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Shopify Masters
The Pasta Straw Brand That Grew Into a 7-Figure Business Without Investors
00:35:10
Anthony Barresi built a 7-figure pasta straw brand by launching fast, creating viral content and building relationships to drive sales.
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- [00:00]
A
It's not about motivation. It's about discipline. It's about doing something consistently on a daily basis that compounds over time. I'll live and die by that saying.
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Welcome to Shopify Masters, your companion for starting and building a business. I'm your host, Adam Lavinter. As single use plastic bands sweep the globe. The race to reinvent the humble straw category has taken many forms, from soggy paper to clunky metal, but none have quite hit the mark. That's where Anthony Barisi comes in. He's the founder of Pasta Life, a brand making dur compostable straws out of, you guessed it, pasta.
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A
It's more than just a straw. Like, it's about creating this experience based brand that people can relate to and feel a part of.
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B
Designed to be smooth, edible, and last three times longer than paper pasta Life straws are now used in bars, restaurants, and hotels around the world.
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A
We started this business with $10,000 in the bank and we flipped it into, you know, a seven figure business.
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B
Anthony joins me to share how he built a viral sustainable brand with a product that proves straw alternatives don't have to suck. Anthony, welcome to the show.
- [01:04]
A
Great to be here, Adam. Thanks for having me.
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B
All right, so this brand is what, six years old? Now let's rewind back to the beginning. How do you come up with this idea?
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A
So it all started in my kitchen. I was with one of my best friends who was actually my co founder. We were having cocktails and we were drinking out of paper straws. And like everybody knows paper straws absolutely suck. It's a terrible experience. The second the paper straw hits your lips, it's immediately, it's like a toilet paper roll, right? You don't want to put soggy thing in your mouth. So instead of thinking about, you know, how do we make a paper straw better? My mind instantly went to pasta because that's just being an Italian American. That's my roots. I was thinking about what kind of device is long with a hole through it. And my mind immediately went to pasta.
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B
Okay, so tell me how you go from like this paper straw experience sucks to I need to reinvent an entire category.
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A
So here's the problem. All the plastic bands started sweeping the nation, right? They pulled the plastic, but they didn't have a solution. They had nothing in place to create a good experience. Instead, they went back to paper straws, which creates a completely negative experience. So for me, I'm all about experience. It comes from, you know, my history working in events, working in marketing, and working in creative, you always want to create the optimal brand experience. So for me, I was trying to think of, okay, what materials are out there that are durable, they last a long time, people love them, and they're. They're good to the environment. And that's where I landed on pasta.
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B
Okay, so are you having a chat with your friend and saying, look, I think I want to start a side hustle and create a straw. Like, how does this become a business?
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A
That's exactly it. I mean, I think when the. When the problem presents itself, that builder inside of me, you know, kind of lights a fire within, and I want to find a solution to something. And since I just felt so passionate about this thing, I looked at the competitive landscape. There was no one else doing it. I saw a lane that I could really excel in. I just took the leap of faith and went all in.
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B
Okay, so tell me about the first year. When did you know you had early product market fit, and who was the first customer?
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A
So the first year was all about, you know, creating that mvp. I think that's where a lot of founders are kind of, like, scared. They have this really great idea, they have this concept in that head, but it's all about putting pen to paper. Like, how do you make it become a reality? So after having that aha moment about creating a straw at a pasta, literally the next day, you know, my co founder and I were in my kitchen, we were rolling out fresh dough, and we were creating the first proof of concept product. Like making pasta. It's all by touch and feel. That's how I was born and raised as an Italian American. It wasn't exact in terms of the recipe, but I knew that's what it needed to, you know, needed to happen in order to create that proof of concept product. So literally, my kitchen, we're rolling out the fresh dough, putting it through the, you know, the KitchenAid to create these long, you know, pasta straws at the time, the first iteration of the product, and then we took it to bars, restaurants, right immediately, that was where the light bulb kind of moment happened, where operators of those businesses were like, this is great. This is genius. How do I purchase?
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B
Did you at the time have, like, minimum order quantities? Did you have an idea of your unit economics when you started having these conversations with restaurants or hotels?
