Evergreen

Stop by N1236 in the North Hall to taste Evergreen's NEW PRODUCT LINE!!! I can't wait to get it out into the world. My kids - my most important taste testers! - are obsessed.  EXPO, here we come! Sarah Gordon Perteet Spencer Buddy Erwin Samantha Diamond

Evergreen is a 2025 NEXTY Awards Finalist!!! I’m so proud to see our Zucchini Carrot Cake waffles included among such an inspiring group of nominees in the Kids’ Product category. No matter who takes home the gold at Natural Products Expo next month, the real winners are our kids. I’m grateful to all the brands out there fighting to make better options available to our families. This week, I was also nominated to the Naturally Chicago Board, joining 50 natural products leaders in our great city. The support from Jim Slama and team over the last few years has been instrumental to Evergreen’s growth, and I’m so excited to join the cause and help champion this incredible community in Chicago. Thank you to the New Hope Network and Naturally Chicago for the votes of confidence, and congratulations to all the NEXTY Awards Finalists and new Naturally Chicago Board members!

You can now find Evergreen in Whole Foods Market locations NATIONWIDE!!! My love for Whole Foods Market runs deep, back to my Boston days, where I'd spend hours scouring the aisles of the River Street location as a distraction from the stress of law school.  At that stage of my life, I never could have imagined that I would one day have a product on Whole Foods Market shelves.  They always say “never meet your heroes,” but in the case of Whole Foods Market, I wholeheartedly disagree.  My love for Whole Foods Market has only grown since getting to know the people behind the retailer.  Chris Manca Margaret Omastiak Kelly Spillane Caroline M Freedman Kelly Landrieu Audra Dockrey and so many others: thank you for teaching and mentoring me, for showing me patience and kindness, and for supporting and believing in me and Evergreen.  And to my team: I’m so grateful to you for sharing your expertise with me and so honored that you’ve chosen to spend your valuable time working on Evergreen.  I’m so proud that we’ve achieved this milestone together, and I can’t wait to keep building and hustling alongside you in 2025 and beyond. Sarah Gordon Ryan Youngman Jonathan Alpert Buddy Erwin Samantha Diamond Jenna Hardin-Muller (The Oak Group)

Thank you to Frozen & Refrigerated Buyer for including me in this year's class of Hotshots Under 40! 🎉 Denise Leathers, you told the Evergreen story so beautifully. I'm particularly pleased to shine the spotlight on my amazing team. How lucky am I to learn something new every day from Ryan Youngman Sarah Gordon Jonathan Alpert?? And I'm thrilled to share the pages with some of my favorite brands and people in the industry. Congrats Hailey Swartz Actual Veggies J. Patrick Coyne Laoban Dumplings!

Last week, Evergreen was invited to tell our story at the Whole Foods Market quarterly marketing meeting. As I said during my presentation, it was a pretty surreal experience. Whole Foods Market has played an enormous role in Evergreen's journey from the very beginning. When I started making waffles, I bought our ingredients there. Whole Foods Market was the first major retailer to take a chance on us. We loved our Local Forager so much that, last fall, we hired her to be our Sales Operations Manager (hi Buddy Erwin!). Earlier this year, we became a Local Producer Loan recipient and a member of the 2024 LEAP On the Verge accelerator cohort. To be able to say thank you, in person, to hundreds of Whole Foods Market team members who have been so supportive of Evergreen was deeply meaningful. And to be able to spend some extra time with Kelly Landrieu Scott Collier Kelly Spillane Caroline M Freedman Jenna Hardin-Muller was the cherry on top! My only regret is that Sarah Gordon and I didn't get a picture together! As our resident marketing genius, she played a huge role in our presentation and, of course, in our journey so far. Can't wait to keep building this brand with you. Thank you Ian Biss Jessica Juran and the rest of Whole Foods Market marketing team for having us!

Entering my pink suit era 💖 I remember watching the Naturally Chicago Pitch Slam online shortly after launching Evergreen and feeling like the brands competing were in a different stratosphere. To have the opportunity to compete in the 2024 Naturally Chicago Pitch Slam yesterday was a thrill. To win was a dream. Thank you so much to Jim Slama, Gregory Keller, and the whole Naturally Chicago team for the opportunity to tell our story; to the Chicago CPG community for embracing Evergreen and creating a truly electric environment in which to pitch; and to the other brands competing for continually raising the bar in our industry. And last but most definitely not least, thank you to Buddy Erwin who tirelessly heated every single delicious waffle that was sampled yesterday and to Benji Fitts, Jim Slama, and Margaret Omastiak for the pictures!