January 5×5 Night at Start Garden
Voting Closes:
January 20, 2025 11:59 pm
Impact
Notably, 10% of Americans have food allergies, and demand for plant-based and less-sugar options is soaring. That means approximately 1 million Michiganders are suffering from various food allergies. Despite this, no single competitor caters to all four categories (Plant based, Less sugar, allergen friendly and Gluten Free), creating a great opportunity for our unique offering.
Most of the snacks available in the stores today contain either enormous amounts of sugar or artificial sweeteners. Consuming either of those on the regular basis can lead to negative impacts on the health in the short and long term (skin rashes, mood disorders, diabetes, obesity and many others). Most importantly, such snacks often contain multiple allergens and preservatives which makes them impossible for consumption by the individuals with various allergies, including kids. It’s so heart sickening to me to see the little ones that simply want to enjoy a treat just like all the other kids do, but they can’t as they struggle with allergies. My cookies are free from 8 out of 9 major allergens which makes them a great allergen friendly snack.
Being a plant based product, my cookies are more sustainable than many other products on the market. That reduces the use of animals in the food industry and plays a big part in the sustainability of our planet. Providing a delicious, guilt free snack is my ultimate goal. Last year we were able to serve to more than 300 households and we will work really hard to make this number grow every year.
What I'll do with $5,000
I would spend $5000 in 2 ways: I need to purchase mailer- display packaging that will allow me to work with local convenient and grocery stores. This packaging is a must as it holds all the cookies and it’s a nice display case that can be placed next to the checkouts. The minimum order from the supplier is $3000 and that would give me 2000 boxes that I can use to make my cookies available for everyone in Michigan! These boxes can fit up 18 cookies at a time and they can be used for storage as well. The remaining $2000 I will spent on the roll stock film that I’m using to individually wrap the cookies. So far I was able to afford only one roll which cost me $500. It has all of the necessary information printed on it, including nutrition label, logo, upc, etc. This film is used to individually wrap the cookies that get placed in the display cases. Each roll has 2500 prints, and purchasing 4 of them will let me launch more flavors at the same time.
Last year we didn’t have the packaging machine yet, so we were placing our product in the clear clamshell containers. Using the film to individually wrap cookies not only makes them an easy accessible snack on the go, but also reduces plastic waste.