Midwest Dairy Accelerator Information Session

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
Happy Tuesday, everyone!

Sidney Herr
Happy Tuesday.

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
Wow, I'm loving this. Women in dairy, I like it. The true cow lovers.

Sidney Herr
Everyone is welcome.

Jordan Shirk
Should I log off?

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
I don't see another person there.

Katrina Zheleznyak
Hello, hello to everybody trickling in. We'll give it another few seconds here to hit a quorum, but we're so excited to have you all on.

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
It's kind of hard coming off Easter Monday, but we all probably worked anyway.

Katrina Zheleznyak
All right. I think with that, we're gonna get started. We might have a few other people trickling in, but we are so excited to kick off this information session for this year's Midwest Dairy Accelerator powered by VentureFuel. 

I'm just gonna set the stage here before we dive in. We have a lot of good content for you all. The first thing to note is this will be recorded and sent back to you guys. It is only for those purposes. So nobody's furiously taking notes. You will have this to return back to after the fact. We also have time at the end of this set aside for a Q&A, as you can see here with the agenda. So we welcome all questions, throw them into the chat. We'll be taking a note of everything and we'll work to address everything that we can at the end. So please feel free to share any thoughts.

To give a run of show here, we are gonna kick off with some intros. You might be wondering who I am. We have the lovely Midwest Dairy team on. Beth and Sid. So we will talk through sort of who's on the screen here and who's involved in the program. We would also love for all of you all to introduce yourselves in the chat as well. Please feel free to use that. Say who you are, where you're from. We'd love to know if you have a big business goal or focus to share. We'll be capturing all of that and can then even better address your questions, the stage that you are all at. So please feel free to share that asynchronously. 

We'll then move into a bit of an overview for Midwest Dairy for those of you who are not as familiar. And I'll give a quick blurb on VentureFuel and how we're involved. We will then dig into the nitty gritty of the actual accelerator program. Hopefully that's why many of you all are here. And then we'll look at some of the details of the application next steps, how you all can get involved and engaged. And then we'll open up to that Q&A at the end. So that is what is ahead for the next 40 minutes. With that, as promised, this is the team, Sidney, Beth, I'd love for you all to jump in and introduce yourselves.

Sidney Herr
Yeah, I can start. I'm Sidney Herr. I am the Research and Innovations Manager at Midwest Dairy. I work closely with Beth here at Midwest Dairy and we work with the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center and with our accelerator partners like VentureFuel.

Beth Bruck-Upton
And good afternoon, everyone. My name is Beth Bruck-Upton. I am equally as excited to meet all of you and hear about what you're working on and your innovation. I serve as our Vice President of Research and Innovation at Midwest Dairy. And similar to Sidney, I've actually been here for about 16 years in various roles, but really excited to look at the future for dairy and the potential to partner with all of you. So nice to meet you all.

Katrina Zheleznyak
Hi, my name is Katrina. You can call me Kat. I'm with the VentureFuel team and this will make more sense in the context of the VentureFuel overview, but I really sit in between the Midwest Dairy team and all of you. All we are helping to support this program, both in designing it and sourcing and networking with all of you, the incredible startups and partners that make this all possible. 

So a lot of the communications that you've seen are all coming from Midwest Dairy and I'm sort of sitting at the intersection, scouting out the most incredible innovators out there in the dairy space and figuring out the best form of partnership with the Midwest Dairy team. With that, I'll hand it back to Sid and Beth so they can give a deeper dive into what Midwest Dairy is all about.

Sidney Herr
Yeah, just to give an overview, Midwest Dairy represents 4,000 dairy farms and 41 million consumers across our region. We cover a 10 state region: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and a part of Oklahoma. We work on these dairy farmers behalf to build dairy demand by inspiring consumer confidence in dairy products and production practices as a dairy checkoff organization. 

