Pitch Competition Showcases Local Brands

In a spirited battle, lemonade and empanadas fell just short of kids’ frozen pancakes, non-vinegary kombucha, and grassfed yogurt.

The scene was Yale’s Kroon Hall. The occasion was the pitch competition at The Big Connecticut Food Event, an affair designed to stoke the development of emerging food and beverage brands. The stakes, to be determined by judges from Stop & Shop, Big Y, and Fresh Direct, among others: a $25,000 grand prize, with $10,000 going to the second-place winner, and $7,500 to the third.

The eventual champion at the event this past Friday afternoon was Secret Salad frozen pancake mix, a wry reference to the zucchini, along with bananas, eggs, and cinnamon, that are the pancake’s sole ingredients. Founder and CEO Ani Widham, out of Old Greenwich, shared case studies showing the growing popularity that has people ​“literally stockpiling” her product.

“You spend two minutes warming it up in the morning, and the kids eat almost the entire bag in one sitting, they say ​‘Ok, this is something I’m going to keep buying,’” she told the sometimes raucous audience of 90. 

Caribe Soul​’s Hazel Lebron, the other runner-up, likewise focused on the struggle for moms to find healthy food for their children. To demonstrate the taste-testing market research she did on the appeal of her empanadas to kids, she had her 11-year-old daughter Madeline, who was sitting in the second row, stand up.

“These little pockets of love are great for everyone, but especially kids like Madeline, they’re great for all meals, they’re healthy, they’re nutritious, they belong in Big Y and Whole Foods,” said Lebron, who owns and runs Madeline’s Empanaderia on Spring Street. 

The issue: ​“right now, my only machinery are my hands, and the hands of everyone on my team,” she told the judges. With an empanada machine, and her plans to expand into other products, ​“we’re going to be a competitor to Goya.” 

Hamilton Colwell, founder of third-place Maia, had a simple message about his grass-fed yogurt. ​“Sugar is the devil, and most yogurt has more sugar than a candy bar,” he said. ​“Grass-fed cows make better milk which creates better, creamier, and more nutritious yogurt, with far less sugar.” 

He implored the judges to help him catch the wave of the grass-fed movement. ​“It’s the future of dairy, and not just yogurt,” he said. ​“It’s sustainable, its regenerative, and it’s why Dannon, Nestle, and General Mills are pouring big money into it.” 

Steve Gaskin, co-founder and head brewer of Norwalk’s East Coast Kombucha recounted his first experience with kombucha as ​“the taste of hell,” one he likened to spoiled vinegar. His solution: create a delicious locally made kombucha, with flavors that range from blueberry ginger to peach rose to grapefruit hops. 

Asked how he planned to grow his brand, Gaskin said his team was targeting non-kombucha drinkers by focusing on its healthy properties, like gut-healthy probiotics and organic enzymes and antioxidants. ​“A lot of people when they learn it’s an incredible cocktail mixer don’t care about probiotics,” he said. ​“It’s like, ​‘let’s go.’”

Kristen Threatt of Gorilla Lemonade discussed the brand’s humble beginnings and the community-driven spirit that has them pouring a portion of the proceeds into events like the recent Winter Wonderland Celebration, and young ambassadors running lemonade stands to make money and develop business chops.

“We started in a kitchen with no crazy capital, just the dollars in our own pockets,” said Threatt, the lemonade’s co-creator, along with Brian Burkett-Thompson. ​“A little over a year later, we have two new distributors that have 8,500 locations total, and we need to be in everyone single one of those locations by the end of the year.”

“Come on now,” someone called out.

As the judges retired to deliberate, audience member Michele Johnson lingered, googling Maia Yogurt on her phone.

“This was fantastic,” she said. ​“It was like New Haven’s very own Shark Tank.” 

While Gorilla Lemonade finished as a runner-up, they did take home the inaugural $2,500 Audience Choice Award.

“Power of the people,” someone shouted in the conference area where competitors and audience members had assembled. ​“The people spoke.”