2021 APPLICATION IS CLOSED

Red Wing - Cannon Valley Butcher's Block (CVBB) is a growing meat and butchery company. Founder Sarah Scheub, started CVBB three years ago because she wanted to share the magic and reality of food production with her community. She believes when you have a hand in producing and harvesting the food that nourishes your body, you can begin to honor the life that sustains you.   

Grant Purpose: jumpstart CVBB’s plan to build a grain feed storage infrastructure.

Minneapolis - Founder Florence Karp (also known as Chef Flo-K) was born into a food business, growing up with her mother having a Buka (restaurant) in Nigeria. Later, she ran her own catering business in Nigeria. Today, Chef Flo-K manufactures delicious Afric Sauce, an authentic, traditional African sauce and supplies restaurants, wholesale industries, public and private food institutions. 

Grant Purpose: enable a co-manufacturing partnership to meet large volume demands.

Owatanna - Founder Abel Tekeste, created Hiwet Products to introduce culturally-inspired teff-based products. Teff, often associated with the flatbread Injera, has a wide range of applications. With Hiwet Products, he hopes to highlight the versatility and value of this “wonder grain.” Hiwet Products is named after Abel’s grandmother—an entrepreneur who introduced him to agriculture. 

Grant Purpose: support the development of teff-based pasta and nutritional bars.

Brooklyn Park - Founder Junita Flower, started with cookie recipes that have been in her family for decades. Inspired by the Founder’s personal journey, Junita’s Jar has a goal of building a national distribution and profitable cookie company that will spread a message of hope to all, and in particular to women and girls experiencing domestic violence.

Grant Purpose: enable the ability to explore and secure a co-manufacturing partnership to meet high volume demands.

Minneapolis - Founder Gustavo Romero Veytia and his wife hand made tortillas with heirloom Mexican corn and a comal. During the pandemic, they made meals accompanied with the tortillas and delivered them to homes. Today, Nixta makes the same tortillas, packaged for resale at local stores, on top of running their own tortilleria and Mexican takeout.

Grant Purpose: support a plan to purchase a commercial vacuum sealer that will extend the shelf-life of the packaged tortillas.

Maplewood - For Founder Beauclarc Thomas, healthy living has always been important. Through Pure Ginger for You, he and his team cold press organic ginger juices blended with the fresh vegetable ingredients that are bottled and shipped to local stores. The ginger juice blend provides a revitalized and invigorated feel.

Grant Purpose:  enable higher scale of production by acquiring additional juicing equipment.

Minneapolis - Founder Rachel Banken, crafts loose-leaf herbal teas from foraged botanicals found on local farms and forests native to Minnesota. Well Rooted Teas infusions of herbs, roots, leaves, fruits and berries nourish the body and are grown and harvested in a manner that promotes the health of our environment. Rachel believes in the healing power of plants and provides 10% of her revenue to environmental sustainability initiatives. 

Grant Purpose: purchase and establish a more efficient and effective drying process in  tea blending.