So you might be wondering exactly what a checkoff organization is. Checkoffs utilize mandatory fees collected on a per unit basis for a specific agriculture commodity. In this case, we are working on behalf of the milk production. The funds collected are pooled together and used to support research and promotion efforts for that commodity. Every agriculture commodity from corn, cattle, watermelons, blueberries, they all have a checkoff organization. So we represent dairy. 

Katrina Zheleznyak
All right, then charging into VentureFuel and how we fit into all of this. VentureFuel is an innovation advisory firm and we're working with the world's best organizations to really help commercialize innovation and ignite change. What that means is we work with a variety of industry partners and we help to develop the right partnership programs from accelerators like this, pitch competitions, hackathons, pilot programs to really help spur innovation by partnering those bigger organizations with founders and early stage orgs that might need that support and some resources. So that's what we're doing here with the Midwest Dairy team. And we really specialize in finding those best, brightest innovators across a variety of sectors. I personally work on the CPG front, but we work across a number of industries to really help fuel innovation. 

All right, while you guys are likely all here, we are now diving into some of the details of what this accelerator program is all about. The key to this is really accelerating your business across a variety of stages, product areas, all housed under Dairy Incorporating Businesses. So the accelerator itself is a virtual eight-week program and we really focus on leveraging dedicated mentorship, drawing from the incredible Midwest Dairy Network as well as VentureFuel’s own, facilitating those industry connections and really figuring out the bespoke resources that will help your growth stage business scale. 

The way that we do that over the course of these eight weeks is developing this really curated curriculum, reflecting your specific needs, your stage of business and creating these weekly one-hour sessions that we bring in specific industry experts to lead for you. So again, while we have this massive roster of incredible connections in the space, what we really want and what some of you might've seen in the application is to curate that to your specific needs, whether that is packaging design, product development, marketing, sales, we really want this to reflect the real world needs of the startups and early stage founders that are out there.

And all of this will culminate in a live in-person pitch day that is September 3rd in Chicago and you get to use this to pitch your product for a chance to win $20,000 if you do win that first prize or $10,000 if you're the runner up of this competition to really help strategically use that money and use the pitching experience itself to help fuel that product in your business to the next level. So now that we're speaking about the pitch competition, we wanna take a step back and talk about some near term dates. 

The first of which is applications open. For some of you that have gotten our outreach, you'll know that applications have been open for a couple of weeks and they end up closing on May 11th. So still have ample time to review that application, be thoughtful, interact with either the VentureFuel team or ask us any questions before that official application period closes. We then will have a thoughtful review of all of the applications that we receive and the actual cohort selection and onboarding for the Accelerator Program will happen through June 25th to July 14th.

The Accelerator Program, so that's the eight weeks of programming that we have, starts on July 16th. That's where you have those weekly one hour sessions and they all lead into September 3rd, which is that final pitch event in Chicago. 

And what it means to qualify for this program. So I want to caveat this by saying that I know having worked closely with Midwest Dairy and you all can pipe in here, I think the top priority here is to highlight the amazing breadth of novel products that are showcasing dairy as a key ingredient. So while these qualifications are things that we have discussed and have high preferences towards, we would love to meet you. We would love to figure out what kind of relationship will serve you best. So even if you see something here that does not feel like you, please reach out to us. I know the Midwest Dairy team is so keen on building all types of relationships and connections, both within this program and beyond it. So that is my disclaimer before heading into some of the qualifiers here.

One of those preferences is to have your business headquartered in Minnesota, North or South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, or Eastern Oklahoma. Again, while this is a high preference, I think some kind of relationship to the Midwest is really even more important. So that could look like sourcing your dairy or milk ingredients from somewhere in the Midwest. There are a variety of ways that you could be connected to some of these key regions. 

We are looking for consumable products that are commercialized, they're on the market, they're generating some revenue, and most importantly, they're ready to scale. And again, that can look a variety of ways, whether that's figuring out your distribution, figuring out your next product line. We really want people who are at an inflection point and looking at the next stage of growth. Real cow's milk or dairy is really the key here. It's a key ingredient in your product. It does not need to be the only ingredient, but we do want milk or dairy to be highlighted in that ingredients list that you have. And even better, if it's a part of your narrative or your background, that's something that we really love to see as we consider who can be a great spokesperson for the dairy industry at large. 

