| Tell us about your company: |
| Cookstix is an instant chicken stock in powder form, made with real ingredients to make every day cooking easier and less wasteful. Instead of heavy cartons or overly salty cubes, we offer clean-label cooking stock in small stick packets that deliver chef-quality flavor. Each stick lets you use exactly what you need, when you need it — no half-used containers taking over your fridge, and no ingredients you can’t pronounce. We’re starting with chicken stock, one of the most foundational ingredients in cooking, with the goal of making everyday cooking feel simpler, more flexible, and more enjoyable! |
| What inspired you to start your business? |
| Cookstix started with frustration in the kitchen. Even after building a chicken soup business for nearly ten years, my co-founder (and cousin) Taryn and I still found ourselves reaching for boxes of chicken stock when cooking for our families. We’d use most of a box, put the rest in the fridge to use “later” … and inevitably end up throwing it away. It felt like such a basic ingredient deserved a better solution. So we asked ourselves: what if stock worked the way people actually cook? That question led to Cookstix — a format that delivers real flavor and total flexibility, without the usual waste or tradeoffs. |
| What are your proudest achievements so far? |
| One of my proudest achievements has been having the confidence to build something new alongside what we already knew. After years in the fresh soup world, we didn’t walk away from that experience — we used it as a foundation to explore a new category, a new product format, and a completely different part of the store. With Cookstix, we challenged ourselves to think beyond prepared foods and instead reimagine a core cooking ingredient — from how it’s packaged to how it fits into everyday life. Adding something new, rather than staying in a familiar lane, pushed us creatively and personally, and seeing that leap resonate with home cooks has been incredibly rewarding. |
| What advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs: |
| Build something you actually care about. Belief and excitement are contagious, and they matter more than having everything figured out. Take things step by step, expect bumps along the way, and don’t let the inevitable failures stop you — they’re just part of bringing something new to life. |
Alumni Emporium 