d established, somewhat by accident, a career in the fashion industry as the vice president of Jachs, a New York-based menswear brand. However, for as many exciting and skill-building opportunities Dushi was able to take on with Jachs, he never quite grew to love the fashion retail sector.  “I was just so excited to participate in the growth and have an impact on that growth, but fashion was not something I was interested in. I was interested in the business and its operations, but never the product. Andrew Benin had always felt the same way, working on products that he was not too passionate about.” When Benin approached him about launching an olive oil brand together, Dushi jumped at the opportunity. Within just two weeks of Benin pitching the idea for Graza, Dushi put in his notice at Jachs and dived straight into pre-launch prep.  Today, Benin and Dushi have built a $48 million olive oil brand empire, stocked by big-box retailers including Whole Foods and Target. Inside Retail connected with Dushi to discuss the nature of running a company with a close friend and the hard-to-manage balance of being a father and a brand founder.  Inside Retail: Looking back to four years ago, was there any way that you expected to have a million-dollar product on your hands? What were your initial expectations?   Allen Dushi: That was definitely not our expectation. What we have built is way bigger than we could have ever projected. What we did expect was that we would be successful.  We were confident in our product and its differentiation from others on the market. As a brand, we believe that we’re delivering a better quality product at an approachable price, and that’s one of the most important things at the end of the day. If you can get people to try and trust a product, you’ll have a good business on your hands. With the rest of it, we were already experienced with how to talk to retailers and how to get products on the shelf. At the end of the day, we really believed in our product offering, in that we were doing something unique and better than what was out there, and the results speak for themselves.  IR: With co-founders of a brand, it’s often a marriage of sorts. You have to work incredibly well with one another to ensure a company’s success. What do you think it is about your relationship with your co-founder, Andrew Benin, that clicks into place, like with olive oil and vinegar on a salad?  AD: I think we both had the same vision for the kind of life we wanted. We didn’t want to be the type of founders to be giving TED talks or things like that.  While we obviously have to support the business through press and with conferences and things of that nature, with both of us, it was all in service of Graza. Never in the service of Andrew or myself, we didn’t want that. Also, we were both from New York, starting our families and just have a very open and healthy relationship with one another; there are no egos in the room. We have both dug each other out of our own individual spirals about things potentially going wrong. Luckily, we are usually spiraling at different times, so we can be there for one another to help the other out.  IR: How do you find balance between running a company that is still in its early stages, especially compared to other more established brands on the market, while maintaining your sanity? AD: It’s impossible, or at least for me it’s very, very hard. It helps to have a good, stable partner at home, my wife, for support.  My son was just three months old when I started with Graza and now he’s almost four years old. Having a three-year-old and running Graza both require a consuming amount of attention every day, which can mean that you sacrifice other parts of your life. My social life and health and wellness have suffered, and it’s something I’m trying to pay more attention to and do a better job with.  While my son and Graza are two all-consuming things in my life, I love them both. [Laughs] Obviously, one more than the other.  IR: What are the items in your proverbial toolbox? AD: My Kindle, that is the best tool to turn off.  If I wake up at one o’clock or two o’clock in the morning, thinking that I forgot to send an email, or wondering if I got a number wrong, it’s hard to get back to sleep. It’s difficult to keep your mind from spiraling and spinning and from literally opening your computer at two o’clock in the morning. But once I open my Kindle, I’ve gotten very good at easing down within five minutes of spiraling in the middle of the night and falling back to sleep. IR: What is your current favorite SKU within Graza’s lineup? AD: Graza’s Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Potato Chips.  That’s my favorite SKU at the moment. It really embodies who we are as a brand. It’s so different and unexpected, but so good and high-quality. While it is a pain-in-the-ass to make them the right way, it says a lot about the effort and the pain that we have to go through to make our products well. The fact that the customers can taste the difference [in product quality] says everything about Graza. Further reading: How Graza became a $48 million olive oil brand stocked by Whole Foods and Target