8 Naturally Network brands compete Wednesday in Pitch Slam
On Wednesday, eight emerging brands will take the Pitch Slam stage. Meet them here, then watch the live event on LinkedIn.
September 19, 2023
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The 2023 Natural Products Expo East Pitch Slam once again features winners of eight regional Naturally Network Pitch Slam contests.
Jake Achterhoff acknowledges his entrepreneurial journey isn't heartwarming or inspiring, as many are.
While working at PURIS Foods, a non-GMO ingredients company, Achterhoff saw a chance to disrupt the marketplace with a plant-based egg substitute. This shelf-stable powder can be mixed with water and scrambled like eggs; the brand recently released Plant-Based Protein Scramble Cups and a Frozen Plant-Based Egg Patty."Eggs are a staple of an American diet. To try and re-create that, to capture the taste, texture, functionality and nutritional content of eggs in meaningful ways, is a pretty insane undertaking," Achterhoff says.
Michelle Valdez-Wilton has always loved sugar. But as she got older, eating sugar made her feel worse than it used to, she said.
To get a healthier sugar fix, Valdez-Wilton, who has a pastry chef background, started blending medjool dates and organic chocolate in her kitchen at home. She began asking her friends to taste-test the concept.
"It was a pandemic project," she says. "I was trying to develop a packaged food business because I own two restaurants that were shut down."
Trish Thomas and Nichole Wilson, two Chicago, Illinois, businesswomen, set out to highlight clean snack foods on a new tech platform.
"The criteria were clean ingredients that aren't jacked up with sugar or chemicals, and it had to taste so good that people would eat it even if they didn't have a special diet," Thomas says.
"There's a lot of free-from food out there," she says. "But people who have a choice to eat other stuff aren't going to eat it."
So, they launched Every Body Eats, snack thins and crispbreads that are safe and delicious.
Kate Ferguson and Lila Sullivan, the co-founders of Flourish Plant, give plant lovers a nontoxic, sustainably produced food for their flora.
"I've always had lots of houseplants," Ferguson says. But she refuses to feed them synthetic chemicals. "I'm not giving them the devil's food."
The women worked with a biological sciences professor as they sought ingredient suppliers.
"We're really proud of our supply chain. We have a huge emphasis on sustainability and are as close to carbon negative as you can get," Sullivan says.
Five industry experts will judge Pitch Slam on Wednesday, Sept. 20: Ben Fishman, board member, Regenified, top left; Sherry Frey, VP of total wellness, NIQ, center; Megan Reuszer, director, PearlRock Partners, top right; Cynthia Tice, founder, Lily's Sweets, lower left; and Alyssa Vescio, SVP of merchandising, Whole Foods Market, lower right.
After seeing rice farmers struggle to earn a livable wage, Peetachai "Neil" Dejkraisak co-founded Jasberry, a Certified B Corporation and social enterprise food company in Bangkok, Thailand. Although the company also sells other products like tea, it is known for its organic purple-hewed Jasberry rice, a special varietal developed by natural crossbreeding that blends jasmine rice with a variety of traditional Thai black rice.
"I've always had a belief that the future of this planet, the future of food and the future of business can be done differently," Dejkraisak says.
As a health seeker dealing with stress issues, Danny Walsh discovered the benefits of daily medicinal mushroom consumption. And as an adult in the modern age, he discovered the joy of daily morning coffee. Combining the two made perfect sense.
"I forget to take vitamins all the time," he admits, "but I would never forget my morning coffee."
Walsh and java-lovin' product development engineer Carl Bailey put their heads together to create a method for infusing all the adaptogen goodness of mushrooms into whole bean coffee.
Kristin Fracassi used natural laundry detergent and other household cleaners whenever possible, assuming they were safer. Once this California mom of four learned they might not be, she got busy learning, formulating products—and founding her own business.
Fracassi launched Root & Splendor in 2019 to share her handcrafted natural, nontoxic, eco-friendly laundry essentials and other home goods with families everywhere.
"I had no intention of starting a business, but I did intend to start formulating products for my family," she says.
Susana Trilling, whose grandmother taught her to cook, teaches epicurious tourists from around the world how to make traditional Mexican dishes at her Oaxaca City, Mexico, cooking school.
For foodies who don't have the time or resources to invest in that experience, though, Trilling has created a line of mole sauces made with house-made chocolate, smoked chiles and organic criollo corn.
"For us, staying innovative means staying true to authenticity. Our philosophy is simple: deliver an authentic and quality product that delivers the flavors of Oaxaca," she says.
Susana Trilling, whose grandmother taught her to cook, teaches epicurious tourists from around the world how to make traditional Mexican dishes at her Oaxaca City, Mexico, cooking school.
For foodies who don't have the time or resources to invest in that experience, though, Trilling has created a line of mole sauces made with house-made chocolate, smoked chiles and organic criollo corn.
"For us, staying innovative means staying true to authenticity. Our philosophy is simple: deliver an authentic and quality product that delivers the flavors of Oaxaca," she says.
The 2023 Natural Products Expo East Pitch Slam once again features winners of eight regional Naturally Network Pitch Slam contests.
The competitors come from Naturally Network affiliates in Minnesota; Los Angeles, California; Bay Area (San Francisco, California); Chicago, Illinois; Austin, Texas; New York; Boulder, Colorado; and San Diego, California. Pitch Slam is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday, Sept. 20, at the Grand Hall Stage, Level 200 of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The competition will be broadcast live on LinkedIn, as well.
Pitch Slam will follow the same format as the 2023 Expo West and 2022 Expo East events: Each entrepreneur will pitch to the judges—as well as the live and online audiences—then answer the judges' questions. After they deliberate, the judges will announce the finalists and proceed to pepper them with questions during a lightning round that will determine the winner.
In addition to bragging rights, the winning brand will win a free booth at next year's Expo and more than $30,000 in services from New Hope Network.
Seven of the Pitch Slam competitors will exhibit in the Hot Products area of the show floor, near booth 4097. The exception is Every Body Eat, representing Naturally Chicago. That affiliate ran two competitions and split the prize: Every Body Eat won for companies with revenue of $1 million or more; Globowl won for companies with revenue below $1 million. So, Every Body Eat will compete in the Expo East Pitch Slam and Globowl will exhibit on the trade show floor.
Expo East 2023 Pitch Slam is sponsored by 301 Inc and Green Spoon Sales.
Preparing for the Expo East stage
While these eight brands experienced the pressure of a pitch slam contest at the regional level, competing at Expo East is major league pressure.
Of course, just as baseball players have the support of numerous trainers and coaches, the Pitch Slam entrepreneurs are backed by mentors from the natural products industry. This year's mentors have backgrounds in retail, distribution, consultancy, incubators, data analysis, marketing and investment:
K.C. Kuder, Synergy.
To learn more about the Expo East Pitch Slam competitors and the judges, click through the gallery.
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