On today’s episode, I sit down with Nico and Fran, co-founders of Pistakio.

Pistakio makes pistachio spread built around real pistachio flavor, but the product is really built around a harder question: how do you take an ingredient that is already loved in Italy, and turn it into a pantry staple for American consumers who mostly know pistachios as a snack, a gelato flavor, or a recent Dubai chocolate trend?

In this conversation, we get into the early pivot from pistachio mayo to sweet spread, what they learned from launching into New Seasons, how demos shaped the product and packaging, why food service has become such an important discovery channel, the role of TikTok and influencer seeding, and what changed when they moved from making the product themselves to working with a co-packer.

I learned a lot during my conversation with Nico and Fran, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.