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The Startup CPG Podcast

Founder Feature: Damiano Messineo of Loopini

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary


In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Grace Kennedy speaks with Damiano Messineo, founder of Loopini, a revolutionary brand reimagining pizza through the power of the ancient lupini bean. From his childhood obsession with pizza to launching a premium, protein-packed frozen pizza line made in Italy, Damiano shares his flavorful journey of turning tradition into innovation.


He walks us through the lupini bean’s history—from Roman legions to Mayan civilization—and how this under-the-radar superfood is redefining the frozen aisle. Damiano also talks about sourcing ingredients straight from Naples, the importance of clean Italian flour, and the art of crafting a delicious, healthy pizza that still tastes indulgent. You’ll hear insights on launching at Fancy Foods, navigating international supply chains, and the role of community in early-stage growth.

Tune in now!

Listen in as they share about:

  • Origin of Loopini Pizza
  • What Makes Loopini Unique
  • Startup Growth & Product Testing
  • Challenges & Supply Chain Realities
  • Retail & Pricing Strategy
  • Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Efforts
  • Community & Startup CPG Support


Episode Links:

Website: https://eatloopini.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/damiano-messineo-53354018a/ 

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.



Show Links:

  • Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)
  • Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
  • Follow @startupcpg
  • Visit host Grace's Linkedin 
  • Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
  • Episode music by Super Fantastics

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey, do you know about Mini Social?

0:03.7

So it takes seven touch points on average to convert a potential consumer.

0:07.3

You can get started by meeting your consumers where they can see you every day on social.

0:11.9

Our friends at Mini Social work with brands on micro-influencer amplification and UGC creation.

0:18.2

You can get content that's fully licensed for use on your own marketing channels

0:21.6

and watch creators post about your products to their audience.

0:25.6

Mini Social has been around since 2018, partnering with over 1,000 CPG brands like

0:30.3

Bonza, Outstanding Foods, Fly By Jing, Hydrant, Love Wellness, and many more.

0:34.6

You can learn how it works by visiting CPG.binisocial.com and take a look

0:39.5

of their case studies.

0:40.6

Make sure to mention us at Startup CPG for a special

0:43.1

discount.

1:05.6

Thank you. Now that I started this company, obviously I was talked to my mom a couple of days ago,

1:10.7

and she reminded me something that obviously I didn't recall, which was when I was a kid. My mom couldn't say the word pizza. Like, for example, he was talking with my father, like, oh, should we get pizza tonight? She couldn't say that because if I heard pizza, I would start, you know, I wanted pizza, pizza, pizza. So she used to spell pizza to my father. It's like, oh p i z zeta a eight tonight and another fun fact it was

1:30.1

we had a cat and one day you know now i eat the crust the leftover probably i don't know my mother

1:37.4

didn't that night and so she gave it to the cat and she found me later eating with the cat and stealing the crust from the cat's

1:47.1

bowl. So that's how I love pizza, you know. Hello, Start of CPG listeners. This is Grace and I'm here

1:55.6

with another founder feature. Today I am so excited to be interviewing Damiano Messineo, the founder of Lupini.

2:04.0

Lupini makes healthy, protein-packed, premium pizza. Their hero ingredient, the Lupini

2:10.4

bean, a staple of Italian cuisine for centuries. As a born and raised Italian and now a resident

2:17.0

of New York City, Damiano is an expert in

2:20.1

delicious pizza. In this episode, he not only tells us all about what makes Lupini pizza so

...

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