target, Costco and Walmart [Inside Retail, 2025].
Co-founder Andrew Benin traces the idea to a December 2019 trip to his now-wife's native Spain [CNBC, Jun 2024]. He launched Graza with Allen Dushi [CNBC, Jun 2024]. The product line splits olive oil by use case: Drizzle for finishing, Sizzle for everyday cooking [Klaviyo], and Frizzle for high heat [LinkedIn]. Refills come in 100% recyclable cans [Graza.co].
The bet
Graza is selling convenience and frequency. The brand reportedly broke $500,000 in revenue inside its first six months [Klaviyo] and did roughly $5 million in sales in year one. By the end of 2024, the company expected over $48 million in gross sales [Taste Radio, 2024].
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| First 6 months revenue | $500K |
| Year 1 sales | $5M |
| 2024 expected gross sales | $48M |
Graza has raised roughly $1.1 million in seed funding [Crunchbase, Jun 2022]. Headcount sits around 40 [Inc.com].
Why it could be big
The global olive oil market is large, fragmented, and structurally inflationary. Drought in Spain has pushed wholesale prices to multi-year highs. Graza's defensibility is the shelf presence of the green bottle and the frequency of repurchase that the squeeze format encourages. The company is also testing whether the brand stretches. Graza Mayo launched in three SKUs (Original, Fancy, Garlic Aioli) at Whole Foods, Central Market, Kroger, Publix and Sprouts [Perishable News]. A Pinot Meunier called Nice Wine arrived through a partnership with Limited Addition Wines and MYSA Natural Wine [Good Housekeeping].
Team and traction
Benin and Dushi have appeared on podcasts including The Cashmere Fund and Good Money with Derrick Kinney. The email list reached at least 35,544 subscribers by January 2023 [Business Insider, Jan 2023]. At roughly $48 million in gross sales [Taste Radio, 2024] across approximately 40 employees [Inc.com], revenue per employee lands near $1.2 million.
The honest counterfactual
The bear case is that olive oil is a commodity, and once incumbents ship squeeze bottles, Graza's packaging moat evaporates. Retail shelf space is a knife fight, and the same Target and Costco placements that signal momentum [Inside Retail, 2025] also expose the brand to slotting fees and promotional pressure. The bull answer, supported by the revenue ramp [Taste Radio, 2024] and the Mayo and Nice Wine extensions [Perishable News; Good Housekeeping], is that Graza is racing to become a multi-SKU pantry brand before the packaging gets copied.
What to watch
The next twelve months should answer two questions. First, does the Mayo line hit the kind of velocity in conventional grocery that justifies a third and fourth category extension. Second, does Graza raise a priced Series A on the strength of the 2024 revenue figure, or does it stay capital-light. The one to watch on the shelf is California Olive Ranch, the incumbent Graza most directly has to beat.