Emily Edwards' road to Paradise — sweet spreads that is — wasn't easy. She had a lot of help along the way to scaling up her food business.
Now she wants to share the lessons she learned with others like her. Edwards will offer tips about launching a food business, “What no one warns you about,” from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. Feb. 18 at the Purdue Technology Center of NWI, 9800 Connecticut Drive in Crown Point.
“From product development and co-packing to funding challenges, retail readiness, and the emotional toll of entrepreneurship, this session goes beyond theory and into what actually happens behind the scenes,” according to the signup page.
Edwards was a social worker first but wanted to share the warmth of the family kitchen.
Edwards began Paradise Spreads in March 2018 in her Schererville home, but it took her 18 months to develop the final product for mass consumption. The department of food science at Purdue University in West Lafayette helped her perfect her recipes, which were produced in Valparaiso. And she has received help from the PNW Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence Center to expand her line of products.
Her plant-based products are organic and gluten free, and available on the Paradise website and at Strack & Van Til.
She's also a favorite of the PNW Big Sell. Her pitch for Paradise Spreads resulted in second place and a $3,000 prize in the 2024 PNW Big Sell competition. She also pitched at the 2021 event, and won second place and a $5,000 prize.
Sign up to learn more about Edwards' journey to entrepreneurship here.
