Dough rises to Primo Pick
Julie Albertson said she began the Texas Pie Company “with a rolling pin and dream.” And her quest to take her Kyle-based business to the next level was a dream fulfilled Thursday when she won the 2016 H-E-B Primo Picks: Quest for Texas Best competition.
The contest to find the next great Texas products for the supermarket giant found Albertson the victor among 25 finalists. As the grand prize winner, Albertson took home a check for $25,000 for her product called the Original Pie Dough Puck — a frozen, puck-size pie dough that homemakers roll out to make a perfect pie crust.
“For 30 years I’ve been doing what I love, and now I got confirmation from my peers, and that’s as big to me as the check,” she said.
It took Albertson a few seconds to register she won when her name was called. She accepted her award in tears.
“I didn’t think it would be me because there’s so many other people who need money, too, and so many great ideas,” she said.
The Quest for Texas Best program, in its third year, is designed to help take a business from fledgling to a major player at the retail level by getting them to market. H-E-B operates 330 stores in Texas. This year’s contest attracted 475 applications from more than 100 cities and towns throughout the state. The offerings covered a spectrum of grocery staples from yogurt, cookies, chips, tea and coffee to salsas, sauces, pickles and frozen pops. H-E-B whittled down the applicants to 25 finalists who spent Wednesday and Thursday making 20-minute presentations to judges at the Houston Food Bank. They were judged on market potential, innovation, potential customer appeal, taste, uniqueness, packaging and Texas-ness.
Two first-place winners were chosen, each receiving $20,000. They were Kitchun of Austin (creators of “No Grain-Ola,” a no-grain granola made of seeds, nuts and fruit) and Bagel Dots of Houston, a start-up making frozen, bite-size bagels filled with cream cheese. Aarti Garehgrat made her first batch of one-bite bagels using a simple cake ball machine.
Second place and $15,000 went to the Culinary Factory of Austin for their Lone Star Queso, which is made with all-natural cheese that melts like a traditional queso.
Third place went to Humble House Foods of San Antonio, makers of Ancho & Morita Smokey Tamarind Sauce made with dry, aged and smoked chiles.