Rachel Berliner

Rachel Berliner co-founded Amy’s Kitchen, the nation’s leading natural and organic food company, with her husband Andy in their Petaluma barn in 1987. Named that year after their newborn baby daughter Amy, the company has grown into a $100 million-a-year producer of convenient, delicious, healthful vegetarian meals made from innovative recipes using fresh organic and natural ingredients.

Sonoma County based Amy’s Kitchen currently makes 108 different frozen and grocery items, producing over 180,000 frozen meals per day, and commanding 70% of the natural and organic frozen foods market. In addition to the wide range of frozen entrees, ethnic meals and snacks, Amy’s Kitchen makes canned organic soups, beans and jarred pasta sauces and salsas.

While the company has experienced impressive growth, Ms. Berliner’s vision of leading an ethical, family owned and oriented business remains the clear and driving force. Amy’s Kitchen is acknowledged as a national model for operating a privately owned company that stresses high quality products and a progressive workplace, in addition to strong profitability.

Widely regarded as icons in the natural foods industry, Ms. Berliner and her husband are committed to running a family business that includes their parents, siblings and their now teenage daughter Amy. They are an inspiration to a generation of entrepreneurs who develop successful businesses that remain true to their ideals.

Ms. Berliner leads her family’s personal involvement with the company’s more than 700 employees and with the many thousands of Amy’s loyal customers. She continues to read every letter and email that comes to Amy’s Kitchen.

Ms. Berliner’s commitment to the natural foods movement runs deep. In the 1950s, long before doing so was popular, her family was growing and enjoying its own organic vegetables. With her lifelong dedication to natural foods, a vegetarian lifestyle, and an excellent palate, she maintains the company’s mission to make great-tasting foods. Her role in new product development brings to fruition exciting ideas for ethnic foods such as Amy’s popular new line of traditional Indian meals.

A natural marketer, Ms. Berliner directs a wide variety of activities for Amy’s Kitchen, and spearheads the company’s overall art direction, website design, and new packaging concepts, along with directing public and media relations. Ms. Berliner dedicates a substantial portion of her time researching and developing new products for consumers with special dietary restrictions. Her dedication to providing healthy alternatives for celiac patients led to the development of a wide array of Amy’s gluten-free products that have been enthusiastically received in the marketplace.

Amy’s has been featured in national publications such as Newsweek, The New York Times, CNN/Money, People and Entrepreneur magazines as the nation’s leading producer of organic meals. Amy’s products are regularly featured in Organic Style, Food & Wine, The Wall Street Journal, Child Magazine and other major newspapers across the US.