SAXAPAHAW, N.C. — A North Carolina couple started their business Haw River Mushrooms over 10 years ago, and hope to expand into the value added and alternative protein industry.
Ches Stewart says he used to grow over 80 different kinds of vegetables, but now he and his wife Laura specialize in fungi.
What You Need To Know
- Haw River Mushrooms competed in the 2023 Center for Creative Economy's Velocity Demo Day
- The 10-week mentorship program allows entrepreneurs to compete for $10,000 for their company
- Laura and Ches Stewart have been growing mushrooms for over 10 years, harvesting up 800 to 1,000 pounds a week
- Haw River Mushrooms has numerous mushroom products such as mushroom coffee and mushroom jerky
“There's a ton of people who are growing lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, that sort of thing. So we were looking for a niche product that we could grow on a small scale. So that's what led us to mushrooms,” Ches Stewart said.
After taking a class on mushrooms, he was hooked.
“We grow 10 to 12 different varieties of mushrooms throughout the year, all on supplement and hardwood sawdust,” said Ches Stewart.
They grow lion's mane, shiitake, pink, gold and blue oyster, black pearl, cinnamon cap, and reishi mushrooms.
“We grow about 800 to 1,000 pounds a week,” Ches Stewart said.
The farm also makes products from their mushrooms such as mushroom coffee, mushroom jerky, lion's mane crab cakes, tinctures and umami salt.
“Lion's mane is really cool because it's, we're using all of this and a lot of our value added products, which is what we're really scaling up,” Ches Stewart.
To help the business side of mushrooms, his wife Laura participated in the 2023 Velocity Demo Day in Winston-Salem.
“Through Velocity, there's actually a cohort of mentors and we've done a lot of kind of almost like mentorship speed dating, where we'll get to do roundtables and ask them different questions,” Laura Stewart said.
This is the eighth year of the Center for Creative Economy’s Velocity program, where 10 entrepreneurs compete for a $10,000 prizes to further their company.
“I feel like it helps you evolve as a founder, you know, to really kind of understand yourself and the strengths you're bringing to it and to kind of get get rid of any ego behind the things that you need to learn to get to the next stage,” Laura said.
The business owners work with mentors over 10 weeks to finalize their pitch, getting expert advice in marketing, finance, business, strategy and operations, sponsored by Wells Fargo, the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and many more.
The mentors are “all volunteers and they very, very generously volunteer their time to help growing businesses, learn, learn the ropes and figure out what they need to do to grow their company,” Laura Stewart said.
Officials from the program said 80 businesses across 10 states and five countries entered for a chance to be in this year's program. With an additional $10,000 prize being added to the stakes for a woman owned business, and officials stated 70% of this years entrepreneurs are women and 70% are founded by people of color.
“We've been growing mushrooms for 12 years, so we've been a farm business for a really long time. But now that we're making these prepared foods a mushroom jerky, we wanted to get into the consumer packaged goods space and we realized there's a learning curve associated with that. We needed new connections, new vocabularies and new ways of thinking about our business,” Laura Stewart said.
Laura gave her pitch to further their business in the value added and alternative protein industry - specifically their mushroom jerky, which has already won numerous awards, including two Sofi awards, from the Specialty Food Association.
They're asking for $10,000 to purchase a combi oven, which would speed up the time to make the jerky from 72 hours to five, along with the ability to make it on their farm instead of using communal equipment at another facility.
The Stewarts did not receive the top prize, but were awarded the Velocity Technology Award and the Velocity Marketing Services Award for $7,500. It will help in consulting services to build an app to address organic certification tracking and improve their marketing presence.
“Honestly, everybody who participated in this program is a winner. So the bigger prize really is the mentorship and the networking,” Laura Stewart said.
Ches says he looks forward to continue to grow their business with the help of his wife and their twins Sarah and Ella, as it’s more than just mushrooms.
“To build something for our family and for the girls. But we also want to build something in this community and lower Alamance County. So ultimately, so it's bigger than itself,” said Ches Stewart.
Officials for the program say since 2016, CCE’s creative accelerator has launched 90 companies, with 80% still in business making $14,000,000 in revenue and $21,000,000 in investments. To learn more about how to apply for ongoing programs visit the CCE website.
Haw River Mushrooms also has tours and agrotourism classes on their property.