A love of ‘The Price Is Right’ and Texas A&M led this Aggie executive to the top of the food chain
Federico “Fed” Muyshondt ’03 credits his family and his time at Texas A&M University with instilling in him the drive to succeed and be a force for good in the world.
Federico “Fed” Muyshondt grew up hearing the stories about Texas A&M University from his cousins back in El Salvador, and made his way to Aggieland in 2000. Following graduation, he went on to create an incredibly successful career based on the values he learned from his parents and Texas A&M. As a huge Aggie football fan, Muyshondt likes to take his family — wife, Faye, and children, Addy and Ollie — to Aggie games when he can.
Unbreakable family bonds forged by civil war, a lifelong connection to Texas A&M University and unforgettable days spent learning the prices of household items from TV’s Bob Barker have all helped shape Federico “Fed” Muyshondt ’03 — both as a person and as a leader in the food and beverage industry.
Inspired by the formative experiences that shaped his belief in the power of food as a driver of health, Muyshondt built his career at some of the world’s most influential food and beverage brands, including Frito-Lay, Danone, Chobani and BodyArmor. Today, he is channeling that experience into a new chapter: bringing his passion for the intersection of food and health to the pet industry. As president and chief operating officer of The Farmer’s Dog, he drives enterprise growth while furthering the company’s mission to help dog people give their dogs the very best.
Muyshondt has earned the respect and admiration of his peers, thanks in part to the way his parents — Ernesto and Maria, whom he considers his role models — raised him. But part of his drive for excellence and desire to be a force for good is a reflection of the lessons he learned at Texas A&M. Looking back, he recognizes how his family and its fondness for the university intertwined to shape the trajectory of his life.
A young Federico “Fed” Muyshondt stands between his parents, Maria and Ernesto Muyshondt.
“I’m the youngest of 18 cousins on my mom’s side of the family, and a lot of them went to Texas A&M because they were in the family’s coffee business,” Muyshondt said about his early introduction to Texas A&M. “I grew up listening to these cousins, who were like heroes to me, sharing all their Aggie stories.”
For Muyshondt, the journey to his professional zenith wasn’t always easy. He grew up mostly in war-torn El Salvador, where his “normal” was a far cry from that of many kids his age. Discussing his childhood in a 2025 interview with the Texas A&M Foundation, he reflected, “I thought it was normal not to go out on the streets. I thought it was normal to hear bombs that sounded like thunder every night after 9 p.m. and to sleep under, not on, your mattress.”
Muyshondt will never forget the many ways his parents sacrificed for the sake of their family. For example, in response to the looming Salvadoran Civil War, which would last from 1979 to 1992, they made the difficult decision to live apart for several years. His father remained behind in El Salvador to manage the family’s agriculture business, and his mother settled in Miami, Florida.
The whole family didn’t reunite in El Salvador until Muyshondt was 4 years old.
In one day, [my father] lost everything he built over many, many years. Seeing him rebuild taught me that hard work works, and that adversity, if you use it as fuel to motivate yourself, is a very powerful thing.
During the 12 hours a day his family had electricity in El Salvador, Muyshondt enjoyed watching TV with his grandmother. He was particularly fond of “The Price Is Right,” and thanks to the iconic American game show, he “knew the price of everything. I would write it all down.”
The spotty power in El Salvador left local grocery stores dark much of the time, with little stock and no refrigeration. To escape that grim reality, Muyshondt passed the time imagining the bright, fully stocked supermarkets he shopped at when visiting family in Miami.
“The stores were beautiful,” Muyshondt said. “I just loved it. I knew whether every price was high, low or on sale. At a young age, I knew I needed to be in the food and beverage industry. I just had no idea in what way, shape or form.”
Muyshondt remembers multiple instances when the Salvadoran Civil War hit terrifyingly close to home. On one occasion, his father’s farms were burned to the ground.
“In one day, he lost everything he built over many, many years,” Muyshondt said. “Seeing him rebuild taught me that hard work works, and that adversity, if you use it as fuel to motivate yourself, is a very powerful thing.”
On another occasion, when Muyshondt was 16 years old, his father was shot eight times in an assassination attempt that left him hospitalized for six months.
“It was a blessing for him to live, but he was never the same mentally or physically,” Muyshondt shared.
In the wake of this family tragedy, Muyshondt’s mother became a nurse for her husband and assumed both parenting roles for her three sons.
“I saw a woman extremely devoted to her marriage, in sickness and in health,” Muyshondt said. “We had my dad for another 25 years. He taught me to be more grateful for every single day that we have. After seeing him fight for his life, it inspired me, to this day, to work very hard and to make him and my mom proud.”
