In addition to leaving Johnson and Wales University with internships this coming year, students Kayce Jernagan and Julianne Surrette are walking away with $10,000 and the seeds of a business idea that could change their lives.
After a semester working with celebrity chef Tyler Florence for the Future Food All-Stars Challenge, Jernagan and Surrette were chosen as the winners of the challenge in early December. The new JWU-sponsored program pushed nine teams to create, innovate and deliver a viable business model with the hopes of sparking entrepreneurship.
To join the competition, teams had to submit an application outlining their idea, who it would be targeted toward and what sort of food industry-related problems it could help to solve.
Coming up with the initial idea for Sunflower Kids, a nutrient-dense single-serving meal tray for K-12 students, was the difficult part, Jernagan and Surrette said.
“When we landed on this idea to create a meal service that could benefit kids in so many ways we knew that it was the one,” Jernagan said. “I’ve spent lots of time working with kids and seeing how they eat. I also know that kids are quick to decide that they don’t like something based on the smell or appearance and that was a huge part of inspiring the hidden fruits and vegetables."
Sunflower Kids, the pair told judges, would be built around the individual child with a signup process that would allow parents and guardians to enter food preferences, as well as dietary needs. The business would use that data to provide meal recommendations for children.
After studying data from 200 children, they decided to include items like rainbow pasta, pinwheel sandwiches and grain bowls in the vegetable-based lunch packs. Meals would come ready-to-eat and be served cold.
Surrette said the Sunflower Kids business would follow a subscription-based model, “whereas the subscribers have payment options of a two-week trial package, monthly bundles or a yearly package, making it a prepaid service.”
“This could address many problems in both the food industry and daily lives of consumers, including allergies/ dietary needs, food deserts, obesity, nutrient deficiencies, current school lunches and the lack of education to kids about food,” she added.
Future unclear
As school wraps up this year, both Jernagan and Surrette are unsure of what the future holds as far as Sunflower Kids goes. Both are set to start internships after school, and starting a business, for the moment, seems daunting.
“Both of us moving on to internships and life after college complicates the idea of starting a business from the ground up,” Jernagan said. “ We’ve talked about it a lot and both feel that the ideal situation would be for an investor to purchase the company outright and bring us in to help run it and execute our vision. This is a project/concept we are going to hold onto until we’re in a better place to get it started successfully or someone comes to aid us in starting the company."
The pair claimed the top prize of $10,000 over finalists Hemply Rooted, a hemp-based food line, and Wonderland, a skatepark and restaurant combo.
The Future Food All-Stars Challenge was hosted by the university’s Larry Friedman Center for Entrepreneurship, College of Food Innovation & Technology (CFIT), and Food Network star and JWU’s Food Entrepreneur in Residence, Tyler Florence. Judges included Chef Florence via Zoom, CFIT Dean Jason Evans, Torchy’s Tacos founder Michael Rypka, and College of Business Dean Mary Meixell.
While the school hasn’t made a formal announcement yet, they hope to announce next year’s competition and a new Food Entrepreneur in Residence in early 2022, said JWU spokeswoman Katherine Hypolite-MacMannis.
