Show Notes
Maddie Hamann left classified Navy submarine research and a PhD in oceanography to co-found PACHA — a regenerative, gluten-free sprouted buckwheat bread now on shelves at Whole Foods. This is how that happened.
There's a version of this story where Maddie finishes the PhD, takes the nine-to-five, and spends the next forty years in academia. She was already living it. Instead, she blurted one sentence in her kitchen — "I want to work on the bread" — and walked away to build PACHA with her boyfriend of one year, Adam.
PACHA is a two-ingredient sprouted buckwheat bread. Buckwheat and sea salt. That's it. Wild-yeast fermented on whole groats (flour doesn't work — we get into why), packaged in 100% home compostable materials, and sourced from farms transitioning to regenerative agriculture. The brand started in a 300 square foot test kitchen, pivoted into direct-to-consumer e-commerce during COVID, hit a peak of $220K a month on Shopify, and went straight to global distribution at Whole Foods. Not because of the bread. Because of the compostable packaging.
In this one we dig into why "regenerative" is at risk of becoming the next greenwashed buzzword and what has to happen to protect it. Wild-yeast fermentation — why it works on whole buckwheat groats and dies in flour. The COVID pivot that took PACHA from a couple thousand dollars a month on Shopify to $220K. What running a CPG business with your spouse actually looks like. The calendar trick that finally broke Maddie's mental-load cycle. And where PACHA is headed — including the just-launched buckwheat tortillas (buckwheat, sea salt, psyllium husk) that hit West Coast Target last week. Fun fact on something I didn't see coming: PACHA means "everything that exists" in the Incan language, and it also means "to digest" in Sanskrit. Nobody planned that.
Where to find PACHA: • Target: Select locations nationwide (primarily stocking Sourdough Tortillas and Original Loaves). • Whole Foods Market: Availability varies by region, typically found in the frozen bread section. • Sprouts Farmers Market: Reliable stockist for the full loaf lineup and English muffins. • Jewel-Osco: Extensive availability across the Midwest (Chicagoland). • Safeway / Albertsons: Stocked in many "Natural" frozen sets across the West and East Coasts. • Mother’s Market & Jimbo's: Key specialty grocers (California/West Coast).
Website: livepacha.com Instagram: @maddie.hamann PACHA Instagram: @livepacha
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CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — Intro and welcome: Maddie Hamann, PACHA co-founder 00:43 — The common thread: civil engineering, oceanography, Burning Man, bread 02:23 — Leaving academia — the nine-to-five version of herself she had to let go 04:00 — How self-worth shifts when you step off the "safe" path 04:54 — Hiding parts of herself in grad school and how entrepreneurship changed that 06:24 — The moment halfway through the PhD she knew academia wasn't it 07:59 — Starting PACHA with her then-boyfriend Adam after only a year together 08:19 — The bread that changed her life — the only bread she could eat 10:16 — "I want to work on the bread" — the kitchen moment 11:22 — What PACHA means — the Incan name for "everything that exists" 12:50 — The Sanskrit coincidence — PACHA also means "to digest" 13:46 — Why the recipe simplified down to two ingredients: buckwheat and sea salt 14:42 — Wild yeast, whole groats, and why fermentation doesn't work with flour 17:05 — Jeff's reactio
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