Given everything the family had endured together, it was tough for Muyshondt to leave his parents in El Salvador to go to college. He spent one year in an admittedly ill-fitting local prelaw program, but that experience just confirmed what he had long suspected: The only school he wanted to attend was Texas A&M. After all, he had never forgotten the stories about Aggieland that his cousins Juan ’73 and Miguel ’73 brought back with them to El Salvador. So, with his parents’ blessing, he departed for College Station, Texas, and finally became an Aggie in 2000.
Between the school’s military tradition and the strong sense of national pride on campus at the time, the amount of unity I saw in College Station was incredible.
“Texas A&M was a great experience for me from day one. I fell in love with so many things,” Muyshondt said in the 2025 interview. “On a larger scale, the level of decency and respect I felt just walking around campus — people making eye contact and saying ‘Howdy’ to me — was a culture shock coming from a war-ridden country.”
A year behind most of his peers, Muyshondt was determined to make up for lost time by carrying heavy course loads each semester toward his Bachelor of Science in marketing. He also relied on the Texas A&M Career Center to help him better understand what he was and wasn’t looking for from his career.
An undergraduate during the tumultuous period following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Muyshondt came to realize that the university helped define not only his professional path but also his identity.
“Between the school’s military tradition and the strong sense of national pride on campus at the time, the amount of unity I saw in College Station was incredible,” Muyshondt recalled. “Everyone was united. I started to feel a lot of pride for being born in the United States. It was an incredible transition period for me, from identifying as a person from El Salvador to identifying myself as an American.”
Muyshondt’s demanding academic schedule paid off, and he graduated in 2003. Eager to enter the consumer packaged goods industry, he quickly discovered that many of the companies he was interested in required recruits to have an MBA. Undaunted, he took a position with Dell Technologies in Austin and began working toward an advanced degree at Rice University. In 2007, he broke into his chosen industry with a marketing manager position at the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo in Dallas-Fort Worth.
In 2010, Muyshondt moved to New York City to join yogurt industry leader Danone, acting on his desire to work for brands and companies offering consumers more healthful options. He remained with the company for eight years, developing sales, customer and commercial strategies and serving as vice president of several divisions.
By 2018, Muyshondt was ready to move on and accepted an executive position at Chobani, which had grown from an obscure upstart to a major player boasting 20% of the U.S. yogurt market. As chief commercial officer, he played an active role in expanding Chobani’s product line and doubling the company’s size over a five-year period, gaining a timely new appreciation for the thrill of chasing a market leader as a smaller player.
In 2022, Muyshondt took on what he called “the biggest underdog role in the history of our industry” as CEO of BodyArmor Sports Nutrition. Coca-Cola had recently purchased the brand and was eager to make strides toward supplanting the clear leader of the sports drink industry. Among other initiatives, he orchestrated a brand refresh, launched the Choose Better campaign and formed a successful partnership with some fellow Texas A&M former students: the five Aggies who make up the wildly popular YouTube trick-shot group Dude Perfect.
As president and chief operating officer of The Farmer’s Dog, Muyshondt supports the company’s mission to help dog people give their dogs — like his own dog Lola — the very best.
After nearly four productive years with BodyArmor, Muyshondt left the CEO role for his current position at The Farmer’s Dog.
As president and chief operating officer at The Farmer’s Dog, Muyshondt focuses on expanding the business and advancing the company’s mission to help dog people do their best for their dogs. He translates vision into action by aligning teams, sharpening execution and ensuring the organization operates as one cohesive and high-performing unit. He leads with a deep commitment to scaling impact while protecting the purpose-driven foundation that makes the brand distinct.
As a proud graduate of a university that aims to be a force for good in the world, Muyshondt strives to live up to that mission. He and his wife, Socialsklz founder Faye de Muyshondt, recently established the Faye and Federico Muyshondt ’03 Foundation Excellence Award — a scholarship that gives deserving, hardworking students the chance to pursue their Aggie dreams at Mays Business School. He also shares his expertise on advisory boards for multiple companies in the food and beverage industry, helping them grow responsibly and create positive outcomes for employees and communities.
Muyshondt keeps close ties to Aggieland. In fact, he and his wife bring their children, Addy and Ollie, to Kyle Field for Aggie football games as often as possible. From listening to his cousins’ Aggie stories and watching “The Price Is Right” as a child to guiding his own children through longstanding traditions at his beloved alma mater, he has experienced how family, passion and Texas A&M shaped his life and created happy moments even during his darkest days.
Muyshondt will be part of the “In Good Company” panels during South by Southwest in Austin. The Fast Company Grill and Texas A&M are hosting a day dedicated to innovators, brand leaders and entrepreneurs committed to positive impact, responsibility and business for good in a changing world.
