The 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list includes a viral pasta sauce brand, AI startup, Gen Z restaurants and more.
By Chloe Sorvino, Simone Melvin and Maria Gracia Santillana Linares
wEast Coast Entrepreneurs troy bonde And Winston Alfieri In 2023, Sauz was introduced to add spice to tomato sauce. In just two years, Bonde, 26, and Alfieri, 25, have been doing just that: At California-based grocery chain Errevon, a jar of its creamy Calabrian Vodka sauce sells for twice as much each week as any sauce from any other brand.
Featuring fun flavors like warm honey marinara, miso-garlic and summery lemon that break outside the typical mold of an Italian American heritage brand, Sauz is growing rapidly and is on track to grow more than 300% to $15 million in annual revenue by the end of 2025, driven by Millennial and Gen Z shoppers. Bonde says he takes flavor inspiration from fast food chains like Wingstop, Buffalo Wild Wings and Chick-fil-A to create the sauce flavors all Americans love.
“We are curating our innovation for the consumer shopping palette at Target in Toledo, Ohio,” says Bonde, CEO of Sauz. “We try to identify taste trends in categories that are so familiar that we don’t need to educate consumers.”
And about Rao, the top seller in the $2.5 billion (sales) pasta sauce industry, Bonde says: “The minute we try to be Rao’s, we’ll be nothing,” says Bonde. “The opportunity is huge.”
Bonde and Alfieri are just two standouts on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list, which highlights rising superstar entrepreneurs from the worlds of restaurants, farming, packaged foods, wine and recipe creation who have persevered despite the odds. There are better drinks for you, A clean-ingredient candy company, a caffeine spray brand, a Mexican ice cream company, a pre-workout energy gel made from honey.
This year’s standout players also include the duo behind Siq: the 27-year-old ben xaver and 28 years old Hannah Perez, Who founded the Clear Protein Powder brand. When Xaver couldn’t find an engineering job, he began experimenting with business ideas — eventually he and Perez landed on starting a protein brand in 2022. Seek was an instant hit, as customers turned to it from traditional chalky protein powders. The co-founders claim that Seek has been profitable since its first day. After growing the brand to $15 million in annual revenue, the duo brought in a CEO who could take the business to the next level, and Seek is on track to reach $30 million in revenue this year. Seek has raised $6 million in total funding from investors including Silver Mountain Partners, Rocana, Greycroft, Joyence. Seek is sold at 1,900 Targets across the country.
(L) Winston Alfieri and (R) Troy Bonde
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There are also three artificial intelligence founders on the food list this year. is 28 years old Drew FallonThe 29-year-old co-founder of Platter, CEO and co-founder of Iris Finance, Ben Scharf, Kiernan Derfus and Michael KeenehanAlso co-founder of Cal AI, Zach Yadegari, 18, Henry Langmack, 18, Blake Anderson, 24,
From the competitive world of hospitality, the 28-year-old is Kara Rosenblum Los Angeles-based cocktail concept bar Next Door and the 27-year-old miguel guerraThe chef behind Washington, DC-based restaurant Mita. The 25-year-old is also the driving force behind New York City’s Utopia Bagels, Jesse Spellman, Angelo Tsoulos and Jimmy Tsoulos,
This year, the list also features two creators: 24-year-old Tiny Younger (@tiniyounger’s) and 27-year-old jack goldberg (@jacksdiningroom’s).
This is just a taste of the young food entrepreneurs who are building companies that will define 2026 and beyond. This year’s class is 27% women, 21% are people of color and 84% are founders.
Judges to compile the 14th annual list and forbes Journalists met in person to taste samples and discuss the candidates. The candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges consisting of alumni under the age of 30 chloe coscarelliChef, cookbook author and restaurateur, and eddie masihChef, owner of Eddy’s Grocery, and content creator. there is also Randall LaneChief Content Officer of Forbes, and Lee Brian SchragerFounder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates must be under the age of 30 by December 31, 2025, and have never previously been named to a 30 Under 30 North America, Europe, or Asia list.
This year’s Under 30 Food & Drink list was edited by Chloë Sorvino, María Gracia Santillana Linares and Simone Melvin. To view the complete food and beverage list, Click hereAnd for all other less than 30 categories, Click here,
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