A New York entrepreneur turns high-protein lupini bean pizzas into a $700,000 business

Damiano Messineo turned his passion for food and business into Loopini, a high-protein pizza brand made with lupini beans that has grown from one New York City store to major retail chains. The Italian entrepreneur began developing the product in 2024, using a spreadsheet to create his ideal nutritional label before experimenting with ingredients in his kitchen.After launching in January 2025, he travelled around New York City on a Citi Bike, pitching the pizzas to independent shops and delivering orders himself. The business later entered Whole Foods, Wegmans, and Target. In a 2026 interview with Entrepreneur, Messineo shared that Loopini had surpassed $700,000 in revenue by April.How Damiano Messineo built Loopini into a high-protein pizza brandMessineo wanted to create a food business in the United States that combined his interest in entrepreneurship with his love of pizza. Rather than opening a restaurant, he chose to develop a consumer product that could grow at scale. His idea was to make pizza a healthier option that people could eat regularly without viewing it as junk food.In 2024, he used an Excel spreadsheet to develop a nutritional label that suited his goals for a mea...