There are no specific restrictions whatsoever on the product type. We really, really encourage creativity, novelty that can come in various different forms. So while you might've seen a bulleted list of suggested products on our website, that is by no means an exhaustive list. And we are really excited to see all the different forms that dairy can be incorporated into.

We do have a preference for a kind of product that is of course consumable and ideally easy enough to serve to judges. So thinking about that pitch day and sort of what this program culminates in, it's really great if there's a way to more easily sample your product because quality, taste, appeal, all of that will be incorporated in some of the elements on which you are judged if you do make it to that pitch day. 

And the last qualification here is really just excitement about learning from this program, being engaged in this program and getting more involved in the Midwest Dairy community. So, you know, excitement and thoughtfulness about what it means to be a part of this program. Of course, ability to attend all of the weekly mentor sessions, but also just willingness to be engaged beyond the program. Again, Midwest Dairy, I've seen some of the incredible relationships that have come out of their past innovation programs. I've spoken to those founders. I know the massive impact that that can have on their trajectory. And it's really exciting to meet folks who are excited about building that longer-term relationship.

With that, the application and next steps. This has been included in a lot of our outreach to you all. It is on our landing page where you can get even more information about this accelerator program. But as mentioned, applications are open until the end of day on May 11th. So you have a couple of weeks. However, we have been reviewing applications on a rolling basis. Those people who are really raring to go and have filled those out, we are reading every single response. We are rereading it. We are already sort of discussing folks that we are really excited to see. So there's no reason to wait until the very last minute. And we're always here if you have questions that feel like you're held up on in terms of submitting that application. 

With that, I will pass it over back to the Midwest Dairy team as we open up this Q&A. But I did want to leave off on a note. If you are interested in learning more about Midwest Dairy, about VentureFuel, I just wanted to personally highlight that Sidney did an incredible podcast episode with our founder, Fred. It's called VentureFuel Visionaries. I believe Ali is sharing that in the chat right now. We will share that in our email to you all afterwards. It is a great chance to learn more about what Midwest Dairy is doing. More information on this program, but also so many incredible efforts that they've been involved in. 

So I just wanted to give a personal plug for that. It's nice to have a different mode of absorbing information. So if anyone is looking for a good listen, I highly recommend that. With that, I'll pass it back to Sidney and Beth for some closing remarks before we open up the official Q&A.

Beth Bruck-Upton
Well, thank you so much, Katrina. And again, it's so nice to meet you all. I think, you know, our goal today really is to make sure you're all, you know, feel very informed as it relates to our accelerator process. But we also want you to know us, to have access to us, to be able to ask your questions, get answers as we go into this accelerator program. So I think both on behalf of Sidney and myself and Midwest Dairy, we want to open it up and answer your questions and get to know you. So if anybody wants to kick us off with anything that's burning on your mind, please start. 

Jordan Shirk
Hey, yeah, Jordan Shirk here. I am based out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. I source all my dairy from the Midwest. I'm just curious if that is an issue.

Beth Bruck-Upton
Yeah, I think, great question, Jordan. I'm watching the comment section over here too and seeing where a lot of folks are from. So I don't think you're the only one that might be just outside of our footprint. As Katrina mentioned earlier, I would definitely encourage you, depending on, you know, what your product is and what you're innovating around, to still, you know, look into this program. I think as she mentioned, if anything, we want to build a relationship with you and we have a lot of other connections also outside of our 10 state region. 

So even if it's not maybe Midwest Dairy, that's the best match. We have a lot of other friends, if you will, outside of our region that do the same work that we do. So I definitely encourage you to reach out to us and let's continue the conversation.

Jordan Shirk
Okay, I appreciate it.

Beth Bruck-Upton
Yeah, thank you. Good question. Who else has a question for us?

