In 2000, Austin Allan traveled to Spain for a few college credits. While studying in Madrid and then living in Barcelona, Allan fell in love with the warm people and their chilled soups.
“It was a weird moment because I didn’t like tomatoes,” he admits. “I actually still don’t.”
But the cold soups of his Spanish neighborhood markets won him over for good. In early 2013, after a retail banking job in New York and volunteering full-time for Obama’s presidential campaign, Allan took six months and $15,000 to start Tio Gazpacho. The authentic gazpachos and artisanal flavors he now creates are some of his favorites, tomato and all.
“I needed to be very resourceful early on and realized I needed an assortment,” the WeWork Meatpacking member says, citing what people do with hummus as an example: making American versions in multiple flavors.
Tio Gazpacho is proof you don’t need to have a Michelin star to be successful in the food industry. “I’m no expert chef,” he says.
It was trial and error and memories of those first sips back in Spain that led his taste buds to the three flavors Tio sells today: clásico (classic), verde (with a kick), and de sol (on the sweeter side).
Tio Gazpacho is lunch on the go. It’s a quick snack. And most importantly, it’s healthy.
As a kid, Allan admits that he was a junk food addict. So with Tio, he wanted to combat his former lifestyle by making it a priority to use minimally processed and high-quality ingredients, which are also certified organic.
When asked the common question, “What’s the hardest part of being an entrepreneur?” he couldn’t have had a more unique answer: “I don’t want to eat my profits!”
What’s the next logical step for this lover of cold veggies?
“I want to help with food waste,” he says. “It’s not a sexy term, but it’s important to me.”
With 40 percent of food in the U.S. going to waste, Allan plans to turn his passion for food into good. In the New Year, Tio Gazpacho is looking to take on investors and will be launching a new line of drinkable soup. And guess what? They won’t be gazpachos.
Photo credit: Emanuel Hahn