OAKLAND, Calif., May 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Back To The Roots (BTTR), an Oakland-based green company that recycles coffee and spent grain waste into planting material to grow mushrooms, recently celebrated its new larger location with a warehouse warming celebration on May 12. More than 300 Bay Area residents and community leaders supported co-owners and founders, Alejandro Velez (left) and Nikhil Arora as they opened their doors.
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110523/CG07439)
BTTR was a recent recipient of the grand-prize $50,000 grant for the MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneurs Series (MUES) national business plan competition. This award made it possible for the business to move to its larger, 10,000-square-foot facility in West Oakland, allowing them to create jobs and help anchor long-term economic development in Oakland.
Founded in 2009 by the two University of California-Berkeley graduates in their fraternity house kitchen, BTTR takes used coffee grinds and beer hops and converts them into kits for consumers to grow mushrooms. The kits, sold at Whole Foods and Peet's Coffee and Tea stores, help families to grow more than 400,000 pounds of fresh food annually. BTTR expects to divert one million pounds of coffee grounds waste in 2011.
Learn more about Back To The Roots by visiting its website at www.themushroomkit.com. For more information on the MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneurs business plan competition, visit www.millercoorsmues.com.
PHOTO BY NOAH BERGER/COURTESY FLOWERS COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
SOURCE MillerCoors
