35: Ismail Salhi & Johanna Hartzheim
On this week’s episode presented by Busey Bank, Josh sits down (remotely) with some wonderful folks – Johanna Hartzheim and Ismail Salhi – the team behind Wildgrain. Wildgrain is the first bake-from-frozen artisan bread, pastry and pasta subscription box. Founded in early 2020, Wildgrain has grown exponentially in the last 3 years, has 15,000+ 5-star reviews and was recently voted the #1 subscription box in the country (a pretty crowded field) in USA Today. Full disclosure, Josh’s bakery – Companion – is one of many artisan shops across the country that are vendor/partners baking products for Wildgrain’s nearly 60,000 active members. They talk about the challenges in scaling a business that relies on outside manufacturers, the power of non-traditional marketing, and their aggressive plans for continued expansion. They’ve passed through milestones of growth in a matter of months that many businesses take years to experience. So many lessons to learn for all-sized companies in this one and their honesty and transparency is super refreshing. If you’re interested in a monthly subscription, be sure to check out all of their offerings at Wildgrain.com.
