Pasta Evangelists Net Worth?
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You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Alessandro Savelli, 41, Chris Rennoldson, 46, and Finn Lagun, 28, founded Pasta Evangelists in 2016 after a pasta-making class jump-started Mr Savelli’s entrepreneurial spirit. With only one of the founders having any kind of experience in the food industry, they were an unlikely trio that, despite Dragon’s Den failure, have reached unprecedented success.
Mr Savelli had previously founded luxury smartphone business Savelli which launched internationally, but after 10 years the business closed down. A few weeks later he found himself in a pasta-making class in London where he saw real variety and craftsmanship for the first time since childhood where he would make pasta by hand with his nonna in Italy.
- Inspired to bring this fresh, artisan pasta to the everyday Briton, Mr Savelli used his grandmothers recipe and sold Pasta Evangelists’ first portion of gnocchi in 2016.
- Mr Savelli was soon introduced to Mr Rennoldson, a chemical engineering graduate who was working at the London Stock Exchange, and a week later the pair were working together in Leytonstone, gaining traction for Pasta Evangelists.
Shortly before turning 40, Mr Rennoldson decided to pivot his career by enrolling at a cookery school hoping to fuel his transition into food. 
Founders Finn Lagun, Alessandro Savelli and Chris Rennoldson seemed to be an unlikely trio (Image: Pasta Evangelists) The final member of the founding trio, Mr Lagun, was introduced to the pair through the tech startups community in London and joined the business less than five days later.
Mr Lagun had previously worked in the technology sector for companies like Amazon, Zipjet and HelloFresh although his love of food came from his family who are in the restaurant business. The trio immediately set to work producing and packing what little orders they had before doing multiple funding rounds to help their venture take off, the most notable of which was Mr Lagun and Mr Savelli appearing on Dragon’s Den in 2018.
Offering a 1.5 percent stake in Pasta Evangelists in return for £75,000 investment, they were quickly dismissed by all of the dragons, leaving the den empty-handed. During the pitch, dragon Jenny Campbell thwarted the pair, saying: “I like it because it’s a good lesson on how not to run and set-up a business.
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Are pasta evangelists successful?
Italian food giant Barilla has snapped up direct-to-consumer business Pasta Evangelists to tap into booming e-commerce demand in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic. The value of the majority stake in the UK-headquartered fresh pasta maker, founded by Alessandro Savelli in 2016 and backed by Great British Bake-Off judge Prue Leith, is undisclosed, but is reported to be about £40m.
Savelli will continue to run Pasta Evangelists as a standalone business outside Barilla, with co-founders Chris Rennoldson and Finn Lagun also remaining as shareholders. The deal represented a new step in Barilla’s international growth, especially in the UK, with a focus on growing digital markets. Demand for food delivery, recipe boxes and meal kits has soared during the coronavirus pandemic in the UK with consumer stuck at home.
Pasta Evangelists delivers boxes of fresh pasta and sauces to the homes of subscribers. Its sales increased by more than 300% during 2020, having sold in excess of one-million portions of pasta during the year, up from just 200 portions when it launched in 2016.
The business also has a fast-growing on-demand offer, as well as supplying its pastas and sauces across Ocado, Amazon and Marks & Spencer, with a physical concession in the Harrods Food Hall. Barilla said it would support Pasta Evangelists’ growth plans in the UK and, in the future, overseas. Barilla Group chief marketing officer Gianluca Di Tondo added: “The Covid-19 crisis has changed consumer behaviour, the way people work, and the way products are distributed.
“The consumer demand for freshly made, premium food is growing, as well as the boom in e-commerce and subscription-based consumer products. We are excited to expand our family with a brand that underlines these major trends.” Barilla has identified the UK as a key market for future expansion, which will be backed by the creation of a new digital hub in London working with the Parma headquarters.
Who bought pasta evangelists?
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com – MILAN, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Barilla said on Thursday it had bought a majority stake in Britain’s Pasta Evangelists, re-entering the fresh pasta market and boosting its digital offering at time when the pandemic is driving demand for home deliveries of food and drinks.
Who founded pasta evangelists?
