The 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list includes a viral pasta sauce brand, AI startups, Gen Z restaurateurs and more.
By Chloe Sorvino, Simone Melvin and Maria Gracia Santillana Linares
West Coast entrepreneurs Troy Bonde and Winston Alfieri started Sauz to spice up the tomato sauce aisle in 2023. In just over two years, Bonde, 26, and Alfieri, 25, are doing just that: At the California-based grocery chain Erewhon, every week a jar of its creamy Calabrian vodka sauce sells twice as much as any sauce by another brand.
Featuring fun flavors such as hot honey marinara, miso-garlic and summer lemon that are outside the typical mold of an Italian American heritage brand, Sauz is fast-growing and on track to grow more than 300% to top $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 make Sauz flavors that appeal to all Americans.
“We’re curating our innovation for the palette of the consumer shopping at Target in Toledo, Ohio,” says Bonde, Sauz’s CEO. “We try to identify flavor trends across categories that are familiar enough that we don’t necessarily have to go educate consumers on.”
And of the top-seller in the $2.5 billion (sales) pasta sauce industry, Rao’s, Bonde adds: “The minute we try to be Rao’s, we’ll be nothing,” says Bonde. “The opportunity is enormous.”
Bonde and Alfieri are just two of the standouts on the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink list, which highlights up-and-coming superstar entrepreneurs from the worlds of restaurants, farming, packaged food, wine and recipe creation who have persevered despite the odds. There are better-for-you beverages, a clean-ingredient candy company, a caffeine spray brand, a Mexican ice cream company, a pre-workout energy gel made with honey.
Among this year’s standouts are the duo behind Seeq: 27-year-old Ben Zaver and 28-year-old Hannah Perez, who cofounded founded the clear protein powder brand. When Zaver couldn’t find an engineering job, he started experimenting with business ideas—eventually he and Perez landed on starting a protein brand in 2022. Seeq became an instant hit, as customers turned to it from traditional chalky protein powders. The cofounders claim Seeq 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 Seeq is on track to hit $30 million in revenue this year. Seeq has raised $6 million in total funding including from Silver Mountain Partners, Rocana, Greycroft, Joyance. Seeq sells at 1,900 Targets nationwide.
(L) Winston Alfieri and (R) Troy Bonde
Sauz
There are also three artificial intelligence founders on the food list this year. There’s 28-year-old Drew Fallon, the CEO and cofounder of Iris Finance, the 29-year-old cofounders behind Platter, Ben Sharf, Kiernan Derfus and Michael Keenehan, as well as the cofounders of Cal AI, Zach Yadegari, 18, Henry Langmack, 18, Blake Anderson, 24.
From the competitive world of hospitality, there’s 28-year-old Kara Rosenblum of Los Angeles-based cocktail concept Bar Next Door and 27-year-old Miguel Guerra, the chef behind the Washington, D.C.-based restaurant Mita. There’s also the 25-year-old driving forces behind New York City’s Utopia Bagels, Jesse Spellman, Angelo Tsoulos and Jimmy Tsoulos.
This year, there are also two creators on the list: 24-year-old Tini Younger (of @tiniyounger) and 27-year-old Jack Goldberg (of @jacksdiningroom).
That’s just a taste of the young food entrepreneurs who are building companies that will define 2026 and beyond. Of this year’s class, 27% are women, 21% are people of color and 84% are founders.
To compile the 14th annual list, judges and Forbes reporters convened in-person to taste samples and discuss the candidates. Candidates were evaluated by a panel of judges featuring Under 30 list alums Chloe Coscarelli, chef, cookbook author and restauranteur, and Edy Massih, chef, owner of Edy’s Grocery and content creator. There’s also Randall Lane, Forbes’ chief content officer, and Lee Brian Schrager, founder of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
To be considered for this year’s list, all candidates had to be under the age of 30 as of December 31, 2025, and never before named to a 30 Under 30 North America, Europe or Asia list.
This year’s Under 30 Food & Drink list was edited by Chloe Sorvino, Maria Gracia Santillana Linares and Simone Melvin. To view the full Food & Drink list, click here, and for all other Under 30 categories, click here.