Recipe For Success: How A Lifelong Passion For Pasta Became A $130K Business

Fiona Afshar has a recipe for success. That is, she makes close to $130,000 per year making pasta in her kitchen. 

What To Know: Afshar turned her lifelong passion into a career. Now she makes more than $10,000 a month selling pasta from her California home, according to a CNBC report.

Afshar spent most of her life mastering her mother's recipes and making meals for her children out of a love for cooking. Growing up in Iran, she was told food was love and cooking was something she loved to do. 

Food is no longer just a source of love and nutrition for the Malibu, California-based mother, it's a source of income too. 

After sharing her cooking methods on Meta Platforms Inc's (NASDAQ: META) Instagram, she quickly developed a following, which turned into a business. 

"As soon as I started posting pasta, the whole social media went viral. I’m like, 'OK, you guys want pasta? I’ll give you more pasta,'" Afshar said. 

It wasn't long before she started hosting virtual classes making colorful pasta. Up to 100 people attended at a time and she was charging $35 per person. 

Within a year, she began selling her colorful creations after her brother used Shopify Inc (NYSE: SHOP) to launch an online store called Fiona's Pasta. 

"As soon as he opened shop for me, it’s like ding, ding, ding. Sales started coming in," she said. 

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She was shocked to see people spending $100 on pasta, but she wasn't complaining and word got out quickly. Soon thereafter, she started landing brand deals with companies like Ssence, which she collaborated with to make pasta designs that matched the style of brands such as Gucci and Anthropologie. 

Last year, she made $18,000 from brand deals and another $16,500 from virtual classes. The majority of her income came from her online shop where she sells boxes of pasta for $80 to $240.

She works about 32 hours per week doing what she loves and has no desire to boost the business further. She spends nothing on advertising, yet easily makes six figures a year. 

“It just has so much potential to grow so big, but in a way, I’m holding it as a baby. It’s so personal. It’s my art," Afshar said.

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This story is part of a series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire.

Photo: Nicky from Pixabay.