How I Built This with Guy Raz
Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps
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Summary
This episode of How I Built This Advice Line features Guy Raz alongside Chomps co-founders Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali, who help three early-stage founders navigate key business inflection points. Before the calls, Pete and Rashid discuss the broader 'proteinification' of food culture, arguing it represents a lasting cultural shift rather than a fad, and candidly reflect on a 2024 product recall that cost them significantly but ultimately reinforced their consumer-first values. The three callers span distinct stages and categories: Yadi, a former teacher running a $700K/year empanada business on a college campus, wrestles with expansion strategy; Zachary, co-owner of Noble Pies doing $2.4M across retail and wholesale, wants to break into major retailers like Whole Foods and Target; and Josh, a side-hustling founder of a smallmouth bass lifestyle brand approaching $100K in revenue, wonders when and how to go full-time. The overarching themes are discipline around focus, the dangers of scaling too fast into retail, the importance of velocity data, and the deeply personal calculus of when to commit fully to a venture. Pete and Rashid draw heavily on their own 13-year journey building Chomps to offer grounded, experience-backed advice — emphasizing patience, incrementality, and the value of staying close to your customer before chasing vanity metrics like big-box retail placement.
Key Takeaways
Getting into a major retailer is the easy part — staying in and performing is the real challenge. Prove velocity and repeat purchase rates before approaching big-box stores.
highWhen scaling a food or consumer brand, maintain tight geographic proximity (within 45 miles) for your first expansion locations so you can manage quality and operations effectively.
highConsumer trust is worth more than short-term cost savings. Chomps' proactive recall — despite finding no confirmed contamination — cost millions but reinforced brand loyalty.
highFor lifestyle brands with niche audiences, apparel serves as 'free marketing that produces revenue,' but functional, technical products (like lures) carry higher margins and should anchor long-term strategy.
highThe protein trend is a cultural shift, not a fad — but 'proteinification' fatigue is coming. Brands that win on authenticity and natural sourcing will outlast the trend.
mediumFor founders considering going full-time: the signal isn't a revenue number — it's when staying part-time starts to feel riskier than jumping in. You'll know.
mediumA commissary/central kitchen model can solve both the seasonality problem for campus-based food businesses and enable scalable distribution to multiple locations.
mediumNotable Quotes
“At the end of the day, when we were going through it, the cost or expense never crossed our mind. The goal was to remove any consumer risk, any product risk, and make sure we make the right decision — long-term decision.”
— Rashid Ali
Reflecting on Chomps' decision to issue a large-scale product recall despite finding no confirmed contamination — a defining moment in their brand values.
“Getting into the retailer is honestly the easiest part of the process. It's staying and performing.”
— Pete Maldonado
Counterintuitive advice to Zachary of Noble Pies, who was focused on breaking into Whole Foods and Target.
“We say we're a 13-year overnight success.”
— Rashid Ali
Reminding founders that sustained, patient growth — not viral breakthroughs — is the more common path to building a durable brand.
“When it starts to feel like doing this part time is riskier, that's when you know.”
— Guy Raz
Advice to Josh about when to make the leap to running his smallmouth bass brand full-time.
“I'm glad we went a bit ignorant. We didn't know what we didn't know, and I think it allowed us to get to where we are.”
— Rashid Ali
Answering Guy's question about what they'd tell their younger selves — arguing that naivety was actually a strategic advantage.
“Success is rooted in focus. And that's the hard part — trying to figure out where you want the brand to go ultimately and having a clear path to get there.”
— Pete Maldonado
Advice to Josh on balancing passion and ideation with the discipline required to build a scalable business.
Predictions
Consumer fatigue around 'proteinification' will eventually hit — protein-added products in unlikely categories (water, ice cream, popcorn) will lose appeal.
— Pete Maldonado · Confidence: medium · Unspecified, described as an eventual trend correction
Chomps will continue to win even after protein-trend fatigue because it represents a natural, convenient, authentic protein source rather than an engineered product.
— Rashid Ali · Confidence: high · Long-term / ongoing
AI and automation will allow small brand founders to run lean, one-person operations at a scale that previously required larger teams.
— Pete Maldonado · Confidence: medium · Already happening / near-term
Action Items
If trying to break into a major retailer, build your pitch around incrementality data — show buyers that you bring new customers to the category, not just cannibalize existing ones.
Pete and Rashid's core advice to Zachary of Noble Pies; applicable to any founder pursuing wholesale retail.
Before approaching Whole Foods or Target, cultivate individual store managers as internal advocates — a store manager's endorsement carries more weight than a cold application.
Guy Raz's advice to Zachary, validated by Pete and Rashid's experience at Chomps.
If your food business is seasonal (e.g., campus-based), use a food truck or delivery model to fill revenue gaps during off-peak periods rather than relying solely on fixed locations.
Advice to Yadi of Yadi's Empanadas to offset college campus closures in summer and winter.
For first geographic expansion, stay within 45 miles of your original location so you can manage quality, culture, and operations before scaling further.
Guy Raz's franchise-informed advice to Yadi about her second location strategy.
If you're selling a physical product and consistently going out of stock, prioritize solving the manufacturing/supply bottleneck before investing in marketing or retail — you need to understand your true demand ceiling first.
Rashid's advice to Josh of Achigan, who was selling lures faster than he could make them.
Survey your existing customer base about gifting and e-commerce interest before dismissing direct-to-consumer shipping — holiday demand may justify a seasonal DTC offering even with high shipping costs.
Pete's advice to Zachary of Noble Pies, who was getting flooded with shipping requests every holiday season.
For niche lifestyle brands, focus your initial marketing energy within one tight community (as Chomps did with CrossFit) before expanding to adjacent audiences — depth before breadth.
Pete's reflection on Chomps' early community-focused growth strategy, applied to Josh's smallmouth bass brand.