A few weeks ago I did something that was completely out of my comfort zone. I entered a food contest! Even as I type this, I still can’t believe I did it!  Here’s the whole story… While cleaning out my emails, I came across an event being hosted by FoodStart Ohio. They were looking for the next big food product. FoodStart Ohio is a nonprofit organization supporting Ohio food entrepreneurs. Together with Franklin University and The Women’s Small Business Accelerator they held an event called The Big Pitch. It was for food entrepreneurs in Ohio with great food products.

Truthfully, I’ve secretly dreamed of entering something like a Pillsbury Bake-off! However, this was completely different than that. It was more like the show Shark Tank. The competition was to take place over two weeks. The first week was the tasting, the second week was for the 3 finalists in each category to make their “Big Pitch” to the judges. The three categories were: food products, mobile food trucks, restaurant/catering. You could participate as an entrant or attend as a voter. The attendants were people from the community who paid an entrance fee to sample the food, then vote for their favorites in each category.

Before I continue, I should tell you I found sign-up information on the Wednesday evening, 2 days before the Saturday event! Like I do most things, I held my breath, jumped in with both feet and didn’t look back. I entered the restaurant/catering category and had to make my product for about 150 people, show how I would package it, and write a business plan. I had 48 hours to buy ingredients, bake, make flyers, get supplies, and write a business plan. Luckily my husband went to business school! I narrowed down some of my best products, chocolate shots, almond macaroons, decorated sugar cookies, and babka bites. Together with my husband and son Ethan, team Sweets by Sherri was ready to go!

We arrived at Franklin University very early and selected our table. First we rushed to set everything up and then walked around to see who else was there. Among the other contestants were amazing foodies that made jams, hot sauce, potato chips, vegetarian soul food, chili, gumbo, cake pops and wedding cakes, buckeyes, and pierogi to name a few.

There was a lot of camaraderie amongst the contestants and the fun part was trying their food! After the first round of judging, which was based on the public’s vote, the top three entrants per category were invited back the following week for final judging. That is where the Shark Tank model came in. Each person had to pitch their product to the official judges. They were all great!

I didn’t make it into the final three – but came close in 4th place. In all honesty what I did in 2 days amazed me! Now I can’t wait until next year – yes, I said next year! What I learned is that I have to focus more and I’m already thinking about how to do that. At the end of the day, I met a lot of great people: people that are passionate about food and the food they create, food they grow and turn into jam, food they create as part of a family, food to sustain a new wave of keeping it local. I’ll be visiting some of them and blogging about them. As for “The Big Pitch” I’ll be sure to give you plenty of notice next year so you can come out and vote for me!