“Working in kitchens the place abusive leadership was the norm undoubtedly taught me so much, each about what to not do and in addition the sort of chief that I did wish to be,” Chris Kirby, founder and CEO of Ithaca Hummus, tells Entrepreneur. “Early on, I noticed how worry and intimidation created toxic environments the place creativity and collaboration actually could not exist.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Ithaca Hummus. Founder and CEO Chris Kirby.
Kirby graduated from culinary faculty at North Carolina’s Johnson & Wales College and spent the following seven years working in eating places throughout the nation: in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Austin. Nonetheless, by age 26, he decided the “robust way of life” wasn’t for him. He needed to start a business of his personal — however doing so required a giant change and swallowing his delight, he says.
The aspiring entrepreneur moved again to Baltimore to stay along with his mother and father and enrolled in enterprise programs at the local people school. Kirby did not have a automotive, so he needed to bike the 15 miles to campus, a backpack filled with books in tow. Regardless of the challenges, Kirby completed the 12 months with straight As and was accepted on the Cornell Faculty of Resort Administration.
In his software essay, Kirby wrote that he was “hungry for fulfillment” and supposed to make use of his professors as “free consultants” for his enterprise, demonstrating a transparent focus and ambition that he believes helped him stand aside from different candidates. He arrived on campus in 2013 and started working instantly.
“The lightbulb went off once I noticed that there was no native Ithaca hummus firm.”
His first cease was the native farmer’s market to search for a spot within the market; he needed to know what wasn’t being made on the town already. “The lightbulb went off once I noticed that there was no native Ithaca hummus firm,” Kirby says, “and I sprang into motion fairly shortly.” Inside a month, Kirby was promoting his hummus on the farmer’s market. Lemon garlic was the model’s first taste.
“Style is absolutely all the things,” Kirby says. “It is the soul of meals. In my restaurant expertise, it was at all times the freshest, easiest, most unadulterated recipes that had been my favorites. So it wasn’t about, How a lot can I add to this superb ingredient? It is, What is the least quantity that I can add to it to make it shine? Mom Nature does all of the onerous give you the results you want; you simply should make it come by.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Ithaca Hummus
To start with, Ithaca Hummus had no assets or price range to talk of, however the limited cash meant Kirby needed to zero in on what was most necessary — making the most effective product potential, getting folks to style it and promoting as a lot as he may. To that finish, he rented a kitchen for $250 a month and bought the required provides: big pots, a giant stick immersion blender, deli cups, a small digital scale and ice cream scoops for portioning out the product.
“Each single [customer] interplay gave me increasingly confidence.”
“I had a maniacal deal with sales,” Kirby says. “I made the hummus, packed it myself after which spent each weekend promoting at farmer’s markets as a result of I beloved seeing the response on prospects’ faces once they tried it for the primary time. And that suggestions acted like a highway map for me. Each single interplay gave me increasingly confidence to push ahead.”
With out a workforce or fancy manufacturing gear, Kirby needed to harness “loads of hustle and creativity” to execute his imaginative and prescient. Ithaca Hummus continued to promote out on the farmer’s market each week, and Kirby credit the “unstoppable demand” to the model’s high quality and skill to attach with folks.
Scaling the enterprise’s manufacturing and packaging course of was one of many largest preliminary challenges. To start with, Kirby used deli cups with tamper-evident plastic lids that had been heat-sealed with hair dryers, 10 at a time. Then, Kirby moved the operation into its first business area to maintain tempo with its development and upgraded to a film-sealing automated packaging line, which got here “with an amazing quantity of complications.”
“I’d spend days at a time troubleshooting, fixing it [and] feeling the stress.”
The sealer would usually break down, and and not using a fast repair or the funds to rent a mechanic, Kirby turned to Google searches and YouTube movies to determine what was flawed. “I’d spend days at a time troubleshooting, fixing it [and] feeling the stress of [thinking], Each minute that this gear was down, the payments saved coming in, and we weren’t producing something to promote,” he says.
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Regardless of the rising pains, Ithaca Hummus saved increasing, in the end touchdown in main retailers like Wegman’s and Whole Foods, the place its merchandise continued to promote nicely in aggressive environments. The model hit its first eight-figure income 12 months in 2020 and has seen 40% year-over-year growth since, even promoting 10 million tubs of hummus in 2024. What’s extra, Ithaca Hummus is on observe to take care of that development fee in 2025, which implies a projected $50 million annual income and over $150 million lifetime income.
“I’ve labored actually onerous to construct a tradition that is the exact opposite of what I skilled.”
By all of it, Kirby has utilized the leadership lessons realized from his restaurant days to foster a piece setting the place workers really feel comfy sufficient to be inventive — a key to the model’s long-term success.
“I’ve realized that true management is about empathy, clear communication and creating an setting the place folks really feel valued and empowered,” Kirby says. “So I’ve labored onerous to construct a tradition that is the exact opposite of what I skilled in loads of these kitchens. I would like my workforce to really feel protected to share concepts, take dangers and study from errors with out worry of being punished.”