# Joe Sasto on Breaking Rules and Building a Pasta + CPG Empire

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-perfect-bite-7237404/joe-sasto-on-breaking-rules-and-building-a-pasta-cpg-empire
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-perfect-bite-7237404/joe-sasto-on-breaking-rules-and-building-a-pasta-cpg-empire.md
Podcast: [The Perfect Bite](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-perfect-bite-7237404)
Published: 2026-04-23T12:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://the-perfect-bite.cohostpodcasting.com/episodes/joe-sasto-on-breaking-rules-and-building-a-pasta-cpg-empire
Audio file: https://pdcn.co/e/audio-delivery.cohostpodcasting.com/audio/3619c374-2f55-4f02-9bc6-33f11b7b3c6c/episodes/b48e0c22-eaa1-46d5-a18a-e1370a8d1ac0/episode.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-perfect-bite-7237404/episodes/joe-sasto-on-breaking-rules-and-building-a-pasta-cpg-empire
Duration seconds: 3164

## Resource

He hated pasta as a kid. Now he's the self-proclaimed Prince of Pasta, the Ruler of Rigatoni, the Sultan of Spaghetti, and one of the most exciting chef-turned-CPG-founders in the food industry. Joe Sasto is the founder of Tantos pasta chips, co-founder of Ripi Foods frozen pasta, author of “Breaking The Rules,” and a familiar face across Food Network, Top Chef, and Netflix competitions. But what makes Joe's story genuinely compelling isn't the resume: it's the mustache, the energy, the happy accident that turned a forgotten tray of dried pasta in a Beverly Hills walk-in into a snack brand heading to Targets nationwide. In this episode, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Joe for a conversation that covers the full arc, from growing up in the Midwest with a mom who served pasta with sauce on top (never married into the noodle), to landing on the pasta station at Quince because a cook was "unwillfully ejected,” to the moment he realized that cooking competitions aren't about ego, they're a sport. From building Tantos out of an accidental kitchen discovery, to getting Ripi Foods into Whole Foods nationwide with an exclusive Cacio e Pepe flavor, to teasing a potential pizza restaurant in New York, Joe is always moving, always building, always with a sauce splatter video ready to go on Instagram. This episode is packed with genuinely useful CPG insights, including a helpful retail tip about exclusives that could change how you approach your next buyer meeting. And plenty of pasta puns. Because that's just who Joe is. In this episode, we cover: Growing up hating pasta and how he ended up on the pasta station at Quince California farming, Lazy Bear, and why he still thinks California has the world's best produce How Top Chef changed everything and why he'd never go back (but a…

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