Peekaboo Organics' ice cream featuring hidden vegetables was named the grand prize winner today of the Real California Milk Snackcelerator dairy snack innovation competition created by the California Milk Advisory Board (CMAB) and VentureFuel.

The competition will provide Peekaboo with $200,000 in resources and funding to bring a snack-sized version of their innovative products to market and expand the overall market for their products. This is the second event of its kind by the California dairy industry designed to inspire ideas integrating the values of fluid milk and dairy ingredients into snacks to meet growing consumer demand and providing resources to help bring them to market.

"Like many of our fellow startups, we confronted what seemed like insurmountable challenges this year. This win validates our innovation, our mission and our team's hard work and resilience," said Levison. "We learned so much from this Snackcelerator experience and cannot wait to launch Peekaboo minis into the market–made with Real California Milk, of course! Much gratitude to everyone involved." 

Peekaboo is one of four innovators selected from a field of 16 sweet and savory semifinalist competitors to present to a field of judges from the CPG, retail, venture capital and food science world representing such companies as Clorox, Mondelez, Whole Foods, CircleUp and more in a live pitch (and sample) event tapping into future technologies and emerging startups like OS Studios, Perksy and more to transform what was an in-person sampling experience into a state-of-the-art virtual event.

Alongside three other finalists, Peekaboo was judged on uniqueness or innovation, taste, the ability to scale and the founder team. Yummy Industries came in second place with its Cheese-Bits premium snacking cheese packs and will receive $100,000 in support of its growth and distribution.

"Being selected as a semifinalist really was significant for us because we were associated with a tremendous caliber of founders and snack concepts," said Yummy co-founder Stefen Choy. "Throughout this process, the feedback and mentorship sessions have really help move our business forward significantly. We have changed our strategic plan and even added a broker based on this competition. The bonus of continued support as a runner up is icing on the cake."

The Real California Milk Snackcelerator competition was designed to inspire innovation and investment in dairy based snack products, packaging and capacity within California by connecting manufacturers, producers, investors, ideas and entrepreneurs for high-quality, sustainable products. The competition received 76 entries, which inspired expansion from the original eight finalists to 16 representing both sweet and savory snacking startups in the Sweet and Savory 16 virtual semifinals the week of Nov. 9, 2020.

"This was a tough decision, all four of these finalists presented products that fit the needs of our current consumer and each with their own unique take on snacking. Peekaboo just had a slight edge because of its unique concept marrying two things that normally don't go together like ice cream and vegetables and then executing the producer perfectly in terms of creative flavor combinations," said John Talbot, CEO of the CMAB. "Not only are we excited to grow the dairy snack portfolio offered with Real California Milk by helping to expand distribution for Peekaboo ice creams, we look forward to continuing our relationship with all of our finalists and semifinalists to see what they are able to achieve."

"Innovation is the ultimate growth accelerator for any business or category and this competition continues to deliver a flywheel of new ideas, new products and new ways to think about dairy from a consumer perspective," said Fred Schonenberg, CEO and founder of VentureFuel. "When my family begged me for more samples between the semifinals and finals, I knew we had chosen four winners–all of which can make an impact on shelf. Peekaboo's cotton-candy with beets flavor dominated the pre-judge chatter as one of the most delicious and unique desserts the judges had ever tasted, meanwhile Cheese-Bits was the product everyone was snacking on behind the scenes. They are making premium cheese easy to snack on and introducing new styles and flavors that will stand out."

All 16 semifinalists received $10,000 worth of support each to develop an edible prototype while also receiving a suite of resources including graphic design, lab or kitchen time and elite mentorship from global marketing, packaging and distribution experts from companies including Diageo, Nestle, Mondelez, My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream, Bristol Farms, Rosa Brothers, Food Network/Hearst Magazines, Pod Foods, Latitude Ventures, The Marketing Greenhouse, The Creative Pack, Whole Brain Consulting and Power Brands.

Semifinalist rounds were judged by a prestigious group of snack experts from Conagra, SnackRiot, Hershey's, Bristol Farms, General Mills, Unilever, Mondelez, Rosa Brothers, RangeMe, Acreage Holdings, Better Food Ventures and Trail Mix Ventures. The total value of competition prizing is over $800,000.

Source: Real California Milk