Chickpea and yellow pea pasta
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Packing our favourite pastas with protein.
Chickapea had an incredibly successful legume-based pasta, but needed a rainmaker to make the leap into the USA
The Opportunity
The interest in clean label, high protein, whole foods has spiked in recent years. In addition, many people are actively trying to reduce wheat flour and other refined carbs from their diets. But consumers still love pasta as a quick, filling meal. Chickapea was capitalizing on these consumer trends with a tasty, high-protein pasta recipe that was a hit with Canadian customers.
The Challenge
Chickapea was seeing good sales in Canada and promising sales in the USA but knew from its customer responses that it could be a lot bigger. They needed a full-time VP Sales to manage their brokers and drive the data-driven decisions to help secure their position in the high-protein pasta space.
Building out our sales team and strategy was a critical turning point for our company. The support from NPC was a big part of that. Along with the capital, they really helped us think through the position and what we needed to consider in making this key hire.
NPC’s Solution
NPC provided Chickapea with $125,000 to build out their sales team and expand their US and Canada markets. The VP Sales helped the company incorporate more data into their sales process, and quickly transitioned them from a promising upstart into one of the leading high-protein pastas in Canada and the US. In addition, the addition of this person helped free up the CEO for other strategic aspects of the business and its growth.
NPC is committed to the creation of natural products that are better for people, animals and the planet. We propel early-stage Canadian innovators with the advice, connections and capital they need to develop and de-risk their solutions quickly and efficiently.
Chickapea
Description:
Sector(s):
Food, Nutrition, FoodtechFunding Type:
Access to TalentProvince:
OntarioFunding Amount:
$125,000
Year of Funding:
2019
Name:
Shelby Taylor
