Union Kitchen Accelerator Member, Sweetkiwi, a DC-based frozen yogurt company, recently made a splash on ABC's SharkTank. They walked away with a $250,000 investment from Robert Herjavec, with a company valuation of $2.4 million. Sweetkiwi marks the third Union Kitchen Member to be featured on Shark Tank along with Super Coffee and Snacklins, who received a $250,000 investment from Mark Cuban. Sweetkiwi will continue in the footsteps of these successful companies.
The frozen yogurt journey began for Sweetkiwi founders, Ehime Eigbe and Michael Akindele, when Ehime experienced a health scare that made her re-evaluate her diet. Ehime's health scare was a wake-up call that led her to focus more on the quality of the foods she was eating. She realized that the options for nutritious foods were often bland and unexciting. She refused to settle for a life without flavor and began experimenting with ways to create products that satisfied the sweeter notes. With a passion for food and a determination to create something people want, Ehime set out to create a frozen yogurt dessert that would satisfy her cravings while still being good for her body. The result was Sweetkiwi's signature air whipped greek yogurt.
Sweetkiwi began their journey to building a successful food business by working closely with Union Kitchen in Phase One: Launch to develop a market-ready product and then leveraged the local ecosystem in Phase Two to achieve product market fit before growing regionally and nationally. They launched their product into market, engaged with their customer base in Union Kitchen stores, and broke into the regional market. They continued to innovate and refine their product, always keeping their mission of creating something nutricious and delicious at the forefront of their efforts. Sweetkiwi has since expanded to over 2,000 stores including retailers like Giant Foods and Whole Foods Market.