Texas Border Business
H-E-B is calling all local food and beverage innovators to submit their Texas-based product in the 2017 H-E-B Primo Picks: Quest for Texas Best statewide competition. Participants will compete not only for cash prizes but also for the opportunity to showcase their uniquely Texan products on H-E-B shelves across the state. Those interested in entering the competition may submit their unique product details Wednesday, February 22 through Wednesday, April 5, 2017 by visiting HEB.com/quest.
To help kick off the call for entries, H-E-B leaders will visit McAllen on Wednesday, February 22 (SEE ATTACHED) to raise awareness of the product search and contest, and advise potential entrants about product development and best practices for entering their product in the competition.
H-E-B PRIMO PICKS QUEST FOR TEXAS BEST RETURNS FOR FOURTH YEAR OF HEATED COMPETITION
Grocer issues statewide call for entries February 22 – April 5
RIO GRANDE VALLEY – Celebrating local foods and all things Texas, H-E-B is searching for the most creative and mouthwatering, Texas-based food and beverage entrepreneurs or small businesses to participate in the 2017 H-E-B Primo Picks Quest for Texas Best competition. Interested creators may submit their unique product details online at heb.com/quest beginning Wednesday, February 22 through Wednesday, April 5, 2017. Participants will compete not only for cash prizes but also for the opportunity to include their uniquely Texan products on H-E-B shelves across the state.
H-E-B’s Business Development Managers will determine the top 25 applicants, who will present their products before a panel of judges selected by H-E-B on August 10 and 11, 2017 at the Central Texas Food Bank in Austin. The panel of judges will determine the top four winning products.
H-E-B will award the Grand Prize winner $25,000, the title of “Texas Best” Primo Pick and placement on store shelves; the first place winner $20,000; the second place winner $15,000; and the third place winner $10,000. Eligible products must not be available in any other large chain or retailer and the vendors must be willing to sell exclusively to H-E-B. Additionally, Texas-based suppliers must also create, produce or co-pack the products in Texas.
Since its inception in 2014, the Quest for Texas Best competition has received more than 1,500 entries from over 200 Texas towns yielding almost 200 new products on H-E-B store shelves across the state. To celebrate aisles and aisles of Texas, highlighting Texas farmers, growers and manufacturers, H-E-B will kick off its two week TexFest, February 22 – March 7.
Last year, Kyle, Texas’ Chef Julie Albertson took home the Grand Prize title and $25,000 for her Texas Pie Company Original Pie Dough Puck – the secret to making the perfect, homemade pie. Laredo’s own Eduardo Mercado of Productos Doña Blanca’s Carne Seca Doña Blanca placed in the Top 25 and is due to hit H-E-B’s shelves the week of February 27. Weslaco’s own Lamar Jones of The Jank BBQ Sauce competed in 2015 and was featured in his very own H-E-B TV Commercial last year along with placement on H-E-B’s shelves. And, Bayview’s Adam Thompson of Thompson Farms Goat Cheese, also a 2015 finalist, is featured in H-E-B’s Deli Cheese Department.
H-E-B leaders will visit local chambers of commerce, small business development organizations and business advocacy groups February 15 – March 31 to raise awareness of the product search and contest, and advise potential entrants about product development and best practices for entering their product in the competition. Cities include: Beaumont, Copperas Cove, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Del Rio, Houston, Laredo, McAllen, Round Rock and San Antonio. To register, please visit heb.com/quest.
