Lentiful

01The full story

Ben built Lentiful after years in corporate America and a prior role helping a food company with Shopify and Amazon operations. During the pandemic, he saw a gap between rising interest in plant-based eating and convenient lentil products. He developed an instant lentil cup, initially planning 120,000 cups and roughly half a million dollars in sales. Ben reported about $550,000 in first-year sales, followed by just under $2 million in the second year. He said the business had been profitable for four or five months, then finished the year at a slight loss after he accelerated spending. He was the only full-time employee and said he had not yet taken a salary. The founder projected $4 million to $5 million for 2025, but that was a goal, not achieved revenue. Lentiful combines packaged food, Shopify-led ecommerce, retail distribution, manufacturing relationships, and a highly lean founder-led operating model.