Owen Wang, founder of the plant-based snack brand Peasup. Owen previously served as the brand manager of the social enterprise Shanpin Commune under the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. While carrying out poverty alleviation work in Xinjiang, Owen encountered chickpeas, a potential category with rapid growth abroad but a gap in the domestic market.
Founded in 2019, Peasup is the first food company in China focusing on superfood chickpeas. With the mission of "enlightening the humanistic spirit through food", the brand is committed to advocating plant-based diet and low-carbon and sustainable lifestyle through healthy, delicious and environmentally friendly food. Peasup also practices the principle of "healthy and sustainable" in terms of raw material procurement and packaging material selection.
There are about 20 brands for chickpea products in the U.S. Sabra, the chickpea brand of PepsiCo, has 2023 revenues of $200-500 million, according to media estimates.Global CAGR of chickpeas is expected to reach 5.8% from 2023 to 2030, to which are contributed by versatile product forms—paste, milk, snacks, and staple food, etc. Chickpea products are quietly accelerating in China, expanding from a primary agricultural product to scenario-fit leisure snacks. There is void in the chickpea market to be filled by brands through reshaping the product, just like how they have built up oats in China.