A food startup took home $20,000 at University of Chicago's College New Venture Challenge to bring their banana-based frozen dessert to the market.
Bee Nana took the top prize at the College NVC on Thursday, the undergraduate track of UChicago's annual venture competition.
The startup produces a dairy-free, low-calorie frozen yogurt-like dessert, called Fronen, made of bananas, honey and lemon. They'll sell pints for $5.99 with additional flavors, such as raspberry, cinnamon and chocolate.
The idea came from founder Jessica Gartenstein's personal experience with Celiac Disease, which she's had since she was 13. The UChicago fourth year needs to eat a strict gluten-free diet with limited artificial additives, which made dessert a particularly hard meal. Her cofounder, Erik Nadeau, a UChicago third year, had a dessert recipe in his family that used bananas as a base, instead of artificial sweetener and dairy products. While it fit Gartenstein's dietary requirements, they realized in tests with friends and coworkers they had a tasty product that also fits a growing market need.
In an early pilot test, they sold 50 half pints at Hyde Park Produce in five days. Next up, the three person team (which also includes UChicago fourth year Grant Kushner) will work out of the Polsky Summer Accelerator to test their product in a food lab, launch a crowdfunding campaign and get their product onto shelves again by the end of the summer. They're also planning on having a social mission element to their business, including direct trade, utilizing slightly blemished bananas, and opening production in underserved areas of Chicago.
Bee Nana was one of five finalist teams that pitched at the College NVC, and the other student ventures walked home with funding as well:
2nd place ($5,000) Averia Health: An accessible, affordable concussion screening device.
3rd place ($3,000) Gather: A platform that streamlines communication and management of niche community conferences.
4th place tie ($1,000) Treehouse, a platform that facilitates sublease matches for students; and Competere, an app that connects hitting partners with tennis players to make use of underutilized courts at tennis clubs.
