Tag: Hy-Vee

Hy-Vee Awards $50,000 in Grants to Local Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses During Products, Services Showcase in Omaha

From our friends at Hy-Vee:

Media Contact:
Nola Aigner Davis
Senior Communications Manager
Mobile: (641) 430-9170
Nola.AignerDavis@hy-vee.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hy-Vee Awards $50,000 in Grants to Local Minority- and Women-Owned Businesses During Products, Services Showcase in Omaha

Hy-Vee’s OpportUNITY Inclusive Business Summit Hosted More Than 200 Attendees

 

OMAHA, NEB. (Jan. 31, 2024) — Today, Hy-Vee, Inc. awarded $50,000 to minority- and women-owned businesses during the Hy-Vee OpportUNITY Inclusive Business Summit at the Scott Conference Center, located on the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Scott Campus in Omaha. 

During the pitch competition component of the event, 15 companies from across the Midwest presented to a panel of judges and more than 200 event attendees. Each company leader was able to demonstrate their product or explain their service for the chance to win a small-business grant from Hy-Vee. A Hy-Vee committee selected the participating companies from more than 100 applications.

Winners of the Competition with Checks

Hy-Vee recognized the following during an awards presentation that followed the pitch competition:

Grand Prize Winner – $30,000: Humbl Roots, Jacquelyn Burkland, Omaha, Neb.
About: Humbl Roots is a food manufacturing company whose mission is to bring people to the table and have them leave feeling good. Without compromising quality and taste, we reinvent familiar foods in order to accommodate dietary restrictions.

Category: Food & Beverage

  • 1st place – $5,000: A+ Berry, Dr. Xiaoquing Xie, Lincoln, Neb.

About: A+ Berry is a Big 10 food tech company based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that is creating innovative & delicious antioxidant drinks for health. Their first product is AroJuice, a cold-pasteurized and delicious juice made from a super fruit, the Aronia berry, which is grown in the Midwest and provides the highest antioxidant protection.

Category: Innovation & Technology

  • 1st place – $5,000: RESPI, Jessica Queen, Omaha, Neb.
    About: RESPI is developing a medical device to save lives during military operations, mass casualty events, and overcrowded Emergency rooms. Our StatPatch® is uniquely designed for monitoring large groups of people simultaneously.

Category: Health, Wellness & Beauty

  • 1st place – $5,000: Mama’s Garden Apothecary, Newhall, Iowa

About: In its most simple form, Mama’s Garden Apothecary is comfort. Whether it is the small batch handmade skin care, aromatherapy, loose leaf teas, soups, spices or herbal remedies, Mama’s Garden specializes in bringing peace and comfort to peoples’ everyday lives.

Planting People Growing Justice, LLC (St. Paul, Minn.) and Angel Buck Corporation (Bunker Hill, Ill.) were also presented with smaller cash prizes for their business ventures.

In addition to the above winners, the following also participated in the pitch competition:

  • Cup of Coa, Kearney, Neb.
  • Harken Sweets, Chicagoland, Ill.
  • Sunday Night Foods, Des Moines, Iowa
  • Anchovy, Lincoln, Neb.
  • AskSAMIE, Kansas City, Mo.
  • RC Party Accents, LLC, Lincoln, Neb.
  • Evodia Fragrances, Omaha, Neb.
  • Jadomté Mobile Nail Bar, Omaha, Neb.
  • Superfood Body Shop, Omaha, Neb.

The event featured an expo that offered resources for small businesses, learning opportunities through presentations and panel discussions, the chance to learn about local brands and more.

The Hy-Vee OpportUNITY Inclusive Business Summit is one of several initiatives led by Hy-Vee that helps support minority- and women-owned businesses in the communities it serves. Hy-Vee remains committed to inclusivity by expanding product and service offerings that appeal to diverse lifestyles and backgrounds.

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Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 550 business units across eight Midwestern states with sales of more than $13 billion annually. The supermarket chain is synonymous with quality, variety, convenience, healthy lifestyles, culinary expertise and superior customer service. Hy-Vee ranks in the Top 5 Most Trusted Brands and has been named one of America’s Top 3 favorite grocery stores. The company’s more than 75,000 employees provide “A Helpful Smile in Every Aisle” to customers every day. For additional information, visit www.hy-vee.com.

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Visit back to here to OmahaNebraska.com’s blog for more stories and images from this great Omaha event! Thank you Hy-Vee for hosting this in Omaha, Nebraska.

Image courtesy of Hy-Vee.

 

 

Omaha Interview: Tania Castro from the Planters Nutmobile

OmahaNebraska.com Interview with Tania Castro from the Planters Nutmobile at Hy-Vee

Tanya Castro in front of the Planters Nutmobile at Hy-Vee

How long have you been with the Nutmobile?

So, I started with Katie and Mason on June 1st. We met May 31st. June 1st was our first day on the job. We trained for about nine days in Austin, Minnesota. We like to call it “Peanut Prep” and after the nine days we hit the road.

Now I understand the meaning of ”class”. So you are Class 10 (Tenth group to graduate from “Peanut Prep”)...

Yes, Class 10.

What did you do before this? How did you get this job?

So I’m a little different than Mason and Katie. They just graduated from college in May. I actually graduated college in December of 2021. After that, I started working for the government. I worked for a government agency in southern Nevada that did all public transportation, roadway planning… Funny story, one day I was picking up lunch from that job in Las Vegas and the Nutmobile passed me. And I was like, “This is probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” So, I snapped a picture of it. I posted it on my Instagram. My friend responded that it’s the Nutmobile, so I started doing research on it. And I came across their TikTok and Class 9 was doing really well with it. This seems like fun. Luckily, they were accepting applications at the time, so I decided to apply and here I am.

What’s it made of?

The outside is made out of fiberglass and pool noodles. If anybody ever comes across the Nutmobile, you’ll see the ridges. Those are actually pool noodles covered in fiberglass.

Yes, it’s definitely conversation starter.

What’s the engine or the rest of it?

So it’s built on a 2017 Isuzu chassis. That’s the base of it. And then they built the nut on top of it.

And then 2017 … and Class 10…[Five year old Nutmobile vs ten years of Peanutters-What’s missing?]

Yes.

What happened?

Planters used to be owned by Kraft Heinz before this.

When it was owned by Kraft Heinz there were three Nutmobiles on the road. So, there were more Peanutters than three when Hormel adopted the program and we stuck with this one. So, if you ever come across the Nutmobile, this is the only one.

What did you study at school?

I did journalism with a concentration in Marketing, a minor in Business Marketing and the second degree in Spanish.

Wow.

If anybody’s interested in driving the Nutmobile and applications open back up, I say go for it. Honestly, it’s an experience of a lifetime. You’ll get to save this for the rest of your life. You get to drive a giant peanut across the United States and you get to visit so many places in so many communities. There’s definitely a great opportunity.

So all the 48 continental states?

We’re trying to get to 48.

Do you collect anything from all these states?

I do! I collect magnets. So, growing up, my grandma always had her magnets on her fridge. My uncle traveled a lot when he was younger, so he would bring her magnets back. Everywhere that I go, I buy a magnet.

That’s really cool.

Thank you.

Yeah, so I do magnets. Katie does stickers and Mason is trying to do hats. So, we’re trying to see how many hats he can collect on the road.

We were talking about it earlier today and he has about 20 so far. We’ll see how many he ends up with.

I think about a couple times a week, how crazy it is that if I didn’t leave work that day to get lunch…so I am very grateful.

Thank you.

Thank you.