Name: Burlap & Barrel

Legal Name: Burlap & Barrel

Location: New York, NY

Founded: 2016

Founder(s): Ethan Frisch, Ori Zohar

Website: https://www.burlapandbarrel.com

Social Media Following: 180 Followers on Twitter, 1.2K Likes on Facebook, 6015 Followers on Instagram

INDUSTRY – FoodTech

Projections: $250B by 2022 (Source: Forbes)

Introduction

Burlap & Barrel is an online commerce platform that sells high-quality, ethically-sourced spices to professional chefs and cooking enthusiasts. Burlap & Barrel sources these spices directly from smallholder farms. The company and its founders have a markedly humanitarian bent and claim to focus particularly on disrupting existing supply chains that disadvantage smallholder farmers. This way, they seek to create a more equitable ecosystem that benefits everyone involved in the process of growing spices.

The Product

Burlap & Barrel sells over 40 single-origin, “mostly organically grown” spices sourced from around the world, including Egyptian coriander seeds, wild Icelandic kelp, Spanish smoked pimenton paprika, Afghani saffron and cumin, and silk chili. They offer a variety of gift baskets and collections, from between $45 to $140, and individual bottles of spices starting from $6.99.

Their products are available for customers to purchase on their website, and the company also sells spices wholesale to grocery stores, spice shops, and restaurants across the United States, with options for purchasers to work with Burlap & Barrel on customized labeling and packaging, custom sourcing projects, and various purchase size options.

Origin and Founding Team

Ethan Frisch is an activist and entrepreneur who holds a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Conflict Studies and Education and Social Change from the City University of New York, and a Master’s Degree in Violence, Conflict, and Development from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. He’s served as an adjunct lecturer at the City College of New York and an instructor with the Experiment in International Living’s Leadership Institute. He had served on the Board of Directors of the Bond Street Theatre and Restaurant After Hours, and is also on the Organizing Committee of the Queens International Night Market.

Ori Zohar is a Baltimore-based entrepreneur with a background in business development and strategy. After graduating from the University of Maryland, he has been a guest lecturer at the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, NYU, and the University of Maryland. Previously, he also founded a cap-and-gown company whilst in college, and was the founder of Sindeo, a venture-backed startup that provided homebuyers with low-cost mortgages.

Performance and Trends

While not much is known about the company’s current performance trends and forecasts, they have, in the three years since they were founded, begun lucrative partnerships providing spices to restaurants and stores like Happy Healthy Human snacks and Wim Yogurt.