Palmini Pasta: Hearts of Palm Pasta Alternative

What is Palmini?

Palmini is a low-carb pasta substitute made 100% of Hearts of Palm – an asparagus-like vegetable harvested from the center of sustainably grown palm trees.

Palmini is also kosher, gluten-free, non-gmo and boasts nutritional benefits that include 20 calories per serving and 4g of carbs per serving.

Who Owns Palmini?

Palmini was founded by Alfonso Tejada in 2016. Today he remains the CEO of OA Foods, the parent company for Palmini.

Founder’s Story

The idea for Palmini came to life in 2016 after founder, Alfonso Tejada, noticed the growing health food trend in zucchini noodles.

As the owner of a food import business for Bolivian-native foods, Tejada was familiar with hearts of palm and had a cousin who owned a factory in Bolivia.

Tejada consulted with his cousin about the possibility of a hearts of palm based noodle – which until then, had never been attempted.

With the assistance of his family, Tejada spent the next two years developing a special, patented machine that could process the hearts of palm into pasta-like noodles.

Soon after, Alfonso began selling Palmini. At first it was just a few cans a day but Alfonso strongly believed in his Hearts of Palm pasta as the next big health food trend, similar to Quinoa which also happened to be native to Bolivia.

He knew that in order to get there he would need some help.

In the summer of 2017, Alfonso auditioned for Shark Tank and became one of the lucky few to see his pitch air on television.

Did Palmini Get a Deal on Shark Tank

In Season 9 Episode 24, Alfonso Tejada left the Shark Tank with $300,000 for 25% of Palmini deal from Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner which gave his company a valuation of $1.2 million, less than the $3 million valuation he came in seeking.

With this in mind, the deal did not go through and neither Mark Cuban nor Lori Greiner are involved with Palmini.

Revenue, Sales and Valuation

The exposure from the show boosted sales of Palmini to the point where they sold out of over 10,000 cans within 24 hours of their episode airing.

Since then, Palmini has seen incredible year after year growth with estimated yearly revenues of $1 million.

Sales have grown in tandem with health food trends in low-carb dieting with Palmini becoming a staple for some within the keto community who call it Keto Pasta.

Palmini Reviews

Several of Palmini’s products rank in Amazon’s Best Sellers in Pasta & Noodles with over 10,000 reviews.

Customers enjoy the taste and texture and find that its a great alternative to pasta. However, those expecting the exact experience of pasta, are usual disappointed.

Some customers complain of portions and sizing as the noodles are 3-4 inches in length and pack in water. But overall, reviews for Palmini have been mostly positive.

Tejada’s goal for the company is to see Palmini on retail shelves throughout the world.

For now, the healthy palm-based pasta substitute can be found in Whole Foods, Walmart, and Kroger as well as Amazon for those shopping online or buying internationally.

Palmini Competitors

There are numerous pasta alternatives on the market but Palmini has managed to strengthen its position by expanding its product selection. Not only does Palmini offer Hearts of Palm pastas as noodles, lasagna, angel hair and linguine, but they have also recently released Palmini Rice and Palmini Mash.