How Berk Bahceci Turned Storytelling Into Heraclea’s Retention Strategy
Berk Bahceci is doing the kind of thing the food world loves to pretend doesn’t exist: building something slow, considered, and deeply long-term in a category obsessed with flashy labels and fast wins. He’s the founder of Heraclea, and he joined me on Above the Fold to talk about what it really takes to make something that lasts.
Before he was bottling single-origin olive oil from Turkey, he was a lawyer in D.C. Yeah. Whole pivot. This convo is about that leap, sure, but more importantly, it's about making big bets without cutting corners. If you're building a brand, especially in food or CPG, you're going to want to hear this one.
Here’s what stood out.
He Built The Business Before He Had A Single Customer
Berk didn’t do the “launch first, figure it out later” playbook. He invested in land, built a full production facility, and committed to pressing olives within four hours of harvest before Heraclea had a single order.
That might sound wild, but for him, it made sense. “You have to start with how you want it to end,” he told me. “If you want to be high-quality, you have to build high-quality from day zero.”
This approach shows up everywhere: in how the olives are grown and pressed, in the no-plastic packaging, even in the website design (which he scrapped and rebuilt six months pre-launch because it didn’t feel right).
The Brand Is Slow On Purpose
So many people build brands to exit. Berk is building for 20-plus years. He’s not trying to get into 5,000 stores by next quarter. He’s focused on being in the right doors, ones where the retailers care about the story and the product. That means a lot of calls. A lot of education. A lot of trust-building.
He’s not chasing hype. He’s building something sustainable. Not just in a climate sense, but in a real, human sense.
The Product Is The Story
Berk said something that stuck with me: “Who follows a CPG brand with no story?” It’s true. If you're not giving people a reason to care beyond price or trend, they’re not coming back.
In the early days, he ran all the socials himself. And when he outsourced it, customers noticed the shift. They missed the honesty. The behind-the-scenes. The people behind the product. Now, the stories are back and they’re central.
Customer Feedback Shaped Their Biggest Moves
Heraclea’s commitment to Fair Trade started as a customer insight. Berk was emailing customers manually, not to upsell them, but to understand what made them click buy. Over and over, it came back to the same thing: real people, family-owned, intentionality.
That turned into a full Fair Trade certification, with direct payments to harvest workers and educational resources to help them lead their own community projects. It’s not just brand language. It’s operationalized care.
What’s Next? Growth, But With Boundaries
Berk is scaling production capacity in Turkey, onboarding more farmers, and growing shelf presence, but not at the expense of control or values. Heraclea will never outsource. That’s non-negotiable.
And he's clear. He doesn’t want to be everywhere. He wants to be in the places that matter.
If You’re Building Something Right Now
A few things Berk said that I haven’t stopped thinking about: Start small, especially if you know you can’t carry the full weight just yet. Question everything, do your own research, and when it feels right, go for it. You don’t need to grow fast. You need to grow right.
You can shop at Heraclea.co or grab it on Amazon. And if you don’t see it at your local spot, now you know what to do. Go ask.
