There was drama this week in the olive oil business — and it unfolded on LinkedIn, the online haven of start-up feuds, oversharing and self-mythologizing odes to #founder culture.
An angry post by the olive oil entrepreneur Andrew Benin caused a stir in a small corner of the internet food world, in part because it raised a slippery question: Who owns the squeeze bottle?
Mr. Benin is the chief executive and co-founder of Graza, a direct-to-consumer start-up launched in 2022 that sells olive oil in squeezable, forest-green plastic bottles designed for optimal drizzling and Instagramming.
Whole Foods sells it, Bon Appétit gave it a rave, and Food & Wine magazine called it a “cool kid olive oil.” As The Wall Street Journal noted this year, Graza struck a “sweet spot” in the market with its two extra-virgin olive oil bottles, the Drizzle ($20) and the Sizzle ($15).
That gesture, along with posts on Graza’s blog (the “Glog,” as the company calls it), painted a picture of an enthusiastic founder.