Our Journey
From high school startup to a national pitch competition title-
read how Allergenius was founded by three young students.
read how Allergenius was founded by three young students.
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Allergenius Baking Co. LLC was born in a high school classroom in Wheaton, IL in 2018. Three students, Anya, Josh, and Maddie, were enrolled in a year-long entrepreneurship course called Business INCubator. The three were grouped together based on their complimentary skills and interests, then assigned two professional mentors to assist with their project. What developed was unprecedented.
Meet the founders... |
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Brilliant baker, Allergenius idea creator, and avid allergy awareness advocate; meet Maddie. Living with a severe dairy allergy has helped Maddie learn the in's and out's of allergy safe baking. Using her experience cooking with allergy safe ingredients, Allergenius was able to develop its own unique recipes and products. She is the aller-genius behind the delicious cookies in each box!
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Visionary, public speaking prodigy with a passion; meet Anya. Anya was drawn to Maddie's idea due to her tree nut allergy. With her background as a speech team member, Anya represents herself as the voice of Allergenius. If you see her at a local event, we can promise that Anya will greet you with a smile! She is the mastermind business woman and queen of relations.
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Tech savvy with a creative eye; meet Josh. Although the only member of the group without a food allergy, Josh is responsible for all content creation, branding, advertising, and marketing for Allergenius. Skilled with a camera, Josh is behind most of our photos and videos. He even designed the website you're viewing right now! More of his creative work can be found here.
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The conclusion to the year-long Business INCubator program is a pitch competition between the two high schools in the district. Allergenius, equipped with a compelling powerpoint presentation, brilliant advertisements, positive customer reviews, and freshly baked cookies, conquered the stage in its rival high school’s auditorium. They were awarded 1st place and a small grant from local contributors to the INCubatorEDU program. Watch the pitch here.
Because Allergenius Baking Co. had won its local pitch competition, it was pooled into the INCubatorEDU National Pitch Competition semi-finalist group of 30 teams. These winning teams came from a larger group of 300+ teams from around the country. Allergenius was then chosen by the judges to compete as a finalist, 1 of 5, at the Convene Center in Chicago, IL on July 17th, 2019.
After a night of speaking from five groups of brilliant teenagers from around the country, Allergenius Baking Co. was selected by the five judges as the winner and recipient of a $15,000 grant.
After a night of speaking from five groups of brilliant teenagers from around the country, Allergenius Baking Co. was selected by the five judges as the winner and recipient of a $15,000 grant.
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This was our first big break. We received enough funding to kickstart our business thanks to INCubatorEDU & Uncharted Learning and their contributors. We haven’t looked back since.
Now, Josh and Anya are studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and focusing on scaling this operation. Maddie is helping from afar at Wheaton College. There is no saying when we will be back in business, but we promise it will be worth the wait. Stay tuned for updates.
Thank you for your continued support!
- the A.B.C. team
Now, Josh and Anya are studying at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and focusing on scaling this operation. Maddie is helping from afar at Wheaton College. There is no saying when we will be back in business, but we promise it will be worth the wait. Stay tuned for updates.
Thank you for your continued support!
- the A.B.C. team
