Banza: Brian Rudolph. The Chickpea Pasta That Nearly Turned to Mush

So our sales went down uh 30% week over week. Wow, wow, wow. Yeah. Honestly, I was more concerned with people's fear and trying to figure out how to address that. I had someone

call me crying because they were so scared and they love bonza and they give it to their kids all the time. Yeah. And, you know, it was like, maybe more than I wanted to admit, my identity had been wrapped up in this idea of I create healthy food and to then be told and get messages from people on the internet who don't even know you that are accusing you of that you're trying to kill them. Exactly. Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built.

I'm Guy Ross and on the show today, how Brian Rudolph built Bonza into one of the biggest pasta brands in the country, all based on one ingredient, chickpeas. If you've spent any time in a grocery store lately, you've probably noticed that protein is everywhere. It's in chips and snacks, in bread, breakfast cereal, candy, ice cream, soda, even water. And all that's becoming pretty normal now. But not that long ago, if you wandered down the pasta aisle and saw a box of high protein pasta, you might have been confused, right?

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