Got a great idea for a food start-up? Or maybe you’ve already got your company up and running… you just need a little help getting your product right, or your marketing on point, or your retail partnerships rock-solid.
Chobani - yep, the yoghurt company - wants to help. In partnership with Monash University and the Food Innovation Centre, Chobani is giving away $10,000 to food start-ups.
The prize also includes access to Chobani execs (and other, external mentors like Birchbox’s Mollie Chen), a spot at the four-month incubator program next year, travel expenses and equity-free capital.
We saw a way to help socially responsible food entrepreneurs make their products available to all.
Peter Meek, Managing Director at Chobani, says the initiative came about because the company felt a need to extend beyond their own brand. “We saw a way to help socially responsible food entrepreneurs make their products available to all,” he says.
The incubator is looking for innovative, like-minded food start-ups who share Chobani’s commitment to delicious, nutritious, natural and affordable food.
“There are a lot of broken systems within the food industry,” he says, “and with this incubator, Chobani has a real chance to make a difference and give consumers better food options. We want to share what we’ve learned when it comes to scaling up and fighting convention by helping start-ups navigate operational, financial, sales and marketing challenges so they can take on the big guys and get their delicious, nutritious products in people’s hands in a meaningful way.
We want to disrupt the food industry.
Among the winners were Chloe’s Fruit, which makes vegan soft serve using only fruit, water and a small amount of organic cane sugar; Grainful, which makes lunch and dinner meal kits based on oats, and LoveTheWild, a company dedicated to sustainable seafood.
Rumi, another winner, was co-founded by four ex-soldiers who served in Afghanistan. The company works directly with Afghan suppliers to farm and import high-quality saffron to the United States.
While there’s no specific criteria for ethnically or culturally diverse food start-ups, Meek says that the incubator is open to any idea that helps deliver consumers better food. “The drive is innovation,” he says. “We want to disrupt the food industry.”
Applications are open until November 30.
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