Hidden Gems: Meet Rachel Dunhoff Fox of Fox Fungi

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Dunhoff Fox. 

Hi Rachel, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am asked nearly every farmer’s market “how did you get started doing this?” The “this” is growing gourmet mushrooms in an urban farm smack dab in the heart of Denver, CO. My main hustle for the last 9 years is being a flight attendant, airline Union President for our Chicago and Atlanta bases and I was growing mushrooms in my basement as a hobby. I have a secret nerdy side, and the science behind mycology was fascinating to me. I would spend spare time in my basement learning how to grow various mushrooms and watched countless YouTube videos every time I messed up. I had started to master the basics and my partner and future husband, Kevin, was taking an interest in these beautiful gourmet mushrooms we were growing. One day, I placed 2 pounds on Facebook Marketplace for sale and they sold right away. Next post, sold. and so on.

When Covid started to hit, the airline industry was almost immediately halted in it’s tracks in March 2020. We saw our schedules get wiped out overnight. Passenger demand dropped over 90%. I took a leave from flying as myself and other Union base Presidents were negotiating paid leaves and zero layoffs with our airline for our flying partners. It afforded me an unexpected opportunity to spend time on my hobby. In November 2020, Kevin and I felt he was due for a career change and decided to invest in making Fox Fungi an official business. We scoured locations and found our spot in Denver. It was previously an RTD repair shop! Our landlord maybe thought we were a little crazy wanting to grow fungi in this little commercial space.

We quickly built out the space with a full walk-in lab, sterilizers, fruiting tents, cleaning area, and an itty-bitty office location where customers could stop in and talk fungi. We immediately met people who were as fascinated by fungi as we were. And we were also providing these beautiful mushrooms to customers! I signed up for as many farmer’s markets as I could find and crossed my fingers. We were accepted into 4 and holy cow, we weren’t prepared for the immediate support we received. We felt being environmentally sustainable as much as possible was paramount. From our substrate waste being given away to farmers to compost, to our sugar cane compostable package, to developing products that utilize all of the mushroom with zero waste, we pushed for sustainability. We took over a commercial kitchen space a few months ago to create mushroom vegan prepared meals, our popular Wild Mushroom Confit, dried medicinal mushrooms, and freeze-dried fungi. We have expanded our product line over and over. Our customers have been amazing with their support of our budding business.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have had SO MANY obstacles and challenges. I recently went back to flying full-time, pulling me away at times from the new business. I am “hopeful” I can retire my wings in the next 2 years. I have some older children that have stepped up to help in my absence so Kevin doesn’t bear all the weight while I am gone. Different species of fungi have various growing requirements which we often had to break the code to get them to produce. We are in a downtime until the farmer’s markets start up again so we have to shift our market presence. We offer free home delivery for online purchases. We are in a few specialty grocery markets for our fresh fungi and our prepared items are popping up in Colorado-focused small businesses. We supply some of the top chefs in Denver and surrounding areas with fresh fungi. We also sling mycology supplies for those fungi hobbyists. It is also challenging to be an older woman in this industry. But I keep my head down, remain focused, look forward and build our brand. I have met some of the most amazing woman business owners at these summer markets and we have developed many collaborations, supporting each other succeed. It’s been empowering.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
We utilized the internet and focused on 3 commercial mushroom farmers who had fantastic online tutorials. Myer’s Mushrooms, Earth Angel Mushrooms, and Southwest Mushrooms. I really need to give credit where it is due. All 3 broke down processes where we had those Ah ha! moments.

Pricing:

• $5
• $10

Contact Info:

• Email: contact@foxfungi.com
• Website: www.FoxFungi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fox_fungi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foxfungi
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fox-fungi-denver