Whole Foods Market: Beyond The Board

In this episode of Beyond the Board, host Sonya Gafsi Oblisk sits down with Kimono Mom founder Moe to explore her remarkable journey, from her early career as a geisha to becoming a global content creator, and how her passion for Japanese home cooking ultimately led to a product on Whole Foods Market shelves.
After experiencing postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter, Moe turned to YouTube as a way to share her story and reconnect with her love of cooking. Since then, she has built a community of more than 2 million followers across 190 countries and has traveled throughout the U.S., visiting over 100 Whole Foods Market stores and sharing her Umami sauce. This inspiring conversation on entrepreneurship and motherhood is one you won't want to miss.
At a glance:
1:03 – Art of Geisha
3:35 – The start of content creation
5:00 – Beginning of Kimono Mom Umami Sauce
6:09 – Cooking with umami sauce
7:02 – Discovering Whole Foods Market
9:15 – One road trip to 100 WFM stores
12:09 – Redefining success as a mother
13:00 – Lightning Round

In this episode of Beyond the Board, host Sonya Gafsi Oblisk sits down with Viraj Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gotham Greens, inside one of the company's original rooftop greenhouses — perched right on top of the Whole Foods Market store in Brooklyn. Surrounded by fresh basil and rows of leafy greens, Viraj shares how a fascination with the farm-to-table movement and a background in environmental engineering sparked this idea: leverage climate-controlled greenhouses to grow fresh produce year-round in the heart of New York City.
From a small demonstration-scale greenhouse in Brooklyn to 13 facilities across nine states and nearly 700 employees, Gotham Greens has redefined what it means to be a local grower on a national scale. Viraj opens up about the "three-legged stool" that built the business: brand storytelling, proven greenhouse technology, and a supply chain rooted in proximity to consumers, and how the relationship with Whole Foods Market helped fuel that growth. He also dives into the staggering environmental impact of their model, including saving 300 million gallons of water annually and producing 30 times more per acre than traditional farming, all while delivering pesticide-free greens to stores within 24 hours of harvest.
Whether you're in the food industry or simply someone who cares about where your salad comes from, this episode is a fresh take on innovation, sustainability, and the future of food.
At a glance: 
1:20: Inspiration for Gotham Greens
2:35: The Business of Food
4:00: "Aha Moment" and Conscience Capitalism
6:00: Balancing Innovation and Quality
8:25: The relationship with Whole Foods Market
12:05: Year-long growing techniques
13:58: The importance of water efficiency
15:09: Addressing food insecurity
16:30: Lightning round

From starting his career developing the iPhone to revolutionizing home technology with Nest, Matt Rogers has always been driven by a mission to bring beautiful design and intelligence to everyday problems. In this episode of Beyond the Board, Mill co-founder Matt Rogers sits down with Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel to discuss his latest venture: food waste. Inspired by his own observations during COVID and trained by Steve Jobs to see details in everyday life, Matt recognized that food waste, responsible for 10% of global emissions and $400 billion in wasted food annually, was a problem worth solving. Now, Mill is bringing the same design excellence and customer obsession he learned at Apple to create an easy-to-use, sleek solution that makes reducing food waste as simple as using a trash can.
This conversation explores how two mission-driven companies – Mill and Whole Foods Market – are working together to combat food waste. Matt shares insights on building missionary teams, the importance of starting with the hardest problem (the home), and the impact of bringing Mill Commercial into Whole Foods Market stores in 2027. From Apple's culture of customer obsession to Mill's vision of a world without waste, this episode reveals how great mission combined with great people creates transformative change.
At a glance: 
1:11 – The impact of Steve Jobs and Apple 
3:45 – Entrepreneurial spirit
6:30 – Being customer obsessed  
8:15 – Inspiration behind Nest
12:34 – Early days of Mill
16:28 – Tackling the challenges of composting
19:07 – The importance and ease of design
20:58 – The mobile app
21:41 – Mill x Whole Foods Market 2027
25:00 – The future of food waste
30:00 – Secret Sauce of Mill
32:30 – Lightning round

On this episode of Beyond the Board, Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel sits down with Andrew Benin, co-founder and CEO of Graza, live from Expo West. Together, they explore how Andrew has disrupted the olive oil industry through unique packaging, product obsession, and authenticity.
From a sensory experience while visiting his wife's family in Spain to becoming the fourth-largest extra virgin olive oil brand in America, Andrew opens up about the challenges of convincing traditional olive oil producers to embrace unconventional packaging, the shower moment that sparked the squeeze bottle idea, and how he saw opportunity when others saw difficulty.
The conversation explores the risks and rewards of rapid growth, being discovered early on by Whole Foods Market and why Graza waited two years to expand beyond olive oil – hello, mayo! Don't miss this candid conversation about innovation, intuition and building something different in a crowded category.
At a glance:
0:55 – Expo West
1:58 – The beginning of Graza
6:30 – The squeeze bottle shower moment
12:26 - Sizzle vs Drizzle
18:29 – Scaling through meaning
20:34 – Expanding the supply chain
22:06 – "Aha Moment"
23:27 – First time seeing the product on shelf
25:22 - Lessons learned
27:10 – Secret sauce of Graza
30:50 – The Whole Foods Market Experience
32:42 – Exploring Graza Mayo
37:50 – Customer Feedback
39:47 – Brand collaborations
41:46 – What's next?
43:52 – Defining success  
45:45 – Lightning Round

In this special episode filmed at Expo West 2026, we sit down with Meghan Luck, co-founder of Fable Fish, to explore how a childhood spent on Alaskan fishing boats transformed into a mission-driven snack brand. As part of 2026's Year of the Female Farmer trend, Meghan represents a new generation of female entrepreneurs reimagining traditional food systems by turning her family's smoked salmon recipe into an everyday snack that makes wild, nutrient-dense protein more accessible.
Fable Fish isn't just about functional snacking, it's also solving a problem in the seafood industry. When Bristol Bay's 2022 sockeye run reached a historic 79 million fish, Meghan and her dad, a longtime Alaskan fisherman, saw an opportunity to add value to underutilized byproduct: the perfectly good "necks and tails" that didn't meet retail specs for center-cut fillets. Meghan shares how Whole Foods Market's Local and Emerging Accelerator (LEAP) program has provided a community of founders facing similar challenges from packaging decisions to scaling sustainably. Her advice? Trust your gut, never cut corners on quality, and surround yourself with people who know what you don't.
At a glance: 
00:46 – Inspiration for Fable Fish
02:32 – Historical Bristol Bay sockeye run
03:32 – Salmon byproduct
06:12 – Early iterations of product development
07:08 – Career history and evolution
11:45 – Whole Foods Market LEAP Program
16:10 – Business challenges
19:50 – Backstory on Fable Fish packaging
 21:03 – How customers are consuming the product
22:58 – What is sockeye salmon?
26:50 – Meeting customers where they are
27:50 – Where Meghan hopes to see Fable Fish in 5-10 years
31:54 – Impactful drivers for Success
33:40 – Family ties
35:24 – Building the brand and responsibly scaling
38:51 – Delightful customer stories
40:26 – Lightning round