Hardware Podcasts

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

How I Built This · 21 Sept 2026 · 58m

What this episode covers

Brian Rudolph, co-founder of Banza, explains how he created the first chickpea pasta after discovering wheat sensitivity, launching the brand with his brother Scott Rudolph. The company scaled from a Detroit apartment to over 25,000 stores by leveraging reality TV exposure on *Restaurant Startup* and securing early retail deals with Italy and Meijer. When initial production runs resulted in mushy pasta, Brian and Scott solved the issue by instructing consumers to 'steep it like tea' rather than boil it. Later, Banza navigated a severe PR crisis involving glyphosate allegations by partnering with the Detox Project to publish transparent test results and rebuild consumer trust.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Italy, Meijer, Target, Whole Foods, Kroger, Walmart, Barilla, Lupini
Products
Banza
Also
Bob's Red Mill, Restaurant Startup, Rocket Hub, Detox Project, Clean Scan, EWG

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