FoodStarter: 1 to 1000 in One Year?

Starting and growing a food business is a long, hard hustle. There are many hoops to jump through before you can get your product on those grocery shelves and hit the bigtime. But, what if you had the opportunity to go from 1 - 1000 fast? If all the doors that you needed opening for your business simply opened, would you race through?If you nodded yes, then you need to know about FoodStarter. It's a nationwide search for NZ's most innovative food and beverage products with the ultimate prize being the chance to have your product on New World shelves across New Zealand. We talk to Marian Johnson, CEO of Ministry of Awesome, the incubator behind FoodStarter as well Tim Campbell, Category Manager at Foodstuffs about what it means to create an innovative product. "The challenge with innovation is walking the tightrope between creating something that is new and something that the customer wants", says Tim. So do be on trend and go plant based or make kombucha or could you innovate in other ways that focus on the provenance of food or the founder story? In the episode we talk about:Foodstarter, who it’s for and why you should applyCan innovation happen beyond the product itselfThe one thing category managers look for in your food product Where to begin if you want to stock your product at a NZ supermarket Find out more about Foodstarter on www.Foodstarter.co.nzApplications close 7 February 2021.Quotes from the episode:"Going to the supermarket and watching people shop is actually quite interesting. What people say they are going to do versus what they actually put into their shopping trolley is often quite different." - Tim Campbell"When you're investing in a startup, you're investing in the founder. It's not often that you go from no to go in a year. With FoodStarter we are giving you the skates, the network and the opportunity. But you still have to do the running, no one is going to do that for you" - Marian Johnson