For Harrison Nastasi, the recipe for success didn’t start in a boardroom or even a classroom – it began in his family’s Sicklerville kitchen. His mom, battling arthritis, swore by superfood smoothie bowls to help reduce inflammation and ease her joint pain. His dad, diagnosed with celiac disease, needed gluten-free options. Watching both parents search for foods that could heal rather than harm sparked something in him.
“I wanted to create something they could enjoy anywhere,” says Nastasi, a Rowan University junior. “Smoothie bowls are great, but they melt fast and aren’t exactly portable. I thought – why not turn those health benefits into something you could hold in your hand, like a granola bar?”
That idea quickly turned into Bobica Bars, the world’s first superfood-glazed granola bar, created by Nastasi and his childhood best friend and co-founder, Justin Iannelli. Their journey has earned them national recognition, including a partnership with former NFL star Tiki Barber and a first-place finish at the 2023 Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) Global Pitch Competition. The friends’ win made history: It marked the second year in a row a Nastasi brother had claimed the top prize. (Last year, Harrison’s brother won for his company 4U Medical Designs, which makes sterile, colorful stickers for medical devices to ease pediatric patients’ anxiety.) But also, Harrison and Iannelli – then 19-year-old sophomores – were the youngest team to ever take home the award.
Q: How did you know how to make a granola bar – were you really good at baking?
I had no experience! I was 17, and my mom still made me breakfast. But after the idea struck, I went on YouTube and searched “how to make a granola bar.”
I started experimenting in my mom’s kitchen, tweaking the recipe to be healthier – no butter, no dairy, just organic, whole ingredients. Friends and family kept asking for more, so I knew I was on to something. Eventually, I got FDA approval, did all the legal work and launched the website. Competitions and word of mouth helped it grow from there.
Q: You gained lots of new business after winning the Global Pitch competition, but demand outpaced your production. How did you handle that?
At first, it was just me and Justin in a commercial kitchen, making everything by hand – baking, cutting, wrapping, sealing and shipping. We’d go to class all day, work until 8 pm, get two hours of sleep and then do it all over again.
Eventually, we couldn’t keep up and were months behind on orders. We emailed customers, offering refunds, but 95% chose to wait. That’s when I learned how important honesty is – people appreciated our transparency.
Now we’ve got machines that can make 120 bars a minute, which is a game-changer.
Q: What was it like to win the global competition?
It felt like all the weight was lifted off my shoulders. The year before, when my brother won, I announced, “I’m coming back next year to win.”
That goal was on my mind all year. But there was a lot of pressure. I’d never been to a competition before without my brother, and right before the competition, he had surgery and couldn’t come. That hit me hard. On top of that, our packaging for the NFL partnership with Tiki Barber didn’t arrive on time, adding more stress. But thankfully, it came in just in time. Then the day before semifinals, my brother surprised me by flying out. His doctor had cleared him to travel, and we practiced all night.
When we made it to the finals, I felt like, “Anything from here on out is icing on the cake.” Hearing our name called for first place was surreal. I cried. I was so thankful for my team and my family.
Q: You and Justin have known each other since kindergarten – how did you end up as business partners?
When I started the business, Justin was at Florida International University, but checked in and promoted the bars on social media. When I needed help with a competition, he stepped in, got hooked and eventually transferred schools so we could build the business fulltime.
He’s the only person I could see myself doing this with. We never argue, and it doesn’t even feel like work because we’re always just hanging out and making progress together.
Q: How did Tiki Barber get involved?
It’s a funny story. I was in class when I got a voicemail from his assistant. At first, I thought it was a beach-themed company. When I called back and realized it was Tiki Barber, the NFL legend, I was like, “Oh, wow!”
He’d seen press coverage about our business and loved our mission. We signed a one-year partnership, where he promotes the bars and gets a percentage of sales through his discount code. He even got us on a billboard in New York City.
Q: What stores are you in now, and what’s the next step?
We’re in nine ShopRite locations right now, plus some local coffee shops and a few gyms. But we just had a meeting with Wakefern, the parent company of ShopRite, and we’re working on expanding to over 250 stores. That’s the next big step.
We’re also growing our online sales through Amazon, TikTok Shop and our website. Amazon has been huge for us because people trust it, but TikTok is where we see a lot of future growth. Once our machines are fully optimized, we’re planning a big TikTok campaign.
Q: You come from a family of entrepreneurs. How did that shape you?
My brother Nicholas had a huge influence on me. When I was still in high school, he was starting his own business, 4U Medical Designs, and winning competitions. He taught me how to write a business plan, how to pitch and how to navigate competitions.
Our parents also inspired us. My dad runs a software company with my mom, and we grew up watching them work crazy hours. That work ethic stuck with me, and as a family who watched “Shark Tank” together, we always dreamed about the next big idea.
Q: What advice would you give to other student entrepreneurs?
Just start. Don’t wait for the “perfect” plan or moment. Go on Canva, make a logo, build a website – do anything to get the ball rolling. Once you see progress, it’s addicting.