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
My question is, I'm out of Texas. I can source from the Midwest Dairy, but I'm not headquartered in the Midwest. So does that eliminate me?

Beth Bruck-Upton
I think, Lynn, our response would be the same as we just shared with Jordan. You know, again, we're not going to disclude you, you know, reach out to us, let's explore, let's make connections. In fact, I know there's some friends of ours from your territory on the call today who do very similar work that we do. So again, if we are in the exact right match, we will connect you with folks who might be able to.

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
Well, I want to have a headquarters in the Midwest sooner than later. Thank you very much.

Beth Bruck-Upton
Yes, we welcome you.

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
Maybe next year.

Beth Bruck-Upton
That’d be great.

Jordan Shirk
When it comes to the CPG brand, I package and print and sell at the grocery stores. I mean, we're in, you know, a couple of stores here in Grand Rapids, but that's the ultimate goal is to grow that side of the business. So in regard to that, do you guys have connections with people that are, you know, could help navigate that world? You know, I come from the restaurant world, and then I got into this about four years ago, and it's just, that's been one of my most difficult things is just navigating the whole grocery store sector. I mean, I've just been going in blind and it's, you know, it's very awkward and hard to find the right person to talk to.

Beth Bruck-Upton
Katrina, do you want to take that one from the CPG perspective? Thank you.

Katrina Zheleznyak
I was about to jump in. I also want to recognize, I know I've had some static thank you to the kind shout outs that I've gotten in the chat. It seems like when I'm further away from my mic, it's a little bit better. So I'm going to continue unless somebody tells me it is absolutely terrible.

But Jordan, to your question, we've been really thoughtful about highlighting grocery and retail partnerships and sort of general distribution strategy as one of these key areas. I know on the VentureFuel side, we have quite a few folks that really specialize in this from heads of marketing at large national grocery chains to more regionally located individuals.

I also know from our conversations with Midwest Dairy that there are some really incredible connections that they are keen on making as well, whether you are in this program or not. I think this whole exercise is very much a community building one. So I would say it is extremely likely depending on the specific cohorts needs that we do end up working with, that that would be built into the fabric of the actual programming.

And that would include both, of course, the actual expert session, learning on a higher level, more sort of cerebrally what that looks like, but then also actually crafting those relationships, opening up doors where we can, where we, the VentureFuel team can and where Midwest Dairy has experience as well. So again, this is why whether or not, you know, this program is the perfect fit for you, where you're headquartered, your business, we really care about developing the right connections where we can. So we welcome any kinds of one-on-one conversations after this, whether you submit an application or not, we'd love to figure out if there are some doors that we can unlock.

Jordan Shirk
Okay, thanks.

Katrina Zheleznyak
It's a great question. I know that tends to be a pretty big barrier and we've seen that in quite a lot of our own conversations.

Jordan Shirk
Well, it's like, so here in Grand Rapids, you know, we have Meijer and then we have Spartan Nash and like Spartan Nash, I met someone who knew someone and they were saying that they have a, I'm assuming they were assuming that I wanted to roll out into every Spartan Nash, which I'm not capable of doing right now, but they started talking about slotting fees and they were like, well, would you be able to take on a $30,000 per SKU slotting fee? 

And, you know, just to be upfront, that's no, I can't. So I'm just curious, you know, and maybe you guys don't have the answer to that, but is that a normal thing for grocery stores or does it just depend on the store? 

Katrina Zheleznyak
This is something that I, oh, Lynn, I mean, if you want to jump in here, it seems like you might have more boots on the ground experience than we do. 

Lynn Wilford Scarborough
I don't know. I just, I don't pay slotting fees. I was very, very grateful and I was very fortunate to have gotten into the central market for my first, for my first major store, still working on the others. They don't charge slotting fees, but I had to work out almost the equivalent of slotting fees with lots of in-store demos, which made a huge difference. And the competition I found, having been in the store, I've learned so much. I'm so grateful for the support of the in-house people, but they're always bringing in new products. So if you're not there, boots on the ground, you've got a problem.

