Susan Elwer connects her passion for fighting childhood hunger with a mission-based apparel business.  Spoonful Apparel features inspiring messages on garments that can be purchased as well as supplying corporations with their garment and logo merchandise needs. Each item purchased through Spoonful Apparel results in 50% of the profits going to a community organization dedicated to fighting hunger in the neighborhood where you live and work.

To date Spoonful Apparel and its customers have donated over 121,000 meals. 

If you are responsible for ordering merchandise for your company check them out. They are very competitively priced and your purchase provides meals for kids in Minnesota. 

Michele Henry and Ali Nanne co-founded The Face Foundry, a quick, convenient, full-service spa-like experience for facials, waxes, and lashes that could be completed in less than 40  minutes. The first location opened in March 2019. Then, just eight months later, a second location opened up. Now, these serial entrepreneurs have their eyes set on the future with a skincare product line and plans for two more locations before the end of the year. 

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Lily Shaw works to support and connect the worlds of entrepreneurs, businesses, and communities through access, content and support. She is the community lead for 1 Million Cups Saint Paul, the trainer, and facilitator for Co-Starters, a 10-week program presented by the James J Hill Foundation designed for entrepreneurs to develop and fine-tune their ideas and determining next steps to bring that idea to fruition through real-time feedback. Participants leave the program with a deeper understanding of how to create a sustainable business, articulate their models, and repeat the process. Lily is also the Director of Customer Experience at Startup Space and works with diverse startups to promote inclusive access to resources and tools that help all people build more businesses without barriers. 

Click here to learn more about the Co-Starters curriculum structure

For questions regarding the program visit the CO.STARTER MN information page click here.

Eli Ailloni is 16. He is also the content creator and influencer behind foody channel with over 262,000 followers on Instagram and over 1.6 million followers on Tik Tok. Eli is making his way in the world of influencer marketing in Minnesota.

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Claire and Chad Simons operate 3 Cricketeers, an urban cricket farm,  in a warehouse in St Louis Park.  The couple began by raising crickets for their own consumption, as a protein source three and a half years ago in the basement of their Edina home.

Now, they have 1 million crickets with plans to be at 5 million by soon as they have expanded to the 3,500-square-foot warehouse in St. Louis Park, which also has an industrial kitchen to prepare the crickets for the market.

The Simons crickets are ground into protein powder that is sold and used in baked goods and smoothies. Currently, they are developing cricket snacks, cookies, and recipes that optimize their crickets' texture, flavor and protein power.

Bernie Dahlin and his wife Adina are running a family-owned manufacturing plant in Eden Praire for their Double Take Salsa Company. The company's growth has been slow and steady over four years. Double Take Salsa started in Bernie's backyard in Edna with peppers and tomatoes he grew. This year,  Bernie bottled over 20,000 pounds of peppers and has found his way onto the shelves of Midwest Target due to his delicious flavor profiles and sales tenacity.

This is a great podcast to listen to if you are wondering how to scale up and how to get your product into retail.

The 3 Lonetti Sisters' big Italian family has always connected through food. Specifically, Grandpas Italian Meatballs that were the signature item at all family gatherings. Grandpa Lonetti’s house actually had a second kitchen in the basement where he would go to fry his meatballs and cook his red sauce!  Ann, Steph, and Katie are carrying on that tradition by packaging the meatballs famous secret recipe in the 3 Lonetti Sisters ready to use meatball mix.

In addition to local retailers, you can find the 3 Lonetti Sisters Meatball Mix in the Meat Raffle or Foodie Sota You Betcha Box. 

Use our exclusive coupon codes to save:
Steph2 and you save  $2 on the Meat Raffle Box
Steph10 and you save $10 on the Ultimate Foodie Sota box

The ultimate gift for your favorite foodie, home cook or favorite clients and employees!  This limited-edition curated selection of Minnesota’s very best, award-winning foods from artisan makers across the State. This fantastic, one-of-a-kind collection also includes exclusive recipes using these products from well-known Minnesotans like James Beard Award Winner Beth Dooley and Stephanie Hansen! And, if that’s not enough, it’s all packed in this quality Duluth-made Frost River Trading Co. canvas lunch/picnic tote. This gift is sure to ‘Wow!’

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Katie Sterns liked the idea of creating an ecosystem that supported makers in the State of Minnesota. From the idea of creating a fundraising initiative for local makers, the You Betcha Box concept was born. Currently, there are over 15 different You Betcha Boxes to order including the Ultimate Foodie Sota box and various standard sizes chock full of Makers of Minnesota.

Use our exclusive coupon codes to save:
Steph2 and you save  $2 on any standard size box.
Steph10 and you save $10 on the Ultimate Foodie Sota box

The ultimate gift for your favorite foodie, home cook or favorite clients and employees!  This limited-edition curated selection of Minnesota’s very best, award-winning foods from artisan makers across the State. This fantastic, one-of-a-kind collection also includes exclusive recipes using these products from well-known Minnesotans like James Beard Award Winner Beth Dooley and Stephanie Hansen! And, if that’s not enough, it’s all packed in this quality Duluth-made Frost River Trading Co. canvas lunch/picnic tote. This gift is sure to ‘Wow!’

Pat Wright started Hello Cookie when she wanted to find a way at her corporate job to create connections and welcome new team members. What started as cookies in her home became a cookie delivery business designed to help people give thanks, make connections or simply make someone's day. Beautifully designed and packaged cookies are welcome anytime you want to say, "Hey Hello Cookie."

Bakers's Field Flour and Bread is a commercial bakery and flour mill that is milling heritage grains in the Northeast Minneapolis’ Food Building. Steve Horton is the miller, baker, and man on the hunt for sourcing heritage grains throughout the Midwest. His team mills the grain into flours — primarily a whole-grain wheat flour and bread flour — half of which are supplied to restaurants including Restaurant Alma, The Bachelor Farmer, and Spoon and Stable. The rest is used for Baker’s Field’s own loaves of bread as well as retail sales.