Brightland is frequently cited as a direct-to-consumer success story. In under five years, Brightland’s photogenic olive oil bottles have not only become a hit on social media, but also with food editors, and even Oprah herself.
Founder Aishwarya Iyer never expected to go into the food industry. She had built her career in beauty, tech, and startups doing PR and communications. “I never thought that I would build a business in food and I never thought I would actually be an entrepreneur,” she says.
Aishwarya grew up in a family of home cooks, but it wasn’t until she rediscovered cooking as an adult that she became obsessed with olive oil: how it tastes, how it’s made, and the history behind it.
She noticed how confusing it is for many grocery shoppers to differentiate olive oils. “There’s got to be something here where we can build a brand that people feel really excited by and people want to put it out on their countertop,” Aishwarya says.
Here’s what Aishwarya did to create one of the most-loved olive oil brands and how she’s expanded the product line to include honeys and vinegars.
Taking a risk and showing herself compassion
Aishwarya was apprehensive at first about starting Brightland because she didn’t have a background in food or an MBA. But ultimately, she decided to be compassionate with herself and listen to the “inner child” that helped steer her toward pursuing her passion for food.
She also got comfortable with redefining success and the risks involved with entrepreneurship. Her thinking was Brightland “could either turn into something huge or maybe I can sell a thousand bottles in eight months and I’ll be really proud of myself.”
Learning about the olive oil industry
Before she launched her olive oil, Aishwarya took classes at the UC Davis Olive Center. She wanted to be educated on what made a good olive oil. And, to learn about the local olive oil industry, she spoke to small, family-run farms around California.
That’s how she learned most people didn’t know what good olive oil tasted like, because most olive oils at the grocery store are fairly old. The olive oil most consumers were used to, “may not have the bright tasting notes that a real fresh extra virgin olive oil actually has,” Aishwarya says.
The realization olive oil didn’t have to taste neutral helped Aishwarya hone in on the product she wanted to bring to market. She describes Brightland olive oil as, “really pungent, peppery, and grassy, and it tastes like something that’s alive.”
Expanding the product line
Brightland brought its mission of creating fresh, great-tasting pantry staples and working with high-integrity, small farms to create new products as well. The company found honey and vinegar producers in the US to complement its existing olive oils. And Brightland put a new spin on its hero product by creating a pizza oil that Aishwarya says it can’t keep in stock.
She explains the key to Brightland’s success has been forging its own path and tuning out the noise about when and how to expand. “I didn’t look at what other entrepreneurs who were ahead of me were doing,” she says. “I’m a big believer that silence and stillness actually give clarity.”
To learn more about Aishwarya’s journey to becoming an entrepreneur, listen to her full interview on Shopify Masters.