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A
Honestly had no idea. You know, this is a completely new business, Wasn't really in food and beverage, wasn't in the disposable. So everything was kind of learn as you go.
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B
Tell me about the brand. So fast forward I mean, you have done incredibly well at sort of building this brand over the past six years. There's a social component, there's a viral component. You guys are creating content, you've got a website. How did you start thinking about brand strategy for this?
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A
So brand strategy is obviously it's the most important thing in my mind, right, that builds a fortress around the product. Right. It's to protect the product. And when people, you know, they're not always going out to search for a straw, but they are looking for a brand to kind of relate to and who they share common goals and values with. So the way that I think of marketing, it's all about, you know, growth, growth, hacking, right? How do you create something that's instantly going to get a ton of views on social media? So that's really where a lot of our content strategy comes into here. And creating these different viral moments in time that, you know, lure people in, creates a lot of controversy in the comments. And then we do subtle brand mentions and product integration that make it just feel really natural.
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B
Is the biggest driver the How Italian are you serious?
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A
That's right. That's the biggest driver right now. The How Italian are you Content series. We're doing a little bit of mix of other, you know, founder based content, entrepreneurial spirit based content. But again, it's about creating that, that, that funnel, right. Creating that different mix of content. But at the end of the day, the How Italian are you Content is, is by far the most successful.
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B
So I think of the Straw as sort of the hero product, but the brand is much more holistic. Let's say like Pasta Life could encompass a whole bunch of different products related to pasta, not just straws. So initially when you develop the brand, were you thinking let's start with straws and let's horizontally expand with different skus over time?
- [06:18]
A
That's correct. Right. So at the end of the day, we want to win and own the straw market. Obviously there's a ton of market share, there's a lot of competitors out there, and there's a ton of different space that we need to own within the straw market. But yes, like any other founder, you're always thinking about, okay, what's the product 2.0 and how do you expand into other product categories in order to continue to grow your business?
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B
Did you think about reinventing like an old boring category when you identify the problem? I ask you that because, you know, there's been a ton of brands actually specifically in New York that have been incredibly successful at reinventing or reinvigorating old categories. I'm thinking about, you know, Harry's with respect to razors, or Warby Parker with respect to eyewear. These are like generic old verticals that don't seem that exciting. But all of a sudden an entrepreneur comes in and sort of lights of fire, let's say, under the category. Were there any brands that you were watching that were sources of inspiration for you as you were building?
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A
I would say Liquid Death would be, you know, ripping a page out of their playbook, you know, creating those different viral moments, taking a category that hasn't been disrupted for, you know, tens of years, probably even longer than that. Right. And then creating something that's not only sustainable, but it creates a provocative brand that people can really relate to and really get behind. I think that's what's extremely important here.
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B
When you say that you want to own the category, what does that mean? And how big is this category specifically? Do you have metrics around sort of TAM or Total addressable Market? In the world of straws, how big is this?
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A
The straw market is absolutely huge. There's a statistic out there that 30 million straws are used across the entire globe in a single day. So the market potential is huge. There's obviously a lot of alternatives out there. Some are good for the environment, some are overly greenwashed. But we're just trying to be as transparent as possible and as real as possible. Because I think that a lot of brands out there are not, you know, 100% being transparent, not 100% being honest. And we just want to have that one to one, authentic connection with our fans.
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B
Mm. You've bootstrapped, Correct to this point, 100% bootstrap.
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A
In the beginning, you know, we started this business with $10,000 in the bank and we flipped it into, you know, a seven figure business. We've always wanted to create something for ourselves. We didn't really want to answer to anybody selling, still don't want to answer to anybody. I think that's been really successful. I think a lot of people, they create these different, you know, businesses, they have these absurd valuations, and then when it comes time to put the pedal to the metal and really live up to those expectations, they fall short. I don't want to promise anything to anybody. I don't want to, you know, blow things out of the water and then under deliver. So we've been just slow and steady, and slow and steady wins the race here, especially in the straw game.
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B
So initially you were talking about selling into hotels and Restaurants and bars. You're also selling direct to consumer. You've got a Shopify presence, obviously. What is the split or balance of sale between D2C and B2B?
