How Ithaca Hummus Scaled to $50M Without Venture Capital? Mike Gelb with Chris Kirby | Consumer VC

This episode is brought to you by Highbeam.Highbeam is the all-in-one banking and cash management platform built for consumer brands – https://www.highbeam.co/capital?partnerId=consumervcIn this episode of The Consumer VC, Mike Gelb sits down with Chris Kirby, founder of Ithaca Hummus, to uncover how he turned a local farmer’s market stand into a $50M+ premium food brand — without traditional VC funding.Chris shares:Why he left fine dining to build a CPG brandHow Ithaca Hummus was born at a student farmer’s marketSelling without brokers & scaling through scrappy growthWhy they said NO to VCs and focused on unit economics & velocityHow packaging and taste-first branding drove national expansionStrategic partnerships that led to explosive revenue jumps🔥 If you're a CPG founder, emerging brand, or curious about bootstrapping a premium product, don’t miss this.🕒 Timestamps00:00 - Opening Quote: The Magic of Farmer’s Markets03:24 - From Fine Dining to Culinary Burnout06:36 - Discovering a Gap in Ithaca’s Food Scene10:46 - Launching Ithaca Hummus from a Camp Kitchen13:54 - The Addictive Energy of Farmer’s Markets19:15 - No Brokers: Selling to Co-ops Door-to-Door24:33 - Sampling, Promotions & Retailer Education28:10 - $1M to $3.5M: Strategic Investment from Co-Man33:50 - Saying No to VCs: Building Without External Pressure37:17 - What Strategic Actually Means in CPG41:50 - Branding, Packaging & the Power of “Owning Taste”45:33 - Creating Viral Flavors (e.g. French Onion Hummus)47:59 - Graza x Ithaca: Strategic Co-Branded Launch50:00 - Long-Term Vision: Legacy, Not Liquidity53:50 - Lightning Round: Books, Beliefs & Brands#venturecapital #consumervc #vcfunding —📬 Subscribe to The Consumer VC newsletter for startup trends:https://www.theconsumervc.com/🎧 Listen on:Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hjm74Z...Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...📲Follow Mike:Twitter / Instagram / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

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