Chris Kirby is the Founder and President of Ithaca Hummus, the leading fresh-crafted hummus brand. After launching a lemon garlic hummus made with fresh ingredients, Ithaca became the fastest-growing hummus brand in America, sold at over 8,000 retailers nationwide including Wegmans, Whole Foods, Publix, and Sprouts. Chris started his career in the culinary industry as a professional chef.

In this episode…

Fresh ingredients are expensive and difficult to mass produce, so some growing CPG brands compromise on product quality to reduce their COGS — but for mission-focused brands, skimping on ingredients is not an option. Learn how to maintain freshness while navigating growth and manufacturing challenges.

As a formally-trained chef, Chris Kirby prioritizes fresh ingredients and quality, so he built a sustainable business model around transparency and education. He teaches his audience the difference between chemically-extracted and expeller-pressed seed oil, facilitating informative dialogue about healthy fats. With a Detox Project-certified hummus brand, Chris ensures his chickpeas are glyphosate-free, delivering healthy products to consumers. When striving for high-quality ingredients, Chris emphasizes the value of cultivating relationships with outsourced partners and vendors.

In today’s episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf sits down with Chris Kirby, the Founder and President of Ithaca Hummus, who shares his journey of creating a clean-label hummus brand. Chris talks about the brand’s expansion from hummus to salsa, his entrepreneurial evolution, and the genesis of Ithaca Hummus.