But something that I would really appreciate addressing if we could form the group, because I have been looking for a copacker for three years. I'm in purgatory right now. Every time I find a copacker, it's bought up by Brookshires or High Valley or moves to Mexico. The growth of the private label in dairy is like 20% is gonna continue for the next four years. We are, every time I find a Copacker, they're being bought up by a private label. So all of the inventory for small people like us who are trying to grow with creativity, with innovation that may have the next big thing that will ensure the, help ensure the future of the dairy farms, we are being smashed by the big guys, by them buying up all the inventory.

I wish, I mean, I really wish if they really wanted to help the industry for small producers, because I've got two other friends, three friends. There's four of us that all are in a dairy in Dallas. Our issues are we can't find copacking. We can't afford a quarter million dollars or really a half million dollars to set up our own facility at this place of our growth. And we're being smashed by, then we've got the distributors who are charging us huge, huge fees and basically building a business off of us little guys. We need this accelerator and the other accelerators if they really wanna help our business is help provide copacking situations, provide transitions for us, provide grants and transitional fees so that we can make, all I need is that one transition into that big store with the right copacker and baby, I'm off.

It's just that that space in between for the little guy and the big guy, it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And I've only been in this industry for five years, but it's the writing's on the wall with the growth of things that we need. We need help. We need help. We need stuff like this to get to that next level. Sorry, just preaching. My pain is showing.

Katrina Zheleznyak
No, thank you for sharing. I mean, Lynn, this is exactly the purpose of what we're doing here. It's the purpose of gathering folks from all over at various stages who have different types of experience. I think that is certainly one of the hopes for the cohort in particular, which is why we are not looking for one templatized type or stage of company to fit. But this is also the power of bringing together more people from the larger community.

You all have experienced if we crowdsource all of the challenges and barriers, everyone has sort of seen what's out there and to be able to make, I'm even seeing, you know, here in the chat, people are offering brokers, ideas on co-packers. That is what it's all about. So this is where please feel free to throw out any more of your sort of ideas. I'm looking for this. This is a barrier that I've been experiencing, whether it's in the chat or that's something that we are always open to hearing. There will be, if it hasn't already been sent through, a link to book a one-on-one meeting with me.

And as I sit in the intersection here, I'm sort of trying to absorb whatever those top of mind priorities are for all of you. And if there are connections that I can make, whether it's across this particular group on the call right now, through Midwest Dairy or through VentureFuel’s network across the dairy industry, that is what we are here to do, is to facilitate those connections so you can hopefully work a little smarter and less hard and feel a little bit less isolated because I think that is the entire purpose of the founder and business owner journey. With that, I'm just taking a moment to glance through the chat.

Ali, thank you for sharing that link. That will lead you to an opportunity to book a meeting with me where I'm happy to just hear your stage of business, if you have questions on the application, anything more about the program. But in the remaining couple of minutes, Beth, Sidney, I did want to ask you guys to share a little bit more about what is expected of potential participants in this program. What are they expected to bring to the table and what can they expect in that relationship with you all through the actual program trajectory?

Sidney Herr
Beth, you want me to jump in here? So this is, like Kat had mentioned, it's an eight-week virtual session. So we will take all applicants, we will narrow it down to 25, 10, and then our final four. And then in September, September 3rd in Chicago, is our final pitch where our final four will pitch to a panel of judges where we will pick our grand prize winner and our runner-up. 

So in that eight-week virtual session, you get commercialization, marketing, social media, everything that you need brought to your business. We are here to help and we are going to have experts in whatever it may be. We've been brainstorming who can help you best in those specific areas. So we are here to help you and then prep you if you become one of the final four for your final pitch. And we're very excited.

Katrina Zheleznyak
And I will add on to that. Thank you, Sidney. I don't know who has actually looked through the application. I know a couple of you all have already applied. So we've been able to read through your really thoughtful answers. There is a key question in there that has a massive dropdown list of what are the most critical needs for your business right now? And whether or not the program is the right fit for you, that is something that we are looking at one by one by one and thinking through where there are potential connections or resources that we can lend. 

