Recap of Our Soaring Pitch Slam and Financing & Innovation Forum
Naturally Chicago's Pitch Slam and Financing & Innovation Forum, held Wednesday, May 3 at Chicago's Epiphany Center for the Arts, was a rousing success. And the event was capped by the selection of two great emerging brands as our 2023 Pitch Slam winners.
There were actually two Pitch Slams, one for companies with annual revenues of less than $1 million and the other for companies with annual revenue of more than $1 million.
The winning pitcher among the five excellent finalists in the smaller category is Erica Bethe Levin (photo above), founder/CEO of Globowl, a company that makes food for babies and toddlers that is focused on early allergen introduction through internationally-inspired cuisine. Globowl is no stranger to Naturally Chicago, as Erica finished second in Naturally Chicago's 2022 virtual Pitch Slam.
And Trish Thomas of Every Body Eat finished atop another outstanding field of five finalists in the larger company category. Every Body Eat makes clean, allergen friendly, gluten free, plant based, delicious snack thins and crispbreads (and more) that family and friends can enjoy together, regardless of most dietary restrictions and preferences.
The company pursues social justice by hiring employees from distressed communities, many of whom have been previously arrested or have had other contact with the criminal justice system.
With its 1st place finish in the under $1 million revenue category, Globowl will receive a booth, valued at $7,200, at Natural Products EXPO East, which will be held in Philadelphia September 20-23. Every Body Eat receives the opportunity to compete in the EXPO East Pitch Slam as the 1st place finisher in the $1 million+ revenue category.
The two companies will split the remainder of a prize package of business-building services valued at nearly $200,000.
Naturally Chicago also congratulates the other finalists for their excellent presentations, which held the attentions of a standing-room-only audience of more than 300 that included business leaders, investors, VCs, service providers, potential mentors and more.
Naturally Chicago also broke news at the event by announcing Locally Made, a major new program that connects Chicago-area retailers with the region's top performing and emerging natural brands to help all companies thrive. Locally Made, a partnership with KeHE, is also developing a Mentorship program to enhance the experience for both retailers and brands.
The announcement was made by those in the photo above (from left): Jonathan Lawrence of Fresh Thyme Market and Naturally Chicago Board member; William Madden of Whole Brain Consulting and Chair of the Naturally Chicago Board; Jennifer Amdur Spitz of Amdur Spitz and Associates and Katie Paul of KeHE, both members of the Board's Executive Committee; Greg Keller, formerly Director of Sales at Frontera Foods and senior consultant to the Locally Made project; and Jim Slama, Naturally Chicago Managing Director.
Three retailers — Fresh Thyme Market, Dom's Kitchen & Market and Go Grocer — and numerous brands (see graphic below) have already been recruited for the program. Naturally Chicago is seeking many more for a program that we expect to accelerate growth in the Natural Products sector. We invite you to click the button below to visit our Locally Made webpage and learn more.
Naturally Chicago thanks all of our event and pitch slam prize sponsors, including World Business Chicago, which graciously made our event part of the first day of its Chicago Venture Summit Future-of-Food; the expert participants in the Raising Capital in Challenging Times panel and the Building a Culture of Innovation presentations; our learned Pitch Slam judges; Josh Katt of Kitchfix catering, Kim Holstein of Twisted Alchemy mixers and others who made the post-event reception such an amazing finale; our event volunteers; and those who took the time out of their busy schedules to attend.
And our sincerest gratitude to Epiphany Center for the Arts for enabling us to use the gorgeous space inside what formerly was a church.
