The search for NZ’s most innovative food and beverage products is underway.
Entries closing soon!
Entries will close on 7th February 2021
FoodStarter video
Why enter?
Accelerate your business to the next stage of growth
Winners will receive a powerhouse of support and guidance from right across the food and beverage industry to help grow the winning businesses to a national scale and beyond!
Win more than $240,000
value of in-kind prizes
Winners get access to $240,000 worth of services including business incubation, product development, retail advertising, packaging design, and your very own incubation HQ.
Your product on New World shelves across New Zealand!
Win the competition and you’ll be selling your product at every New World store across New Zealand - a truly life-changing opportunity for you and your business.
Previous winners of FoodStarter
Winner of FoodStarter 2018 - The Brothers Green
Winning FoodStarter 2018 was a dream come true for The Brothers Green founders, Brad Lake and Brendon McIntosh. They wowed the judges with the Hempy Bar which became a lunchbox snack bar for kids and launched across all South Island New World stores in mid 2019. Brad and Brendan received tremendous support from the organising partners in product development, design, marketing, and business incubation and are now scaling their team rapidly to meet growing customer demand across New Zealand.
Winner of FoodStarter 2019 - Ananda Vegan Goodness
Fernando Gutierrez and Marita Lopez from Ananda Vegan Goodness won the judges’ hearts (and tastebuds) at FoodStarter 2019 with their mouth-watering vegan sausages targeted at meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans alike. Throughout this year, they’ve been hard at work developing their product and their business to scale from farmers markets to retail distribution across the South Island New World network. Ananda’s flagship product Italian vegan sausages is being sold at New Worlds as of November 2020.
Prizes
Ranged Nationally with New World
Winners will receive support from the Foodstuffs team to get their product onto the shelves of New World supermarkets across New Zealand.
Product Development
Experts in food and beverage product development, the Food Innovation Network will provide winners with product development, scale-up, and manufacturing support including access to their FoodSouth and FoodBowl teams and facilities.
Business Support and Mentorship
The Ministry of Awesome Startup Incubation team will work alongside the winners providing support and mentoring to help you scale up and grow.
Branding and Marketing
Strategy Creative, one of Australasia’s leading creative agencies will provide the winners with consultancy, support and services to ensure the winning products are a stand out on the shelves at New World.
Incubate and Grow
The winners will automatically be accepted onto the Startup Incubation Programme at Te Ōhaka - Centre for Growth & Innovation.
National Profile
The FoodStarter team will promote the winners in national media, via their own social channels, and provide additional opportunity for profile at launch.
“Winning FoodStarter has been absolutely incredible. The support and direction from all the partners has helped me realise my dream of taking my product from farmers market to the supermarket shelf!”
Fernando Gutierrez - Co-founder of Ananda Vegan Goodness
Who we’re looking for
We’re looking for innovative food and beverage products that New Zealanders will love and have the potential to represent Kiwi brands on the world stage. Whether you’re a small grocery supplier or an early stage food and beverage entrepreneur, we want to hear from you!
We are looking for innovative food and beverage products in the following categories:
Startup Category: You’re a New Zealand based food and beverage entrepreneur in the early stages of trading. You might be selling at farmers markets, or online and aspire to placement on New World supermarket shelves.
Small Supplier Category: You are registered as a vendor with New World and might be selling in a few stores across the network but want the opportunity to range your products in every New World store in New Zealand.
If either of these sound like you, get entering now. We want to help you grow the food and beverage company of your dreams!
How FoodStarter works
Phase 1: Apply
Click the ‘Enter Now’ button and register to receive the official entry form. Entries will close on 7 February 2021.
Phase 2: Top 20
We will announce 20 semi-finalists who will be asked to fill out a comprehensive application about their product and business.
Phase 3: Pitch
The top 10 finalists will pitch their product in front of the FoodStarter judges. The winners of both categories will be announced on the night.
Phase 4: Accelerate
Winners begin their acceleration journey guided by New World, MoA, the Food Innovation Network, and Strategy Advertising
Key dates
30 November 2020: Entries open
7 February 2020: Entries close
12 February 2021: Top 20 semi-finalists announced. All semi-finalists to prepare a longer application.
21 February 2021: Long applications close
24 February 2021: Top 10 finalists announced
11 March 2021: Pressure Cooker pitch night where winners will be announced
15 March 2021: Winners start their FoodStarter journey to New World supermarket shelves
We are grateful to these partners for supporting food & beverage entrepreneurs like you:
