New Products: Little Sesame Launches Hummus For Kids

Ronen Tenne and Nick Wiseman, cofounders of the organic hummus brand Little Sesame, got inspired to ... [+] introduce hummus cups for kids after they became parents themselves.

If you have a hankering for hummus but don’t want to make it yourself, there are plenty of brands to choose from—and at least a few of them may be as tasty and healthy as homemade. But what if you want to pack it in your child’s lunch box or take it along as a kid-friendly snack on a long car ride—and you want it to be organic and free of gums and preservatives?

Little Sesame, a Washington, D.C.-based hummus startup, saw a clear gap in the marketplace and decided to do something about it. On Nov. 1, the company launched its new line, Little Sesame Kids Hummus Cups, at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide.

Cofounders Nick Wiseman, CEO, and Ronen Tenne, COO, met and bonded as chefs on the New York fine dining circuit some years ago. They reunited in 2016 to open a popup eatery, Little Sesame, in a D.C. basement featuring “freshly spun” hummus made in small batches with local, fresh ingredients. A brick-and-mortar location followed two years later and flourished, until COVID stopped business in its tracks in 2020. The cofounders started hand-packing Tenne’s popular hummus to go in pint containers.

Little Sesame Cofounders Ronen Tenne and Nick Wiseman got their big break when a Whole Foods forager ... [+] tasted their hand-packed hummus during the Covid-19 pandemic and allotted them placement in 14 stores.

That proved to be a pivotal step in their entrepreneurial journey. “We were lucky enough to be stumbled upon by a Whole Foods forager, and we got allocation in 14 stores,” Wiseman said.

That was in late 2021. Today, the DC location continues to sell fresh Middle Eastern-style food to the community and also serves as a test kitchen for Little Sesame. Their hummus is available in some 3,000 stores nationwide, including all 500 Whole Foods Market stores, Wegmans, and Sprouts.

Little Sesame sells some decidedly grownup flavors like caramelized onion, preserved lemon, and jammy tomato. The venture-funded company built its own 13,000 square foot manufacturing facility outside of DC to enable its expansion. Wiseman projects sales will reach $20 million in 2025. The company employs about 60 people with brand ambassadors in key cities, and corporate staff spread around the country.

To date, the company has raised $10 million in seed funding and may raise a new financing round in 2025. Their investors are mostly values-aligned venture capital funds that invest in CPG brands, including Terpsi Capital, Watchfire Ventures, Beliade Consumer Partners, Santatera Capital, as well as Whole Foods.

The cofounders’ inspiration for entering the kids’ CPG market? Becoming parents themselves. “We were all of a sudden cooking in our homes for a very different audience,” said Wiseman, who has a 5-year-old and a 2-year old. Tenne has a 4-year-old and a 1-year old.

In doing their initial research, the partners learned convenience was a big concern for young parents who wanted to feed their kids healthy food. “This first iteration of the product was really solving for that problem,” Wiseman said.

Little sesame 2.5 ounce cups of hummus for kids just debuted in Whole Foods Market Stores, joining ... [+] the company's flavors for grownups.

The 2.5 ounce cups of hummus, sold in a colorful box of four for $6.99, are convenient for school lunches and snacking. Health- and environmentally-conscious parents may find it reassuring that Little Sesame hummus is not only certified organic, but is made from chickpeas that are sourced from Montana farmers committed to regenerative farming practices that eschew chemical fertilizers and pesticides, fight climate change and improve soil health, among other things.

Little Sesame’s ingredient list is short and sweet, not too different from what you’d use at home in your high speed blender: organic chickpeas, water, organic tahini (sesame), organic sunflower oil, organic fresh lemon juice, organic extra virgin olive oil, garlic and Himalayan Pink sea salt. It’s certified as USDA Organic, non-GMO Project Verified, and OU Kosher. Lemon juice is its only preservative. Little Sesame also has Clean Label Project certification, meaning it has been tested and found free of harmful chemicals, such as the herbicide glyphosphate, and heavy metals.

Lower in sodium than Little Sesame’s other hummus products, it tastes light and creamy with a lemony finish—no cumin or other strong flavors that might be off-putting to young palates. A two tablespoon serving has 80 calories, two grams of protein and 125 mg of sodium. Each cup has enough for 2.5 servings but I wouldn’t be surprised if kids eat the whole thing—or share it with friends. It’s not bad for an adult either. (I easily polished off a cup for a mid-afternoon snack.)

“The premise of the kids line is this sort of superhero chickpea that's working to fight climate change,” said Wiseman. “So we feel really good about giving it to kids, and it gives us this really fun opportunity to tell this story and really connect the dots between food, agriculture and climate in a way that we think can really usher in the next generation of eaters.”

When the two friends and business partners first started their popup restaurant, they sourced small quantities of organic, regeneratively grown chickpeas from fourth-generation Montana farmer Casey Bailey. That relationship has grown over the years, with Bailey supplying almost all their product—until now. Chickpeas, unfortunately, are a tricky and expensive crop to grow, conceded Bailey. This year’s cold spring weather wiped out his entire yield during the height of the growing season, but Little Sesame had enough chickpeas on hand.

“This year, I decided, I'm not going to force it. I'm going to get other farmers involved,” Bailey said. He enlisted the help of Mad Markets, which specializes in regenerative farming and works with a group of Montana farmers committed to such practices. Mad Markets CEO Alex Heilman said diversification among multiple farms is important “to hedge what the supply could be in instances of a crop failure or a hail storm and do it across different regions.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture awarded Little Sesame $2.5 million to help develop the supply chain for organic chickpeas. “The goal is to get to 10 farmers and 10,000 acres in the next three years,” said Wiseman.

By then, there just might be a whole lot more kids discovering the joys of hummus.

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