Chickapea founder and chief executive officer Shelby Taylor says her product appeals to consumers seeking healthier choices without sacrificing taste, texture or convenience.Supplied
Chickapea is betting that a complete product overhaul – from recipe to packaging – can turn its high-protein pasta into a household staple. After a decade in the crowded better-for-you food space, the Collingwood-based company says early results suggest the gamble is paying off, with same-store sales up as much as 50 per cent across North America.
The revamp has allowed the brand to break out of the niche health food sector, says Chickapea founder and chief executive officer Shelby Taylor.
“We’re appealing to a much broader market that’s just people looking to make some healthier choices without sacrificing taste, texture, or convenience,” she says.
The company’s products are now sold in 10,000 stores, including all major grocery chains in Canada and large grocers in the U.S., including Giant and Publix.
The transformation caps an intense year for Ms. Taylor, who spent 18 months pitching investors amid political uncertainty, rising grocery prices and shifting tariffs, while retooling the brand. In late September, the B-Certified company closed a $4.25-million round led by AGT Foods, a Saskatchewan-based global leader in pulse and staple food ingredients, and FCC Capital, Farm Credit Canada’s investment arm.
The new funding is being used to scale the brand, capture a broader consumer base and expand into new retail and foodservice channels amid strong category growth.
The path to protein-rich pasta
Ms. Taylor founded the company in 2016 while running a health food store in Stayner, Ont., where she noticed an uptick in demand for a high-protein pasta alternative. After struggling to find a Canadian manufacturer, Chickapea began manufacturing in the U.S., moving operations to Italy in 2018.
“I [wasn’t] going to turn my life upside down to create something mediocre,” Ms. Taylor says. “I wanted something that was focused on [ingredients] and how it actually contributes to your health.”
In 2024, the company reshored operations to the U.S., working with AGT to overhaul its recipe, switching from lentils to yellow peas and refreshed its branding to make its pasta cook and taste like traditional wheat varieties, while maintaining a high-protein, clean-ingredient profile. The pasta maker also introduced “One Pot” meals, a nutrition-focused spin on shelf-stable mac-and-cheese with flavours like creamy garlic and tomato curry.
Chickapea pasta is produced and packed into new packaging at AGT Foods' North Dakota facility.Supplied
Alongside its new branding, Chickapea has increased the size and emphasis of the protein content logo.
Chickapea’s transformation reflects a broader shift in packaged foods, where consumers are rewarding brands that combine nutrition, convenience and familiarity. Protein-rich products have moved from specialty aisles to centre store as mainstream households seek healthier weeknight staples.
A recent industry report by Nourish Food Marketing reveals that 71 per cent of consumers say they want to eat more protein and a report from Cargill, a multinational food and agriculture company, found 61 per cent of consumers increased their protein intake in 2024, up from 48 per cent in 2019.
Richard Baker, CEO of Food Distribution Guy, says the biggest turnoff for consumers when it comes to organic and health-focused foods like Chickapea is the price point, which retails at double the price of a standard, low-cost wheat pasta.
“What really resonates right now is value,” Mr. Baker says.
It has to be affordable and taste good
From his perspective, value is defined by function and emotion. To compete at a higher price point, the value needs to come from the taste and make the consumer feel good. High-protein content and organic ingredients are secondary to that, Mr. Baker says.
Murad Al-Katib, president and CEO of AGT, says the plant-based protein category is recalibrating from the hype surrounding plant-based meats. The focus used to be on which burger chain would come out with the best plant-based meat.
“That’s not the category that’s going to grow and succeed,” Mr. Al-Katib says. “The categories that are going to grow and succeed are pasta, snacks, bakery – the consumer is showing they want higher protein, higher dietary fibre.” Like Mr. Baker, Mr. Al-Katib says that while consumers want high protein, it has to taste good, be affordable and have a nice texture.
“You don’t want the texture to be far off from the wheat pasta that you’re used to eating,” he says, adding that Chickapea’s push into one-pot meals positions the brand to further penetrate the mainstream market.
“They’re a great product; they taste good, it’s a convenient format – and we think it’s really scalable,” he says.
For Chickapea, part of that push is moving into new markets such as foodservice channels – including universities, hospitals and retirement homes – looking for healthy, high-protein options.
“Now our pasta can actually hold up in these large batches and in hot food tables… it could be cooked and frozen and reheated,” Ms. Taylor says. “So, we’ll be looking to do more in that space.”
In the meantime, Ms. Taylor says she’s proud of how far she’s taken the company. “I’ve been trying to get here for almost 10 years now,” she says. “It’s just so great to see people who were like ‘meh’ before, be like ‘this is the only pasta that I eat.’ ”