Today we’d like to introduce you to Chiara Munzi.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started ChiChi because I was unsatisfied by oatmeal. Most instant packets were packed with sugar and low in carbs, which caused a sugar crash. I tried adding protein powder, but that made my stomach hurt. Then I had an aha moment – why not eat chickpeas for breakfast instead of oats? They are higher in protein, lower in carbs, and taste good!
In my dorm, I started mashing up chickpeas and eating them instead of oats, and I was amazed at the delicious taste and energy it gave me. I gave a sample to Izzy, my classmate, and ChiChi was born! ChiChi is a chickpea breakfast company on a mission to replace oats with chickpeas. In under a year, we went from making it in a dorm, moving to a commercial kitchen, and selling out at a farmers market to doing our first big production run.
Our first product is the world’s first grain-free chickpea oatmeal. We have plans to expand into bars, granola, cereal, and more. Our products are sold online and in St. Louis grocery stores, with plans to expand to Los Angeles grocery stores in December 2023. Our chickpeas are sourced directly from organic Montana family farmers who use regenerative farming practices.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My co-founder and I started ChiChi while in college, without any culinary or food business background. This meant it was we experienced a super steep learning curve and faced a lot of challenges.
When we started the business, we handmade our product and spent 6 hours every weekend in a commercial kitchen together. We measured each ingredient individually, in probably the slowest way possible. Very quickly, we couldn’t keep up with our sales and decided it was time to move to a big production facility.
This came with even more challenges. We had to source hundreds of pounds of ingredients, find someone to mix them and pouch them, scale up the recipe, and make sure everything was food-safe. All while in school! It was hard. Our suppliers were delayed, we lost some products, and our first production run was 1/2 the size we wanted it to be because of our losses.
But we persevered and brought it to market! However, once on the market, we realized we accidentally made them too sweet and too cinnamon-y. But that just means there is room for improvement.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
ChiChi replaces oats with chickpeas in high protein, grain-free, easy, and delicious breakfast foods. Our first product is chickpea oatmeal, with plans to expand into bars, granola, cereal, and more. There is no other chickpea oatmeal on the market! Compared to oats, ChiChi is healthy, without a sugar crash. That’s because chickpeas are high in protein and lower carbs, without the need for any processed ingredients. But not only is it healthy, it’s delicious. Our thicker, hearty texture and unique nutty flavor has led many customers to prefer chickpea oatmeal to traditional rolled oats! ChiChi has the texture of steel-cut oats. Finally, ChiChi is easy to make. Pour the single-serve pouch into a bowl, add liquid, and microwave for 60 seconds.
Not only does ChiChi make customers feel good, it benefits the environment and our organic family farmers. Chickpeas use less water than oats to grow and enrich the soil with essential nitrogen. This makes chickpeas a great rotator crop that protects the soil and reduces the need for pesticides. We source our organic chickpeas from a fifth-generation family farm network in Montana. As ChiChi grows, these farmers will see increased economic benefits and be able to replace non-organic fields with organic fields, reducing pesticide use on a larger scale.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I do a lot of yoga and pilates, which relieves my stress. I also LOVE to hike in LA. My favorite hike is Temescal Canyon in the Palisades. I also listen to a lot of podcasts, but my only regular one is the Daily by the NYT.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chickpeaoats.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chickpeaoats/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chiaramunzi/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@chickpeaoats