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A
That has honestly rapidly changed over the past few months. I will say the majority of my business is B2B because it's a volume business. Right. It's a low cost. Good. So pushing volume is key to success here. I could win over one purchasing director or F and B director at a hotel and that's instantly 100,000 straws a year for that one single property. Right. So that was our main approach. That's always been our main approach. I think a lot of founders, especially in like the F and B space, automatically think, okay, we need to go direct to consumer. But I think that a lot of retail environments are kind of soul crunching and can really like drain the life out of you. But most recently I have been pivoting and this is with the success of the How Italian are you? Series to a more direct to consumer approach and selling directly on Shopify. And over this past holiday season, we've seen some of our most insane months to date just on the single product that we have that we do sell direct to consumer. But also what's key to that success is bundling it with the merch that we put out. So the merch is kind of like the way into the brand. Right. People see the merch on social media. They see the How Italian are you? Videos on social media. It kind of, you know, lures them into the brand, makes them, you know, want to learn more about it. Then the, the pasta straws of the cherry on the cake. Right. They see that, they instantly convert. So it's about that whole holistic picture of, you know, it's more than just a straw. Like it's about creating this experience based brand that people can relate to and feel a part of the experience of,
- [11:04]
B
of actually drinking through straws. Like, I don't know that that's an experience that the average consumer thinks about, but as you describe the pain point of, you know, sipping your favorite beverage through a paper straw that sort of dissolves in your mouth, it's a disgusting experience. I've had it firsthand, but I never thought about the category as one that really needed significant disruption. I guess my question for you on this is, can there be a big DTC push in a category like this where, you know, volume is king and I would imagine your margins are razor thin?
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A
Yeah, that is correct. We have experimented with D2C route at the time, the product cost, especially the packaging costs, were way too expensive to be able to actually sustain retail for a long period of time and penetrate the retail market significantly. But since then, I've kind of rolled back a little bit and just pumped the brakes. Just based upon experience and knowing what works and what doesn't work, I was able to get my product costs down significantly, reduce packaging by over 50%. So now we're at a place where we're able to, you know, go into retail environment, sell direct to consumer and still get a really great margin on such a low cost item. Which I think is extremely important if you're going to actually survive, you know, at retail. The one thing that I will say though, about retail, specifically as it relates to straws, and this is why we didn't go the retail route, you know, from the jump, is because when was the last time we went to the grocery store to buy a straw? It rarely happens. It's a very impulse buy. Maybe you're having a party or something, right? And you're going to buy all the goods. The straws are always the afterthought, right? Plus, a pasta straw requires a ton of education, a ton of like floor placement, case displays, all that education is very hard to communicate when you only have two to three seconds with a customer at retail. So that's why we've been kind of like slow and steady, you know, test the waters, test regionally, test in small mom and pop stores to get a feel of, of what works, what doesn't work in order to then be able to scale for the future.
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B
What gets the F and B buyer excited. Like someone that's committing to sort of 100,000 units over a calendar year, let's say. Are they like, look, this is a problem. My customer hates paper straws. Historically we've used paper straws and customers are annoyed. Are they saying we've historically used plastic and we want to replace that with something more sustainable or unique, like what gets them. Your buyer pumped about this?
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A
So that's the start, but it's really as simple, it's relationship driven, right? At the end of the day, people want to do work with people who they like and they enjoy being in the room with. And that's what I'm able to bring to the table. And that's where I've been able to differentiate myself from these other disposable straw utensil companies, right? Where they're just trying to push the product on the end consumer on that buyer, just to make their profit hit their quota. But the hospitality industry has always been experience based. It's always been about relationships and that's, that's the key to converting people.
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B
Are you out there drumming up business face to face and visiting these hotels and bars yourself?
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A
Always.
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B
How do you make that work with your full time gig at Live Nation? And how do you split time between the two?
