Gregory L Vetter is a well-established innovator and disruptor in the clean food movement. The oldest of the Vetter brothers, he had the brilliant idea of launching Tessemae’s after being inspired by his mother’s wildly popular homemade dressing recipe. What Gregory knew, and the American consumer base was soon to discover, was that the idea would soon resonate widely and give rise to an entirely new clean food category.  

Gregory and his broader family, primarily brothers, Matt and Brian, cultivated the business and in a mere 5 years translated their vision into becoming the #1 organic salad dressing brand in the refrigerated space. The emergence of Tessemae paved the way for clean manufacturing on a mass scale by inventing the only gum-free dressing bottling process. Ultimately, that manufacturing process led to the creation of the “fresh condiment” category and, similarly, the first Whole30-approved bottled dressings and condiments in the nation.  

With the wind clearly at their back, Gregory and his brothers launched Alta Fresh Food Company. Alta Fresh Food has since pioneered a better way to get great-tasting salads to the masses through their innovative “master kitting” process and breakthrough R & R&D team. After their triumph as “Sam’s Club Supplier of the Year”, resulting from their “Master Kitting” process, Alta was propelled to the forefront of the fresh food solutions industry.  

More recently, Gregory elected to take his lessons learned from his sustained success in the food industry and launched “Home Grown Brand Accelerator”. Home Grown was developed with a singular purpose in mind, “to empower the next generation of brands by making the “playbook” available to whoever had the desire to build the next great American brand.” Winner of Inc. Magazines Entrepreneur of the Year award, Inc. Magazines 35 under 35, EY Entrepreneur of the year finalist, TED talk speaker, Nielsen Design Impact Award for Packaging, And Sam’s Club Supplier of the Year, Gregory spends his time with his wife and 4 children on their farm in West River.  

• In this episode, Gregory L. Vetter talks about his book “Undressed, The Unfiltered Story of My Failed American Dream and How It Led to Success.” Greg Vetter Started his Salad Dressing and condiments business from very small beginnings, rising to become a multi-million-dollar successful behemoth.  
• He started when he was 25 years old, and of course, would not have believed that one could fail at business at such a young age. However, a series of Black Swan events such as COVID and the Russia-Ukraine war led to disruptions in sales as well as supply chain, forcing him to absorb unforeseen shocks. Ultimately it led to investor mayhem and the demise of the business. 
• This book details what happened and aims to be advice that entrepreneurs can use when detailing their business. While specific scenarios may vary, human nature and how the business world thinks remain pretty much consistent. In the author’s own words, this is the book he would have advised himself to read at 25, had he been given that opportunity. 

Run time – 59:06 mins.