Hardware Podcasts

Founder Feature: Stephanie Berwick of Pastazerts

The Startup CPG Podcast · 23 May 2025 · 33m · Episode 154

What this episode covers

Stephanie Berwick, founder of Pastazerts, explains how she transitioned from a 20-year fintech career to launching the world's first chocolate ravioli, a frozen dessert pasta. She details the journey from amateur cooking competitions and self-manufacturing in a commercial kitchen to scaling production with a pasta-focused co-manufacturer in North Carolina. Berwick discusses the strategic decision to use debt-based crowdfunding via Honeycomb Credit to bridge cash flow gaps, the challenges of navigating frozen logistics and retail placement, and her focus on building velocity in natural grocery stores along the East Coast.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Products
Pastazerts
Tools
Honeycomb Credit

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • How I Built This · 1h 04m

    Live Episode! Milk Bar: Christina Tosi

    Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar, explains how she transitioned from a pastry cook at WD50 to opening her own bakery in 2008 with the help of mentor David Chang. She details the creation of iconic products like Crack Pie and Cereal Milk soft serve, which emerged from kitchen experimentation and a desire to reinvent nostalgic American desserts. Tosi discusses the operational challenges of scaling from a single East Village location to 16 shops and a national mail-order business, including managing supply chains and maintaining product quality while keeping prices accessible.

    Starting a product companyPricing, margins & unit economics
    8 chapters

  • How I Built This · 36m

    What It Really Takes To Build a Food Business: Part 1

    Guy Raz interviews Becca Millstein of Fishwife, Brian Rudolph of Banza, and Caue Suplicy of Barnana about the early stages of building their food businesses. Millstein explains how she leveraged social media and distinctive packaging to launch Fishwife as a direct-to-consumer brand during the pandemic. Rudolph details Banza’s journey from a kitchen prototype to securing a major retail deal with Meijer, despite catastrophic manufacturing failures with chickpea pasta. Suplicy describes bootstrapping Barnana by sourcing co-packers and initially rejecting large orders from retailers like Wegmans due to capacity constraints.

    Starting a product companyManufacturing partners & offshoring
    8 chapters

  • How I Built This · 1h 03m

    Stacy's Pita Chips: Stacy Madison

    Stacy Madison, co-founder of Stacy's Pita Chips, explains how she and Mark Andrus pivoted from a Boston food cart to a $250 million sale to PepsiCo by solving scaling challenges, including hand-cutting bread and managing cash flow. They overcame industry skepticism by investing in custom machinery, such as a conveyorized oven and a modified carrot-cutting machine, to transition from home-baking to industrial manufacturing. The episode details their strategic retail partnerships with Bread & Circus and Trader Joe's, which allowed them to avoid equity dilution, and their successful crowdfunding-style bootstrapping through bank loans. It also covers the operational crisis of a factory fire during the acquisition process and the personal dynamics of a clean divorce while maintaining 50-50 business ownership.

    Starting a product companyScaling production
    9 chapters

  • How I Built This · 12m

    Live From The HIBT Summit: Stacy Madison of Stacy's Pita Chips

    Stacy Madison, co-founder of Stacy's Pita Chips, explains how she and her husband Mark bootstrapped a snack empire from a Boston sandwich cart without a business plan or outside capital. She details the pivot from gourmet stores to securing a massive Trader Joe's account, which provided the cash flow to fund growth and avoid selling to food conglomerates. Madison also discusses the personal toll of scaling the business and her current venture, B-Bold Energy Bars, where she is applying those hard-won lessons to a new startup.

    Starting a product companyFundraising & investors
    6 chapters

  • How I Built This · 1h 39m

    Pipcorn: Jennifer and Jeff Martin

    Jennifer and Jeff Martin, co-founders of Pipcorn, explain how they turned a discovery of heirloom corn into a national snack brand, expanding from hand-popped popcorn to extruded cheese balls and chips. They detail the operational nightmares of surviving early viral moments on Oprah and Shark Tank, including cash flow crises and fulfillment backlogs, and describe the strategic pivot to wholesale distribution through Whole Foods. The episode covers their recent $6 million fundraising, product development challenges with extrusion technology, and their current focus on profitability and brand identity as Black founders.

    Scaling productionCrowdfunding & preorders
    9 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Startup CPG Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.