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A
So when you look at, when you look at the entire week, right, so the first two hours of every day you need to spend critical time getting your name out there, right? Whether that's boots on the ground, sending out emails or creating content. Those are the three buckets that I look at. What I can scale very rapidly is my lead gen strategy, right. I have different processes in place to set up different AI software. So I'm able to scrape, you know, lists and curate the people who I know are looking for a particular straw and I'm able to send out thousands of emails on a daily basis and then that's where I start the conversation. So, you know, I'm one man show here, but I'm able to hit thousands of people on a daily basis, right. So getting my name out there, getting, getting the product in people's hands so they can try it for themselves, they could see the quality. They can, we could start building a relationship there. And then the content story, right, that comes through as well. People are discovering us on social media more just through the how Italian are you? Videos but through the founder based content that I've started creating. And bars and restaurants have been actually reaching out specifically. Either they are looking for something different, they want to be featured in the content, they want a little bit more than just, you know, your regular straw provider.
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B
Let's double click on the lead gen strategy for a sec. So talk to me more about what exactly you're doing with systems and tools. Anything you could share that would be helpful for other founders that are trying to create that top of funnel marketing strategy that drives the leads into the pipeline for sure.
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A
So systems take, you know, a six figure business, seven figures, eight figures, et cetera, et cetera. If you don't have the systems in place, if you don't have strong processes in place, you are never going to scale, right. So when thinking about Legion, I think it's extremely important to create a system that's, that's obviously scalable but also has that personal touch, right. So what I'm able to do is I'm able to segment different B2B customers, whether they're just a single operator, they're multi use Operators, operator. Whether they, they are specifically, you know, for hotels where guest experiences and curate the emails that go out to them and then I do regular follow ups with them to ensure that I'm, you know, really creating something that is different and stands out amongst all the clutter that's out there and all the emails. I mean, I think a lot of these AI softwares are getting, you know, I get tricked on a daily basis just by subject lines, but you can read through the fine print. So I like to have my own personal touch once I'm able to make that first point of contact and then picking up the phone. I think a lot of founders right now are kind of scared to pick up the phone and actually build relationships. So once I'm able to make that first point of contact, I'm always on the phone building that rapport, building that trust and really speaking to the product, what we stand for and just all of our core values and.
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B
Are you using Klaviyo for your outbound email communication?
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A
Do use Klaviyo for outbound email, but that's just for, for my D2C communications, I use a software called Apollo and a few other softwares to ensure my open rates and my, you know, inbounds deliverability rates are always optimal. But yeah, that's what I primarily use.
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B
Okay, so I want to go back to the whole balance thing because I don't know that I got clarity on how you are managing all of this. So. And you have a family, by the way. You've got three kids as far as I. So you're a family man, you're a proud father, you're an entrepreneur, you're a creative director at Live Nation. Do you at any point see yourself jumping into this full time?
- [18:14]
A
There is definitely a world for that. I think at the end of the day, it's all about discipline. There's people who get confused between what discipline is and what motivation is. People may have motivation, but a lot of motivation just comes in spurts. Right. You could be extremely motivated to get something off the ground and then it kind of tapers off when there's a challenge, when there's a minor setback. But if you can be disciplined and you can be consistent on a daily basis and do the small things right every single day, those wins compound. And that's why I've been able to be so successful. Prioritization is also very key and I'm very precious of my time and my personal time with my family and keeping, you know, church and state completely separate and Then also I'm a, I'm a member of the 5:00am Club. You know, getting up early, getting in a workout, getting your mind right, getting your head set for the day and planning out your weeks, depending on, you know, what's on your play, what are the top priorities?
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B
You mentioned the separation between church and state, I assume in the context of work and family life, but how do you keep that separation between full time job and entrepreneurial side hustle? How do you view the two?
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A
It's a dance and you definitely need to keep it, you know, obviously separate as well. I'm not one to hide it. I think a lot of people at Live Nation and in the creative industry as a whole respect what I do just because of the relationships that they have, just because of my work ethic and my discipline. And they trust that regardless of what I'm doing, I'm always going to be able to deliver. Whether that's something for Live Nation or if that's something for Pasta life or if it's something for my family. If you tell me that something's important, and I agree that it's important, it's going to get done.
