How Dorm-Room Startup 'Back To The Roots' Broke Into Chez Panisse, Whole Foods and Nordstrom

For Back to the Roots cofounders, Nikhil Aurora and Alejandro Velez, it all started in a business ethics class at UC Berkeley. The two learned they could grow gourmet mushrooms off of coffee grounds, one of America’s largest, urban waste streams. After reading articles and studying YouTube videos, the pair set up ten test buckets in Velez’s fraternity kitchen. They toted the single, successful crop to Whole Foods and Alice Waters of Chez Panisse.