Yesterday I came across Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30 list of America’s Coolest Young Entrepreneurs. Apparently I wasn’t cool enough this year, but I’ll leave my hard feelings aside because this list is an amazing source for interesting companies with exciting jobs. While the list certainly skews towards tech, my favorite from the list is as old school as you can get. It’s a fungus startup–mushrooms to be exact. Most people stick to store bought mushrooms because eating some mushroom that you found growing in your yard could be deadly (or psychedelic), but store bought mushrooms often leave something to be desired–especially when they get slimy. Back to the Roots is an Oakland, CA based company that allows you to enjoy the freshly picked mushroom experience with a product that you can buy in a supermarket.

Go Back to Your Roots

Back to the Roots’ flagship product is the grow-at-home mushroom kit, which “lets you grow up to 1 1/2 lbs of gourmet, tasty oyster mushrooms per box” in 10 days. A single box can yield up to 4 crops, and all you have to do is set it on a window sill and mist twice daily. What’s even cooler is that the soil that the mushrooms grow out of is made entirely recycled coffee grounds. It’s fun, it’s fresh, it’s healthy, and it’s green, but most importantly, it’s delicious. (Interesting fact: Back to the Roots is on track to divert 3.6 million pounds of coffee grounds from landfills in 2012.) Did I forget to mention that they’re on track to do more than $5 million in revenue this year? How can you not love this business? So go check out their Jobs page. While they don’t have any positions at their headquarters in Oakland right now, they are looking for Regional Business Development Leads in New York, NY; Washington, DC; and the Pacific Northwest. They also have part-time Brand Ambassador positions in “Bay Area & Sacramento NorCal, San Diego & Los Angeles SoCal, Santa Barbara & San Luis Obispo CA, Irvine & Orange County CA, Portland OR, Seattle WA, Vancouver B.C., Salt Lake City UT, Scottsdale AZ, Denver & Boulder CO, Chicago IL, Alburquerque NM, Houston TX, New Orleans LA, Atlanta GA, Birmingham AL, St. Louis MO, Minneapolis MN, Raleigh NC, Knoxville TN, Tampa/St. Pete FL, South Florida.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• BackToTheRoots.com
• Jobs at Back to the Roots
• About Back to the Roots
• Back to the Roots’ FAQ
• Back to the Roots’ Blog
• Back to the Roots in the News

Have you grown your own mushrooms yet?

We've identified Back to the Roots as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• agriculture
• Alabama
• all employers
• Arizona
• business development
• California
• Canada
• Colorado
• Florida
• food
• Georgia
• green
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• marketing
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• Oregon
• sales
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Washington
• Washington DC

---

Jobs Near You

---