Carlos and Christina Schenstrom. Image Credit: CASSAVIDA
In 2021, the brother and sister launched Cassavida, a snack company centred on cuñapés, a traditional Bolivian bite made with cassava starch and cheese. In an interview with Entrepreneur, the siblings said the business is now targeting $500,000 in revenue for 2026 after a rebrand and entry into Sprouts program in 2025. The siblings said in the interview with Entrepreneur that branding became an early focus for them, while the initial investment was about $200,000. By 2023, they recognised that building the business would require considerably more money and resources. The siblings told Entrepreneur that they had invested just under $1 million in bringing Cassavida to life.
Carlos and Christina Schenstrom turned a long-standing idea into a business when the pandemic gave them time to revisit their dream of bringing a taste of Bolivia to the US. What started without experience in the US food industry has since become a full-time venture. The snack is small, crunchy and cheesy, and is made using cassava and artisan cheese. The official website of Cassavida describes it as a food that reflects the company’s wider aim of introducing people to Bolivia through its flavours and culinary traditions. The website reports that Bolivia’s food culture contains many traditions that remain relatively unknown outside the country. Neither of them had experience in consumer food products or the US snack market, but they began building the business anyway. The first steps involved finding advisers who could help the siblings understand an unfamiliar industry. They later worked with California-based agency Dayjob on a rebrand and also built their own manufacturing facility in Bolivia. The scale of that investment shows how different turning a food idea into a functioning brand can be from simply creating a product at home.