The number of times that I know Beth, Sid, the two of you have been like, oh, this is a resource that we actually have available to everybody. It doesn't matter where they're headquartered, where they're sourcing from, what their goals are. I mean, it really exists to help further the dairy industry overall. So it is really valuable for us to connect with you, to receive your applications, to understand how we can best support your business.

And on that note of what are the expectations of any founders or participants? We know you all are boots on the ground and extremely busy. We really want this to be a good bang for your buck. The expectation really is those hour long weekly sessions. Occasionally you might have optional mentor sessions or cohort meetings, but it's a pretty doable time commitment that will just happen on a recurring weekly basis. 

The other expectation is that you can attend that pitch day. That's sort of the big culmination of that program. So there is a full timeline of all of these dates also on our website to make sure that just from an availability standpoint, that works for you all. And the other hope and expectation of any participants, again, is that you are excited about, willing to have this more public sort of relationship with Midwest Dairy. 

There's a lot of marketing and sort of sales support and PR that will be built in, which depending on the stage of your business tends to be a really valuable resource. And that is something that we really want somebody to be excited about and to lean into, because this is something that is really meant to help broaden your reach and break past some of the silos that often exist for founders, especially on a more regional basis. 

And I see there's some questions here. I know that Sidney just talked through this as we're viewing applications and sort of narrowing down. The ultimate goal there is to have these four companies that will be selected for the actual program cohort. So for anybody that's not glancing at the chat as diligently as I'm trying to, I just wanted to bring that back out to you all. Are there any other questions from the group? I'm seeing a lot of really awesome potential introductions, relationships being built in the chat. If anybody wants to jump in and introduce themselves or any potential questions they have, still have a few more minutes.

Jason Wencel
So I have a question about the application process. So this has to be something that is on the… it has to be out there in the market, is that right?

Katrina Zheleznyak
Yes, so we're looking for commercialized businesses and that is primarily because it's helpful for us to have at least some baseline of what any existing traction or market penetration might be. I will clarify though that it's really your business having a product out in the market. I've talked to a few folks that have potentially a new product that they're launching, a new SKU that they're excited to get out into the market and they can actually apply with that newer product. 

But having a business that has been selling and generating some amount of revenue is just a really helpful baseline for us because one of the core goals of this program is to know where are you at at the beginning of the program and can we check in six months after, a year after the program and see where you're at in terms of distribution, sales. That is how we know how much we've been able to support you all in your growth. So it is helpful to have some real world sort of metrics to base off of.

Jason Wencel
Okay, so my product, I've been working on it for over a year and I have a trademark for it and the formulation has been a complete nightmare and we've been going back and forth with multiple vendors. It's kind of a fairly complicated process so it's not something that has ever been done before which is a good thing and it's a bad thing, right? It's good because nobody's done it before but it's bad because nobody knows how to do it. And we're like at the, I would say 10 yard line on getting it done. I don't know if it's gonna be completed by your application deadline.

Katrina Zheleznyak
Well, that sounds like one of the classic challenges of finding an actual white space in the market and trying to develop a solution for that. So it can absolutely understand the position that you're in. I would say I would love to hear more about exactly what you're working on, the stage that you're at. And I know from the conversations with the Midwest Dairy team, even if this year the program itself is perhaps not the right fit and might not be exactly the kind of value that you need, if there are relationships or general strategy that we can support in this phase outside of the program, that is an amazing way for us to plug in.

And quite frankly, I've seen some products that are exactly where you are that then the next year actually do have some market traction and it builds a longer term relationship from that actual product development stage to that initial market and commercialization phase and beyond. So there's certainly not a stage that is too early to start building the relationship and seeing how we can potentially support. Certainly sounds like a fun challenge that you're entering into.

Participant 
Jason, if it makes you feel better. I was three years in R&D.

Jason Wencel
Oh, three, that's it?

