A trip to Italy set pasta maker on path to nationwide gluten-free company
When Peter Robertson got a taste of fresh pasta on a trip to Europe, it was love at first bite.
Perfect pasta became an obsession. Eventually, he moved to Madison and began making his own traditional fresh pasta. Instead of cookies or candy, one year he gave out pasta for Christmas gifts. It was a hit.
Robertson began making fresh pasta and selling it in 1995, providing to local restaurants and customers at the Dane County farmers market. He started with a tabletop machine, and quickly realized he needed something bigger. He found a used machine in San Francisco for $6,000. In a bit of serendipity, he’d just inherited that exact amount from his grandmother. It was his first big investment in the business originally known as RP’s Pasta.
In 2008, a longtime customer told him she’d no longer be able to eat his pasta as she’d been diagnosed with celiac disease. She had to go gluten-free. He couldn’t imagine life without pasta, and that was the push needed to create a gluten-free pasta.
In 2018, RP’s was rebranded as Taste Republic gluten- and grain-free pastas, as part of Madison-based parent company Tribe 9 Foods, which also produces Yumbutter.
Taste Republic continues to grow exponentially, most recently delving into products like lentil and cauliflower pastas, and now creates gluten-free pastas for brands including evol and Udi’s, plus nationwide restaurants including Olive Garden and Noodles and Co. Glutenfree and grain-free pastas are now available at retailers including Costco, Whole Foods, Sendik’s,Pick n’ Save, Sam’s Club, and Woodman’s.
“In 2021, we’re looking to do two more additions to space,” said Robertson. “The most recent cooking line was $580,000. I’ve got another line on the boat from Italy right now to automate our fettuccini and linguini production. The output will be 4,000 to 5,000 pounds (of pasta) an hour.”
Food roots
I grew up in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We have a chocolate factory. I was always familiar with industrial food. I actually worked for Hershey Food Corp. while I was in school. I went to Northeastern University in Boston to study engineering. … Within a semester, I changed my major to theater. … I got an offer to go to Europe on a tour. My adviser said, "Go, you can always go back to the classroom." I was doing backstage stuff, light sets, props.
I remember so clearly, we were driving from Switzerland to Italy. We stopped in a town and I ordered carbonara. My mom makes carbonara all the time. It is one of my favorite pasta dishes. I got my plate, and this is not what my mom makes with ham and peas. It was a completely new experience.
I spent a lot of time touring in Italy, and the fresh pasta just blew me away, with the different texture and flavor. I got hooked on pasta. I moved to Madison, went to work for Electronic Theater Controls in Middleton. They supplied a lot of theatrical lighting equipment for tours …
I was making my own fresh pasta at home. … Christmas of 1994, I gave out pasta to my neighbors, instead of cookies. Everyone said “Wow. This is the best pasta.”
A close friend worked for the Food Fight family. She took some pasta to Joe Sandretti. He said if you make it for me,
I’ll buy it. I had my little table-top machine. He’s like, "I’ll need 80 pounds of fettuccini for the week." I got five pounds into it, I said “Joe, I need to find a real machine.” … I get a hold of this guy. He found a used machine that came out of a restaurant in San Francisco.
I got Electronic Theater Controls to give me a job in Portland, ran down to San Francisco. It looked like a pile of junk. He’s like, "Don’t worry, we’ll fix it." It was $6,000. My grandmother had passed away and left me $6,000. I had the machine shipped to Electronic Theater Controls. I didn’t know where else I could get a thousand-pound machine off the truck. I set it outside my office and started making pasta during my lunch hours. I used the employees as my guinea pigs. I’d make pasta, put it in bags and tell them take it home and try it.
Beginning a business
Someone said I should sell at the Dane County farmers market. Back in 1995, you could apply and vend that same year. I go with 25 pounds of pasta, took me all night to make. Sold out in 30 minutes. This is just traditional semolina-based pasta. About four months in, I went full time.
Going gluten-free
In 2008, a friend came to the market. She couldn’t buy my pasta anymore. She’d been diagnosed with celiac disease and had to go gluten-free. What would that be like if it happened to me?
I have an engineering background. I unwound everything, looked at the starches to proteins, how they interact, rebuilt it with other ingredients. … We kept selling more gluten-free. If we’re going to keep the gluten-free pasta, we need to invest in it. I had Fork & Spoon Cafe. We closed the restaurant, turned it into production space. … We got the shelf life where we want it to be, we can ship this nationally. We went to Expo West in Anaheim in 2011. We go out there with 14 of the RP’s traditional semolina pastas. We also have three glutenfree pastas. … Gluten-free was all people were interested in.
Nationally known
We actually have five major pasta lines now. We also got into the category of industrial. Our pasta is used as an ingredient. Look at all the bagged meals. Phil Anson, who owned Evol, he loved the pasta and said if you can cook it and freeze it for me I’ll buy 100,000 pounds. This was early in gluten-free. We shook hands.
I designed this system where we extrude the pasta, it goes through a cooker, a chilling bath, and a cryogenic freezer. … It put us on the playing field nationally. If you need gluten-free pasta, this is the company that you call.
Gluten-free growth
We just launched Noodles and Company on a new low-carb gnocchi. We have been supplying Olive Garden for a year and a half. Fazoli’s, we’re on the menu.
We produce about 50,000 pounds of the gluten-free daily, so about 250,000 pounds per week, and we’re bringing in more lines to increase that.
Fork. Spoon. Life. explores the relationship that notables (within the food community and without) have with food. To suggest future personalities to profile, email psullivan@gannett.com.