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B
Yeah. You know, I would think that there's a lot of people that, to your point, are keeping their side hustle kind of, you know, clandestine or in the vault or, you know, away from their employer. They don't want it to get out. At the same time, I think there's a lot of people that recognize that lifestyle in a big city is expensive, cost of living is high, expenses are high, certainly if you've got kids. And so I don't know how you feel about the level of transparency that is needed nowadays in 2026 with respect to one's employer. That is to say, do you think that it's healthy that we should have those conversations early with our employer and say, look like I'm loyal to the company, but I also want to have this side hustle that provides a little bit of extra income for myself or my family or my kids on the side. And that in no means is going to jeopardize, you know, my results or my productivity here at work. Like those conversations, I think are healthy and they need to be happening at a higher level of frequency. Where do you land on that?
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A
I agree. I think it's 100 a valid question and I think it is. It's very healthy to be open and honest and have accountability.
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B
Yeah. Talk to me about some of the setbacks that you've had over the last six years when you rank them. What have been the biggest setbacks or challenges that you've had to undertake?
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A
I would say number one is competing on price. The straw industry is cutthroat, right? Razor thin margins. Everybody is trying to beat everybody by the fraction of the cent, right? So when you're fighting on margin and you're fighting on price, the wind starts to, you know, remove itself from the sales a bit, right? It's pretty tough, you know, so that has been a major challenge, especially with a product like mine where the raw materials are expensive, right. Because it is a premium and truly sustainable product. So to be completely honest with you, I've completely just pushed that to the wayside. I'm proud of my product, I'm proud of my quality, I'm proud of my relationships that I've built and I stand by the product. So if it is priced, you know, 2 or 3 cents higher than the competitor, my customers know that they're getting more than a straw at the end of the day. So the value prop is already there, right? They've got the relationship, they've got the speed. They know that I'm going to deliver the product, product in a timely manner when they need it the most. And I'm not going to dodge them. I'm not going to just, you know, not deliver for them. And then it all comes down to the content as well. So the way that we've evolved the How Italian are you? Series is we've started to pivot to be more of a, you know, B2B focus. So I've been bringing on some of the chefs and some of the bar managers that I work with and they're actually the ones getting interviewed, right. And then we're asking them about how they use the product, how their customers enjoy the enhanced guest experience. Right? And we, it's kind of like taking a play out of, you know, Dave Portnoy's playbook, right, with the one bite pizza reviews so he can show up to a, to a regular mom and shop pizzeria right, in Nowhereville, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut. He does a review and instantly there are thousands of people lined up and they instantly sell out. So we have that effect. Obviously not to the scale that he does right now. However, when people see our videos, they're getting hundreds and thousands of views and people are going to those bars, going to those restaurants because they want to try the product. It's as simple as that.
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B
So talking about setbacks, Anthony, I'll let you tell the story, but as far as I understand There was some sort of product interruption that involved a port somewhere. Could you please elaborate on that?
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A
Good old port Newark, right. And the ILA decided to go on strike. So we had an inbound order, it was a fairly large order. We were gearing up for summer, right, Gearing up for the end of Q3, looking into the fall months where I see a ton of volume as far as our B2B clients. So we had a large inbound shipment. You know, obviously the weather is hot, but typically from a logistical standpoint, we're able to get the product in, in enough time back to my warehouse where it's, you know, in a temperature controlled unit. And it would be a non issue normally, but sometimes things happen that are completely out of your control. The union decided to go on strike and as we all know, the union controls the port, right? So no workers means, means no freight is getting unloaded from cargo ships. So the straws sat in a hot Cargo container in 90 plus degrees, high humidity. It was finally taken off of the cargo ship and just sat, you know, pretty exposed in a warehouse where the elements really got to it. And when it arrived at my warehouse, the product was completely unsellable. It was, you know, know, mold was everywhere. It was just a complete loss and a major setback. But I think the moral to the story is no matter how much you plan, no matter how hard that you work, there's always going to be setbacks that are just completely out of your control. When things are good, you're always going to get that curveball. It's going to, you know, punch you out. Strike three. But I think it's all about resiliency, right? And it's, it's the comeback story. That's what people really like. That's what people like to see. It's not about the end result, it's about the journey that got you there. So resiliency is key, key. You got to take those hardships that you have, right, and turn them into more motivation to be more disciplined at the end of the day because sometimes things are just completely out of your control. But roll with the punches. And it's all about that comeback story.
