In the fall of 2013, Rose W. Wang ’13-14 and her friend Laura E. D’Asaro ’13 brought plates full of fried insects – mealworms, waxworms and crickets – to the dining room of Kirkland. They expected their classmates to eat them and report which insects tasted the best.

But the students’ reactions were not what they expected. “People weren’t going to eat whole bugs,” D’Asaro says.

D’Asaro and Wang weren’t just offering their classmates fried bugs for shock factor — it was part of their larger mission to start their own bug-based food business.

After graduating, D’Asaro, Wang and Meryl N. Breidbart ’13 founded Chirps, a line of cricket protein snacks now sold in retail stores across the country. During a Zoom call, the three co-founders reminisce and laugh about their college days, occasionally interrupting with a joke. “It’s a bond that you can’t really form any other way. They are like my first wives,” Breidbart says.

Their website describes the origin story of the company. Under different circumstances, the three founders had all tried to eat bugs and were pleasantly surprised. D’Asaro tasted a caterpillar during his research in Tanzania. Wang, on a bet, bit a scorpion while teaching abroad in China. And back in high school, Breidbart had eaten cheese-flavored worms. Years later, they all discussed their experiences and decided to start an edible insect business.

Before founding Chirps, the three friends had already worked together on entrepreneurial activities. They had pitched an idea for a social enterprise backpack company to Harvard Innovation Labs, but the idea didn’t advance in the competition. The three friends went their separate ways, until D’Asaro came up with a new business idea: crickets.

D’Asaro had come across a 2013 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report on edible insects. According to the Chirps website, around 2.5 billion people around the world eat insects, which are packed with protein, vitamins and minerals. According to the company’s website, it takes 2,000 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef, compared to just one gallon to produce one pound of crickets. She sent the article to Wang and Breidbart, who both agreed to join the bug adventure.

The three initially envisioned their business selling whole insects, a popular snack in many countries, including Thailand and Mexico. But as the trials progressed, they realized that many Americans couldn’t get enough of the idea of ​​eating whole insects. To make their brand more marketable, they decided to crush the bugs and use them as an ingredient in something more familiar.

“Everyone eats chips,” says Wang, and Chirps Chips was born.

The three returned to the Innovation Labs, where they found the support they needed. Chirps’ first retailer was Cambridge Naturals in Porter Square, and within a few years Chirps was sold in 20 health food markets and 73 airport stores nationwide.

In 2016, Wang, D’Asaro, and Breidbart participated in Shark Tank, a commercial reality show. The show was a success – they made a deal with famous entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who bought a 15% stake in their business.

Cuban’s investment has given the company a “stamp of legitimacy,” says Wang. Before Cuban, Wang recalls how the three were unfairly labeled as naive young girls and therefore faced challenges to raise funds.

“Right after Mark, I was able to fundraise over the phone in 30 minutes and close a check,” says Wang. They have grown from selling their chips in just a few dozen stores to more than 1,500, including chains like ShopRite and museums like the American Museum of Natural History.

Even six years later, people are still learning about Chirps through Shark Tank reruns, Wang says. In many ways, she says, “Shark Tank is the gift that keeps on giving.”

Chirps now offers a wide range of cricket based snacks. They have three flavors of chips, a chocolate chip cricket cookie mix, chocolate and vanilla protein powder, and even a “cricket powder” of dried and crushed crickets.

“We are at a critical point in the history of this type of ingredient where there is a level of awareness and understanding that is higher than it has ever been before,” Breidbart says. As the founders continue to expand Chirps – whether through brand partnerships or broader product lines – their overarching goal is to make the brand as appealing to consumers as possible.

Chirps appeals to consumers’ desire to “do good” – or, at least, to receive assurances from companies that they are doing good. “Good for you” and “good for the planet” are the titles of the Chirps homepage. It also appeals to the consumer’s sense of novelty and relies on the shock value of its ingredient. On the front of their chip bags, “EAT BUGS” is printed larger than the Chirps logo itself.

Inspired by Breidbart, D’Asaro and Wang, I decided to try some edible insects myself. For breakfast, my friends and I tested a bag of barbecue-flavored Chirps crisps.

When I opened the bag and took out a chip, I didn’t know what to expect. Before eating it, I tried to convince myself that it was just another chip. But it was difficult to do with the command “EAT BUGS” written on the bag. I went there. I took a bite.

Would there be an insect repellent flavor? Would I smell the ghosts of wriggling fried crickets? No. It tasted like a regular barbecue chip.

— Sage magazine writer S. Lattman can be reached at [email protected]