The Hy-Vee Inclusive Business Summit will take place on Wednesday, Jan. 31 at the Scott Conference Center in Omaha, Nebraska.
The summit is a free, day-long professional development expo and pitch competition. After receiving over 100 applications, 15 minority- and women-owned businesses have been selected to participate in one of three pitch competition categories to showcase their products or services. A panel of judges will select one winner of the $30,000 grand prize, and one business from each category will win $5,000. Additional cash investments may be awarded. Finalists in the food and beverage category are as follows:
Food and Beverage
Business: A+ Berry
Owner: Dr. Xiaoquing Xie
Location: Lincoln, Nebraska
A+ Berry is a Big 10 food tech company based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that is creating innovative, antioxidant drinks for health. Their first product is AroJuice, a cold-pasteurized juice made from a super fruit, the Aronia berry, which is grown in the Midwest and provides the highest antioxidant protection.
Business: Cup of Coa
Owner: Jasmin McGinnis
Location: Kearney, NE
Cup of Coa is a luxury gourmet cocoa blend that can be prepared traditionally, frozen, or cooked down into a sauce. It sources fine ingredients from around the globe to craft its hot chocolate, which is simply mixed with water.
Business: Harken Sweets
Owner: Katie Lefkowitz
Location: New York
Manufactured in Illinois, Harken seeks to upend the candy bars to make them better-for-you. Harken has reimagined America's favorite candy bars, using the power of fruit and processing innovation, to make them fiber-packed and low-calorie, but just-as-tasty as the classics.
Business: Humbl Roots
Owner: Jacquelyn Burklund
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Humbl Roots is a food manufacturing company whose mission is to bring people to the table and have them leave feeling good. Without compromising quality and taste, it reinvents familiar foods in order to accommodate dietary restrictions.
Business: Sunday Night Foods
Owner: Eileen Gannon
Location: Des Moines, Iowa
Sunday Night Foods crafts shelf-stable, premium chocolate sauces in small batches with only the finest ingredients. Consumers want better-quality, gourmet convenience food, and Sunday Night sauces satisfy that need with a new, disruptive product in an old category.
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