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“Working in kitchens where abusive leadership was the norm definitely taught me a lot, both about what not to do and also the kind of leader that I did want to be,” Chris Kirby, founder and CEO of Ithaca Hummus, tells Entrepreneur. “Early on, I saw how fear and intimidation created toxic environments where creativity and collaboration really couldn’t exist.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Ithaca Hummus. Founder and CEO Chris Kirby.
Kirby graduated from culinary school at North Carolina’s Johnson & Wales University and spent the next seven years working in restaurants across the country: in Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Austin. However, by age 26, he determined the “tough lifestyle” wasn’t for him. He wanted to start a business of his own — but doing so required a big change and swallowing his pride, he says.
The aspiring entrepreneur moved back to Baltimore to live with his parents and enrolled in business courses at the local community college. Kirby didn’t have a car, so he had to bike the 15 miles to campus, a backpack full of books in tow. Despite the challenges, Kirby finished the year with straight As and was accepted at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.
In his application essay, Kirby wrote that he was “hungry for success” and intended to use his professors as “free consultants” for his business, demonstrating a clear focus and ambition that he believes helped him stand apart from other applicants. He arrived on campus in 2013 and got to work immediately.
“The lightbulb went off when I saw that there was no local Ithaca hummus company.”
His first stop was the local farmer’s market to look for a gap in the marketplace; he wanted to know what wasn’t being made in town already. “The lightbulb went off when I saw that there was no local Ithaca hummus company,” Kirby says, “and I sprang into action pretty quickly.” Within a month, Kirby was selling his hummus at the farmer’s market. Lemon garlic was the brand’s first flavor.
“Taste is really everything,” Kirby says. “It’s the soul of food. In my restaurant experience, it was always the freshest, simplest, most unadulterated recipes that were my favorites. So it wasn’t about, How much can I add to this amazing ingredient? It’s, What’s the least amount that I can add to it to make it shine? Mother Nature does all the hard work for you; you just have to make it come through.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Ithaca Hummus
In the beginning, Ithaca Hummus had no resources or budget to speak of, but the limited cash meant Kirby had to zero in on what was most important — making the best product possible, getting people to taste it and selling as much as he could. To that end, he rented a kitchen for $250 a month and purchased the necessary supplies: giant pots, a big stick immersion blender, deli cups, a small digital scale and ice cream scoops for portioning out the product.
“Every single [customer] interaction gave me more and more confidence.”
“I had a maniacal focus on sales,” Kirby says. “I made the hummus, packed it myself and then spent every weekend selling at farmer’s markets because I loved seeing the reaction on customers’ faces when they tried it for the first time. And that feedback acted like a road map for me. Every single interaction gave me more and more confidence to push forward.”
Without a team or fancy manufacturing equipment, Kirby had to harness “a lot of hustle and creativity” to execute his vision. Ithaca Hummus continued to sell out at the farmer’s market every week, and Kirby credits the “unstoppable demand” to the brand’s quality and ability to connect with people.
Scaling the business’s manufacturing and packaging process was one of the biggest initial challenges. In the beginning, Kirby used deli cups with tamper-evident plastic lids that were heat-sealed with hair dryers, 10 at a time. Then, Kirby moved the operation into its first commercial space to keep pace with its growth and upgraded to a film-sealing automated packaging line, which came “with a tremendous amount of headaches.”
“I would spend days at a time troubleshooting, fixing it [and] feeling the pressure.”
The sealer would often break down, and without a quick fix or the funds to hire a mechanic, Kirby turned to Google searches and YouTube videos to figure out what was wrong. “I would spend days at a time troubleshooting, fixing it [and] feeling the pressure of [thinking], Every minute that this equipment was down, the bills kept coming in, and we weren’t producing anything to sell,” he says.
Related: 5 Keys to Effective Problem-Solving When You’re Facing a Complex Operational Challenge
Despite the growing pains, Ithaca Hummus kept expanding, ultimately landing in major retailers like Wegman’s and Whole Foods, where its products continued to sell well in competitive environments. The brand hit its first eight-figure revenue year in 2020 and has seen 40% year-over-year growth since, even selling 10 million tubs of hummus in 2024. What’s more, Ithaca Hummus is on track to maintain that growth rate in 2025, which means a projected $50 million annual revenue and over $150 million lifetime revenue.
“I’ve worked really hard to build a culture that’s the complete opposite of what I experienced.”
Through it all, Kirby has applied the leadership lessons learned from his restaurant days to foster a work environment where employees feel comfortable enough to be creative — a key to the brand’s long-term success.
“I’ve learned that true leadership is about empathy, clear communication and creating an environment where people feel valued and empowered,” Kirby says. “So I’ve worked hard to build a culture that’s the complete opposite of what I experienced in a lot of those kitchens. I want my team to feel safe to share ideas, take risks and learn from mistakes without fear of being punished.”
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