Besto founder says she has ‘pride’ that her nut-free pesto product is perishable

A New York entrepreneur is on a mission to change the way Americans think about what’s in their refrigerators and what shouldn’t be in their pantries.

“I’m proud that Besto is perishable,” said Kaureen Randhawa, founder of the nut-free pesto brand, which launched in the summer of 2024.

“The situation is getting worse,” Randhawa, 27, told Fox News Digital. “Because it’s a fresh-ingredient product, it needs to be refrigerated. … It’s normal for food to spoil. Food is fresh. It shouldn’t go bad. Even though I have three hurricanes in my pantry, it shouldn’t last me.”

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Randhawa’s journey to becoming Besto’s boss started out of necessity in childhood.

Diagnosed with a severe nut allergy as a child while living in Florida, she grew up eating foods that most people take for granted.

“It’s an allergy I’ve never been able to get over,” she said, sharing pesto traditionally made with pine nuts, which has always been off-limits unless her mother makes it from scratch.

This homemade workaround would later become the foundation of his business.

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“My mother is a great cook,” Randhawa said. “She would make me pesto without nuts.”

Years later, Randhawa began experimenting with this recipe while attending the University of Florida.

Randhawa has been experimenting with the recipe since he was at the University of Florida. (Kaureen Randhawa)

“I really regained my health and fitness in college,” he said, recalling how he tweaked the traditional recipe by adding apple cider vinegar and substituting spinach.

The result, he said, is “this green, better-for-you sauce that tastes just like pesto.”

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After graduating and moving to New York for a corporate job at Estée Lauder, Randhawa continued making her pesto for daily use at home and work—until her friend’s husband, who was in the “food scene in Miami,” called her. He had tried the jar he had left in the fridge during the visit.

“I think you’re onto something,” he recalled her message to him.

Randhawa founded Besto in 2024, initially selling nut-free pesto in parks during his lunch break. (Molly Zacher/Wind Creator)

From there, Besto was born in his 506 square meter apartment.

Randhawa began fulfilling orders herself, sourcing ingredients from local stores and distributing jars in Manhattan parks during her lunch break.

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Today, Besto ships nationwide and is stocked in nearly 60 stores in 17 states, attracting not only allergy-affected consumers but also health-focused shoppers.

Pesto is mostly sold in health stores. (Besto)

Randhawa said he believes the brand’s rapid growth reflects a broader shift in how Americans approach food; This change is shaped by increasing transparency and content awareness.

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“Now when a consumer buys a simple product like ketchup or mayonnaise or pesto sauce, we now read the labels because we see all the garbage inside,” he said.

Noting the “tons of shelf-stable pesto” at the grocery store, he said this mindset aligns with a growing movement toward cleaner, less processed foods and a rejection of ultra-long shelf life as a selling point.

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“But these pestos are not the ones I want to buy at all,” he said.

“It doesn’t taste fresh.”

Randhawa is proud that the nut-free pesto brand he created has a shelf life. (Molly Zacher/The Wind Creative; Roots Marketing Agency)

While Besto started out as a solution for people with nut allergies like himself, Randhawa said it’s “just a delicious pesto.”

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“If something tastes good, everyone wants to eat it,” he said.