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=consumervc

In 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 brand

How Ithaca Hummus was born at a student farmer’s market

Selling without brokers & scaling through scrappy growth

Why they said NO to VCs and focused on unit economics & velocity

How packaging and taste-first branding drove national expansion

Strategic 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.

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 - Opening Quote: The Magic of Farmer’s Markets

03:24 - From Fine Dining to Culinary Burnout

06:36 - Discovering a Gap in Ithaca’s Food Scene

10:46 - Launching Ithaca Hummus from a Camp Kitchen

13:54 - The Addictive Energy of Farmer’s Markets

19:15 - No Brokers: Selling to Co-ops Door-to-Door

24:33 - Sampling, Promotions & Retailer Education

28:10 - $1M to $3.5M: Strategic Investment from Co-Man

33:50 - Saying No to VCs: Building Without External Pressure

37:17 - What Strategic Actually Means in CPG

41:50 - 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 Launch

50:00 - Long-Term Vision: Legacy, Not Liquidity

53:50 - 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