How Greg Vetter Built a Multimillion-Dollar Business

Chief Advertiser

Greg Vetter is the Founder of Home Grown Brand Accelerator, which empowers emerging entrepreneurs. He is also the former CEO of Tessemae's, which he co-founded with his brothers to bring their mother’s salad dressing recipe to market. Under Greg’s leadership, Tessemae's became the #1 organic salad dressing brand in the refrigerated aisle space. He also co-founded Alta Fresh Foods, a company revolutionizing the salad dressing industry with innovative processes, and is the author of Undressed, which recounts the challenges of building Tessemae's.

In this episode…

Turning a homemade recipe into a national brand is a passionate entrepreneurial endeavor, but scaling it comes with unexpected challenges. From breaking into grocery stores to navigating supply chain crises and investor disputes, the path to long-term sustainability is rarely straightforward. How do you grow a business from scratch, build brand loyalty, and handle setbacks without losing everything?

Pioneering entrepreneur Greg Vetter went from cold-calling grocery stores with no formal company to building the #1 organic salad dressing brand. He emphasizes trusting your instincts, creating authentic connections with customers, and using grassroots marketing to establish a brand. Although Greg leveraged influencer partnerships and authentic, unified storytelling to build his brand, investor conflicts ultimately led to its downfall. By remaining positive and being transparent about the realities of entrepreneurship, Greg demonstrates the importance of resilience and adaptability.

In this episode of Chief Advertiser, Samir Balwani hosts Greg Vetter, Founder of Home Grown Brand Accelerator, about the highs and lows of building a business from the ground up. Greg shares his experiences with grassroots marketing, the impact of his brand’s major advertising campaigns, and lessons from scaling a product into a national brand.