- [25:34]
B
How have you thought about international expansion? You're, you're in markets outside of the US Correct me if I'm wrong, you've expanded into the Middle east, uk, Ireland, Australia and others. How do you identify what markets you want to tackle next?
- [25:51]
A
So I primarily want to win in the United States. There's huge market share here and I don't want to scale Too fast on a global scale where I'm not able to compete or able to deliver. So I actually do not look at other markets outside of the United States actively. They reach out to me, inquiring about the product, wanting to get it in hand, and then if it makes sense on both ends, then I'm happy to do the deal.
- [26:14]
B
How are you tracking competition? Do you have trademarks or patents that you've secured that are protecting the brand as you grow?
- [26:22]
A
So I will say this about competition. I feel like if you continue to track your competitors, you start to become them, right? And that's the exact opposite thing that I want to do. I want to be different. I want to stand above the crowd, right? A lot of my competitors are talking about, you know, their. Their different sustainability claims and whatnot. And honestly, that's all good and wholesome, but at the end of the day, it starts to get. Get, you know, a little bit tired, a little bit washed, in my personal opinion. So I don't want to be like my competitors. I also think of, you know, it's like when you're running a race, right? The second that you look to your left, look to your right, see who's behind you, that's when your competitor's gonna run right past you and you're gonna fall to the wayside, right? But as far as, you know, patents are concerned, you know, don't have a patent. We built a fortress around the product by brand strategy, right? And creating that strong brand that is authentic, that people, you know, genuinely want to be a part of the con conversation. And really, at the end of the day, it's about the recipe, right? So we have a trade secret similar like Coca Cola on that actual recipe itself. So, you know, by all means, go out there, try and replicate it, do your very best. It's taken, you know, me six years to. To perfect the recipe. But if you do come close to it, I will say this. You know, you will never outwork me, be more disciplined than I am. So I welcome the challenge. You know, competition always creates more innovation, and it makes people really rise to the occasion.
- [27:48]
B
I would also say that, you know, we're at a point in time where content can really become that competitive advantage, right? Like, you have this unique ability to put out content on social. You've created an incredible series that resonates with consumers and followers, and it's next to impossible for your first, second, third line competitor to just jump in and. And start to compete on that level. Yes, they could probably compete on recipe. They could compete on price, but nobody's going to compete with respect to your content strategy. So is that the way you see it?
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A
That's 100% accurate?
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B
Yeah. Do you think that founders understand this opportunity around content as a competitive advantage?
- [28:33]
A
I don't think that they fully understand. You know, you kind of have to get your feet wet and take the plunge in order to fully understand and fail fast and experiment.
- [28:43]
B
Yeah, it's hard.
- [28:44]
A
Right. It's not an easy task at hand. I will say that I've seen a lot of founders who, with every piece of content that they put out, are focused on conversion. Right. So that's, that's where your mind can't be at. And that was the intention of the How Italian are you? A series. It wasn't about converting people, it was about welcoming them into the brand in a creative way. And that's what's moved the needle so much. Showing up authentically. Right. Having, you know, people be, you know, battling about sauce or gravy in the comments, that's what creates that viral moment. And when people start seeing those videos over and over again and then having that subtle product integration, that's where they start actually being like, oh, wow, this is a brand. This is legit. They're solving this problem. I want to get on board with that. And then like, further down the line, all that how Italian are you? Videos, like, it's very repetitive. Right. But it's, it's repetitive by design because all of those views are then used to just retarget people with my conversion driven ads to serve up the product and make sure that it's, you know, going to the right audience. And, and that's, that's the proof is in the pudding right there.
- [29:53]
B
Yeah. So just to be clear, for founders who may not understand exactly what you're saying, when you say founders are too obsessed with creating content for conversion, we're actually talking about attaching a specific CTA or call to action to that relevant piece of content to try and drive that user to a checkout page, for example, versus what you're saying is like, look, let's create some content that welcomes people into our brand. We're not going to ask for anything. We're not going to attach a CTA or drive them to a specific page and track that way. We just want to engage.
