A Chicago food brand that makes pasta from yellow peas has added an executive to its team as it looks to bring more plant-based options to your dinner table.
ZENB, a direct-to-consumer food company, has hired Hugo Pérez as its vice president of marketing. Pérez previously spent time as the VP of marketing and communications at food giant Mars, along with stints at companies like the Zeno Group and OHorizons.
ZENB launched with its first veggie snack product in 2019, and the following year introduced its single-ingredient pasta made entirely from yellow peas. It then launched its own brand of pasta sauce this April. The company says its pasta has the same taste and texture as traditional pasta.
The company says sales are up 26% following the launch of its latest products, with plans for additional plant-based product launches coming later this year.
The idea, the company says, is to carve out space in the growing plant-based food industry with pasta options as well as on-the-go snacks.
Pérez said in a statement that ZENB will "unlock new ways for people to experience plant-powered goodness with more flavor, nutrition and concern for the environment."
ZENB joins several other Chicago-based food upstarts that are bringing plant-based and other meat-alternative foods to your kitchen. Cool Beans has created a plant-based frozen burrito that's available in hundreds of U.S. grocery stores, and Nature's Fynd raised $350 million this year to create meatless and dairy-free foods in a lab.