P asta by post. Sounds barmy, when you think of the potential for squelch and sogginess. Pasta Evangelists, though, is a business that specialises in selling different varieties of handmade pasta as good as – if not better than – anything you’ll have had in someone’s home or restaurant, and posts them through your letterbox (London, and nationwide).
Alex Savelli, the British-Italian entrepreneur behind the idea, initially delivered 30 portions of gnocchi with pesto alla Genovese to friends and family in October 2015; the business now sells around 600 portions every week. The founding team includes the former CEO of Anya Hindmarch, James McArthur, former consultant Chris Reynoldson, and three “pasta evangelists” including the cookery school founder Prue Leith.
Why did you start the business? It had to be something I liked, because my previous company wasn’t something I was passionate about and, as cheesy as it sounds, I am Italian, I have Italian food every day, including pasta, I lived there for 20 years, and I’ve cooked since I was 14.
- This was also about seeing a business opportunity.
- I noticed that there were several waves of improvement in almost every single food and beverage sector – for burgers, pizzas, coffee and so on – uplifting the products, freshness and branding, except not for pasta.
- In supermarkets, the product hadn’t evolved since the Sacla pesto days yet now people want to eat fresh and seasonal things.
So with this I wanted to try to bring Italianita, which means Italian-ness – doing things as an Italian would – to London, by making and delivering extremely fresh products. How many products do you make? We have between five and six dishes to choose from each week, but we’ve served 100 different recipes since the beginning, including things like pulled pork ragu, beef shin ragu or pistachio pesto.
We’ve also recently just doubled our growth, and now sell 600 portions every week. We’ve just launched pasta subscriptions, and we also team up with different businesses and do pasta masterclasses with them. Recently we collaborated with Bonnie Gull restaurant with Polpo and Obika restaurants joining up in February.
Where are the ingredients from? For our bianche pastas (the ones without egg, like orechiette) and our egg pastas – tortelloni, ravioli, pappardelle – we use fine OO flour or a stoneground organic flour from Gilchesters Organics UK. We also use free-range eggs.
For the fillings, we collaborate with London makers, so ingredients are from a variety of places. Pasta Evangelists How is the pasta made? From 7am until 4pm, there are three people cooking, pasta making and packaging in our production kitchen in West London. They make three weekly batches of pasta, sauces and garnishes so that it’s always as fresh as possible – they fold the tortelloni by hand, and use the tools on a pasta making machine to create different shapes and sizes.
Pappardelle and spaghetti, for example, need to be flatter, while short pastas are different again. They also fill some with things like ricotta, and finally they create garnishes which might be grissini crumb, pecorino cheese, or toasted hazelnuts.
Where are pasta evangelists based?
We’re a small team of pasta enthusiasts based in London.
How did pasta evangelists start?
Alessandro Savelli founded Pasta Evangelists, a home delivery service for fresh Italian pasta dishes in 2017, because he felt that pasta in Britain was still relegated to hard, mass-produced spaghetti on supermarket shelves and jars of pesto. Based in Hoxton, East London, Pasta Evangelists employs around 25 full-time staff in its office and another 60 or so in production, preparing and packaging the pasta boxes.
What is pasta evangelists masterclass?
Learn the art of fresh pasta at a Pasta Evangelists masterclass. Led by our expert Italian chefs, each masterclass will equip you with the skills to make your own pasta dough and create your own hand-rolled pasta shapes. Find out more. With limited spaces available for each class, book now to avoid disappointment!
What is Benvenuto pasta?
Benvenuto. so much more to pasta than meets the eye. A world of some of Italy’s finest dishes. Pasta makes everything feel better. So why not make pasta taste better?
What’s in a 5* pasta recipe?
Each recipe includes everything you need to prepare a 5* pasta dish, including freshly made pasta, an authentic sauce & delicious garnish.15 ‘mind-blowingly delicious’ recipes. your door on a day of your choosing.
How often do you deliver pasta in the UK?
We deliver every day across the UK. Follow our easy instructions and prepare our restaurant-quality pasta in the comfort of your own home. when it suits you. Skip, pause or cancel anytime. Looking for the perfect Christmas gift for your favourite foodie?
