A $700 Startup Delivering Organic Groceries Grew Into a $26 Million Business
3 min read · RealCase summary
David Gersenson started Door to Door Organics, an online organic produce home-delivery service, in 1997 with $700, running it out of a garage in Upper Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and breaking down cardboard boxes himself for warehouse space. He relied purely on word-of-mouth marketing, avoided commercial customers to sidestep competition, and personally handled customer service, billing, and some deliveries -- staying profitable within two years despite minimal staff and delaying any hiring until he had several hundred customers.
"I was breaking down the numbers as I was breaking down the boxes, and I knew this thing was going to take off," he said. He relocated the business to Boulder, Colorado in 2004, where he built direct relationships with local farmers and created an in-house delivery fleet to cut reliance on third-party logistics. When revenue passed $3 million in 2010, he brought in consultant Chad Arnold as CEO.
By 2013, sixteen years after the $700 start, revenue had reached $26 million, with the company projecting more than $40 million ahead.
Key takeaways
- ›Started with roughly $700 in initial capital delivering organic produce boxes
- ›Built the business around a subscription-style home delivery model for organic groceries
- ›Grew to $26 million in annual revenue
Original source
Read the original (Entrepreneur)
Next story →
A $500 Startup Budget Turned Into a $3.9 Million Business for The Kingston Group
More Business stories
A Nurse Anesthetist Made Star Wars Quilts for His Sons — The Kit Company Sold $1.25 Million in a Year
Oklahoma City nurse anesthetist Mike O'Dell, who earns $240,000 a year, started Legit Kits in 2020 after quilting blankets for his sons; in 2024 it sold $1.25 million online while he worked on it one day a week.
From $5.15-an-Hour Fast Food to a $1.1 Million Tech Salary — He Retired at 39 With $3.5 Million
Jamal Robinson worked minimum-wage fast food jobs, started his career in the power industry, switched into tech in 2013, climbed from $135,000 to more than $1.1 million a year, and retired at 39 with about $3.5 million.
She Left Corporate Training for a $1,000 Card-Game Idea — It Now Sells $1.71 Million a Year on Amazon
After years training managers at companies including Deloitte and Cisco, Jenny Woo launched emotional-intelligence card games in 2018 with $1,000 of savings; by 42 they brought in $1.71 million a year on Amazon at an estimated 40% margin.