Meet Oishii, a company created by MBA graduates Hiroki Koga and Brendan Somerville. The company specializes in providing restaurants in New York City with the highest quality of strawberries. Koga and Somerville initially tested out the reception for their berries by importing a suitcase of the fruits from Japan. They wanted to know if the chefs would pay for berries like theirs, which tasted like candy and melted on the first chew, and how frequently, if they were available year-round, from a farm less than an hour away.
Upon realizing that there was a potential market for the strawberries they imported, the two decided to find a way to farm these berries for their business. They used the method of vertical farming, which employs carefully controlled artificial environments that are mostly used for growing leafy greens. As to why the media calls Oishii ‘the Tesla of strawberries,’ it’s because their business model resembles the popular electronic company’s: they start with a luxury product before moving to mass market. Learn more about Oishii here.
Image credit: Oishii