Snacks · Hastings, Nebraska

Pacha Soap Co.

Nebraska soapmakers who use business to create jobs and hygiene access abroad.

Founded: 2010
Founded by: Andrew Vrbas, Abi Vrbas
Based in: Hastings, Nebraska

Making it since

2010

Their story

Pacha Soap began with Andrew Vrbas, a Hastings College student who came up with the idea while riding a bus in Peru during a volunteer trip. Back home in Nebraska he taught himself to make soap in his mother's crockpot, and with his wife Abi, a fellow Hastings grad, he turned it into a business around 2010.

The company grew from a college apartment to a garage and then to a renovated space in downtown Hastings. Its early model gave away a bar for each one sold, but over time the Vrbases shifted toward building local soap-making jobs and buying directly from small farmers, supporting school programs in East Africa that have made and handed out millions of bars.

How it's made

Pacha's soaps are still made in batches in Hastings, with formulas tested and each batch cured before it is packaged. The company aims to source ingredients directly from smallholder farmers and build long-term supplier relationships.