Taking it to the next level
Three Chicagoland food entrepreneurs hope DoorDash business development program will fuel growth
Regina Trillo, a former immigration lawyer, started Nemi Snacks three years ago wanting to elevate Mexican culture.
Mellini Monique Bramlett, a Riverdale mom of six, took her family popcorn recipe and transformed it into the artisanal herbed popcorn brand Herby Pop in 2020.
And Genesis Bencivenga, proprietor of Lorenzo’s Frozen Pudding, went to work with her father to build a legacy in his namesake endeavor.
But to take their businesses to the next level, each of the Chicagoland entrepreneurs needed money, and such capital has historically been denied to women, people of color, immigrants and other marginalized communities. That’s what programs like DoorDash’s Accelerator for Local Goods look to address — starting with Trillo, Bramlett, Bencivenga and 47 other business owners looking for a leg up.
“Especially as a solo founder, it can be a very lonely journey,” Trillo said. “Being able to share our snacks and DoorDash helping us amplify our message and our products … I’m really appreciative of that opportunity.”
As part of the six-week business development course, the 50-member cohort discussed financial management, wholesale models and marketing focused on packaged goods. Each also received a $5,000 grant and sales support from DoorDash, in addition to the opportunity to sell their products on DashMart, the company’s grocery and packaged goods delivery service.
“We wanted to make sure that we’re providing a way for them to implement the learnings from the accelerator,” said Sueli Shaw, DoorDash’s head of social impact.
Organizations providing additional grant and incubator programs or other support for Chicago-area food businesses include DishRoulette Kitchen and The Hatchery.
DoorDash, first launched in 2013, rose to become the largest food delivery company in the United States by 2019, outpacing competitors GrubHub and Uber Eats. But the company has also faced lawsuits, driver strikes, and accusations of tip withholding, menu markups and offering delivery for restaurants that never signed up for the app. Chicago sued DoorDash and Grubhub in August 2021, alleging the companies violated its cap on fees and misled customers and restaurants. The DoorDash case has since moved to federal court and remains in progress.
Bramlett said a good girlfriend of hers saw the DoorDash accelerator program and urged her to apply. Bramlett said being accepted into the initiative was a wonderful anchoring for a small business like Herby Pop.
“The guest teaching and speakers they brought in allowed us to see the gaps that we still had in our business,” she said. “Most importantly, the relationships that we formed with other cohort members and with some of the guest speakers have been invaluable.”
Bramlett’s family chose popcorn as a business because it’s a food that’s “a blank canvas that one can explore with many different flavors,” she said. Their focus is on eclectic flavors such as Sushi Pop (with Norwegian kelp), Mangonada Munch (with organic mango powder and guajillo chiles) and Jollof Pop, as in West African jollof rice.
“We branded ourselves as ‘the other Chicago popcorn,’ ” Bramlett said. “We are committed to health-forward formulas that don’t include anything artificial. … if it doesn’t come from nature, we don’t use it. We took popcorn and infused it with herbs, powerhouses for nutrition. We’re really focused on bringing people together through herbs, flavor, culture and wellness.”
Amid National Popcorn Popping Month this October, Bramlett said she’s hoping to establish Herby Pop’s first brick-and-mortar location on the city’s South Side, hopefully in the Beverly neighborhood. In the meantime, she’s focused on making a truffle-and-smoke popcorn, and experimenting with Ethiopian and Haitian flavors. She wants to see Herby Pop in boutique retailers in conjunction with its existing online presence. She said the idea of building generational wealth through popcorn is very attractive.
As for Trillo, she said DoorDash’s accelerator allowed her to meet a lot of other local business owners to network and share challenges, successes and resources to create a support system.
“My mission is to elevate Mexican culture through high-quality snacks with sombrero-free branding,” she said. “The more people that can see that modern Mexico, that elevated Mexico, is just really what our mission is all about.”
Trillo came to Illinois to attend law school, and when she couldn’t find healthy food staples from her native Mexico City, she decided to create her own with Nemi Snacks, a chip made from nopal, aka prickly pear cactus — a vegetable packed with fiber, antioxidants and minerals.
Since launching the company in mid-2019, Trillo’s business has grown to a team of 15 and upgraded from fulfilling orders from her home in Edgewater to acquiring a warehouse in Chicago to do so. She said working to get into more grocery spaces has been a key goal for Nemi Snacks, as well as creating other products from nopal and sharing modern Mexican culture with the consumer.
“To me, Mexican food is all about flavors and colors,” Trillo said. “The snack aisle just seemed like this perfect space to launch something that had a lot of flavor where I could use ingredients and turn it into a fun thing. A lot of people are familiar with nopal, but a lot of them haven’t tried it.”
Trillo’s business works directly with farmers in Mexico to pay them a dignified wage for their produce, she said, and she’s working toward solely partnering directly with farmers for sourcing her ingredients. Trillo is also intentional about working with women of color; her team is currently 100% women.
“Even though it’s a small business, we can create the change that we want to see,” Trillo said. “It doesn’t matter how small or big we think we are or what the business is, in the end it comes down to access and opportunity — letting go of all these self-imposed limitations and being an example of where we can be and what we can do.”
Bencivenga, owner of Lorenzo’s Frozen Pudding, knows the power of access and opportunity all too well. The company started in May 2011, selling banana pudding as a street vendor. Over more than a decade, it has expanded to 13 flavors and moved into local grocery stores.
But Bencivenga and her dad couldn’t keep up with the store demand. So Lorenzo’s productivity and sales ebbed and flowed time and again.
Now the brand’s three main flavors are banana, strawberry and Hawaiian pineapple. The icy treats sold out at Lollapalooza this summer, Bencivenga said, and she hopes to continue adding flavors as they look to expand internationally.
Already a national supplier to Walgreens, the mom of three is now working on a s’mores flavor with her Michigan-based co-packer. Other seasonal flavors include eggnog, lemon-lime and orange with caramel.
“I’m in a phase of learning now,” Bencivenga said. “I want to figure out our top seller, the velocity and what to do, things like that. DoorDash is trying to help work through this transition with us. We have a flavor for every season here in America. My international plan is to take whatever food or cookie that is specific to that region and put it into our product.”
Even though the accelerator has ended, Shaw said DoorDash will follow the program’s participants to see how the company can support their continued growth on DashMart.
“We’re really thrilled that all of the brands from our first cohort are live in the app for purchase through DashMart,” Shaw said. “Now that we have that ongoing relationship with them, I do think it’s a long-term investment in partnership that we’re excited to grow with them.”