Participant
Three years in R&D and then another year for my chocolate sauce and then another year for the caramel. I probably made 40 to 50 batches myself before I brought in a food scientist and then pitched it to a bunch of co-mans and all that. So the good stuff takes time. And I'm proud to say I won a Sophie Award for every year I've been in the business for it. 

But it's all clean label, made with fresh cream and butter, just chocolate, cocoa, invert sugars, salt, vanilla. No preservatives, no additives, nothing artificial and that was a hard thing to do because I took fresh cream and butter and made it shelf stable for two years. For the caramel and for the chocolate. And if anybody's listening, I have some extra chocolate sauce. It has already expired. I'd like to incorporate somebody's products if you need some chocolate sauce. It's all a clean label, but it's one of those upcycled things. I can't sell it to food service anymore, but I could incorporate it into manufacturing. 

So if anyone wants to reach out to me, I'm in the business of sharing some good stuff because right now cocoa is so pricey. And because mine's already in a bag, it was bought with older cocoa prices. I can make a deal. Anyway, sorry, guys.

Jason Wencel
Very cool. No, thank you.

Participant
But I can tell you that the good stuff is worth the wait and it was enormous labor love. But again, in the end, I hired a food scientist and I was in tears the night before. I thought I was never going to get there. I finally broke through. And the same with caramel. I tried it a hundred different ways. And then when you put in a 200 gallon kettle or 250 gallon kettle or whatever, it all changes again. So hang in there. That's all I'm saying.

Jason Wencel
I appreciate that. I have baked quite a bit. And prior to this, I've never baked in my life. And I'm trying to dehydrate stuff and all kinds of other fun stuff.

Participant
Hire a food scientist. That's the best I can tell you.

Beth Bruck-Upton
Yeah, I would say, Jason, we're definitely, food scientists are definitely something we have access to in terms of that expertise. And looking at the chat in terms of all the barriers and things that you guys are noting in here, that's helpful to us as well, because it also lets us know what are those biggest challenges for entry and areas we can focus on in the future. So all of this is helpful. So whether, again, you think it is or not, we're taking note. And we'll make sure to take all of this into consideration in the future too. So thank you for that. 

Jason Wencel
That's great. Thank you.

Katrina Zheleznyak
All right, I know we have roughly five or so minutes left. I am not averse to giving everyone some time back in their busy schedules. But I also know sometimes it takes a little bit to ramp up. Lynn, I see that there is an ask for this Sunday. Sunday night foods, chocolate. So certainly make sure that we make that connection between the two of you after. 

And again, we sort of are gonna go back through this chat and see if there are any offline introductions or connections we can make even amongst the group that we have here, which is incredible. This is just a microcosm, I think, of what Midwest Dairy is looking to do, has been doing, and has already done in the past. So to see you all just offering up introductions, personal advice, experiences is really, really powerful. It's really wonderful to see. So thank you all for sharing that.

I will give a last call to any questions here, whether you just jump in verbally or throw them into the chat. And then I'll make another plug for the next steps here, which would be if you still have lingering questions, want any potential strategizing on the application, I don't know how to answer this question. I'm still not sure if I may or may not qualify. Please email us, reach out to me to book time to get a little bit deeper into the details. Or if you do feel fairly confident in it, we are so excited to review your applications. 

Even if you end up not being a fit for this, it is so valuable for us to have a little bit more granularity on the stage of your business, more background on you all and your goals and every single one of those applications we are looking to really make the most of, depending on whether it's program fit, any other relationships and personal introductions to the Midwest Dairy team or people in the network. Like there's so many different opportunities coming out of this.

All right. Thank you all so much for joining. It is so wonderful to see how engaged everybody is. And it sounds like some pretty incredible overlap was already found today. So it's really amazing to get to bring everybody together from various states, different types of products, different stages of businesses, and to see what you all are sharing and experiencing.

All right. Looking forward to meeting even more of you one-on-one and hopefully reviewing some of those applications about your amazing products. Thank you so much, everybody. We'll follow up with the recording of this and some next steps over email as well.