- [30:30]
A
That's right, Yep. All about engagement.
- [30:32]
B
What advice do you have for founders who want to jump into entrepreneurship, want to build something, but, but don't necessarily have that same high level of motivation that you have, how do you keep that motivation high?
- [30:47]
A
So I would say as a founder and as an entrepreneur, it's night and day. It's either you have it or you don't, right? So if you think you have it, you need to go for it. If you don't think you have it, if you have a sense of doubt, then maybe it's not the right fit for you. But you need to try. You need to put yourself out there, you need to, to make yourself feel uncomfortable, right? That's where the real growth begins and that's where you start to see scale. That's where you start to see success. I think in talking about motivation, when people get really excited about a new idea, a new concept, a new business, they have that initial drive. But then there's those setbacks, there's those challenges, there's those hurdles that they need to overcome where they're just like, maybe this isn't the right fit for me, me. But that's when you need to change your mindset. It's not about motivation, it's about discipline. It's about doing something consistently on a daily basis that compounds over time. I'll live and die by that saying.
- [31:45]
B
I will ask about the future of pasta life. What is on the horizon for 2026 and beyond?
- [31:54]
A
So for 2026, obviously going all in on content and scaling content, having a diverse mix of content, that way we attract new customers. I think that that is extremely important. It's something that we do extremely well and we're going to continue to do well. As far as scaling on the B2B end, I'm taking, you know, a lot of the things that I've learned about Legion email automation, I'm also scaling that as well. Whereas it, it goes a level deeper where I am building that one to one communication. But a lot of the samples that go out to these potential clients, it's all autom. So I do, I'm able to focus my time on getting more leads rather than being in the weeds and sending out samples. So that's another area. And then I will say it's the expansion of, you know, D2C. I think that that is extremely important. Especially over the holiday season, over November and December, we saw a huge, a huge, you know, influx of orders from a D2C angle. So we're going to take a lot of those insights about bundling the product with our merch that's been highly attractive and really creating that sense of brand storytelling that everyone wants to be a part of.
- [33:09]
B
Anthony, as you Reflect back on the last few years building this. What are you most proud of?
- [33:14]
A
What am I most proud of? I think that there's a lot of things that I'm really proud about. I'm proud about, you know, raising my family while doing this, showing them what hard work, dedication and discipline means. I have a young son, I have two younger daughters, right, who. Who like to work with me in the warehouse. You know, giving them that sense of that entrepreneurial spirit at a young age and showing them how hard work and discipline pays off is just honestly priceless to me. I want them to grow up knowing that I was a good dad, that I was there for them, and leave that legacy on them. That's what I'm most proud about. When you talk about numbers, right. Bootstrap this thing with, you know, 10k in the bank turn into a seven figure business. I think that's extremely impressive there.
- [33:57]
B
Care.
- [33:57]
A
So I'm looking to double down that in 2026.
- [34:00]
B
No, it's a very cool story, I gotta say. I would imagine this is a super exciting product for your kids to be a part of.
- [34:06]
A
It sure is.
- [34:07]
B
They can actually physically test on a regular basis.
- [34:10]
A
That's right. Exactly. I mean, kids, kids love straws. They use straws every day. I mean, people ask me all the time, like, oh, is it kid safe? I'm like, here's a photo of, you know, my daughter using the straws. 100% kids safe. They love it. It starts a conversation. They want to be a part of it. They say, daddy, there's a Pasta Life straw. And that just keeps me going every day.
- [34:30]
B
That's very cool, Anthony. Congrats on everything you built. Keep building, man. It's really fun to watch. Thanks so much for being here. That's Anthony Barisi, co founder of Pasta Life. Shopify Masters is produced by Alicia Clark, Gogo Zoeger and Schwang Esther Chan. Our engineers are Matt Schwartz and Miku Bedlam and Rachel Reich is our senior content lead. I'm your host, Adam Lavinter. Come back every Tuesday and Thursday to catch a brand new episode of Shopify Masters. And be sure to check out our YouTube channel for video interviews. Until next time. Thanks so much for listening.