Food4Good food-truck project wins Get Started Rhode Island business pitch contest

MAKING HIS PITCH to the panel of judges at the second Get Started Rhode Island business pitch event is eventual winner Julius Searight, whose idea for a socially conscious food truck won him $10,000 in goods and services from Cox Business. Moderating the event was Maria Aspan, senior editor at Inc.com, with judges, from left, Josh Linkner, a venture capitalist, Nick Kishfy, founder of local app developer MojoTech, and social marketing strategiest Ted Rubin. / COURTESY COX BUSINESS
MAKING HIS PITCH to the panel of judges at the second Get Started Rhode Island business pitch event is eventual winner Julius Searight, whose idea for a socially conscious food truck won him $10,000 in goods and services from Cox Business. Moderating the event was Maria Aspan, senior editor at Inc.com, with judges, from left, Josh Linkner, a venture capitalist, Nick Kishfy, founder of local app developer MojoTech, and social marketing strategiest Ted Rubin. / COURTESY COX BUSINESS

EAST PROVIDENCE – Food4Good, a food-truck with a conscience project being developed by a Johnson & Wales University graduate, won the second Get Started Rhode Island business pitch contest, held Wednesday at the Squantum Association in East Providence.
Founded by Julius Searight, the concept turns the standard food truck business on its side. The idea “came from volunteering at nonprofits,” Searight said during his two-and-a-half minute pitch to a panel of three judges and a moderator.
“Four out of five soup kitchens cannot meet the demand,” he said. “I want to fill that need.”
He started volunteering at Crossroads Rhode Island during his junior year, he said, and still works there on an occasional basis.
Operating as a regular food truck during lunch, weekends and late night, the Food4Good truck would take a percentage of its proceeds and serve 100 meals per day during the week at nonprofits looking for the help. He said that every $5 spent at the food truck could provide two meals for the needy.
Searight already has established a 501(c)3 nonprofit and has been raising money to outfit the truck he has purchased. He noted to laughter from the more than 250 people in attendance that he was roughly $10,000 short of his needs, which is the value of the Cox Business technology and service package that winning the contest brought to him.
Searight’s pitch so engaged the judges that one of them, venture capitalist Josh Linkner, pledged to donate $1,000 on the spot, followed by two more audience members calling out that they would match his donation.
The Get Started Rhode Island pitch contest was the second one held in the Ocean State and is one of nine held so far nationwide by Cox Business in partnership with Inc. Magazine. Last year’s Get Started Rhode Island winner was Lincoln-based Care Technology, a manufacturer of linear LED lighting.
The contest gave five finalists (out of roughly 20 applicants) two-and-a-half minutes each to pitch their ideas to the panel of judges, with another brief period of questions and answers following their presentations. The judges then voted on the winners.
In addition, the audience was allowed to vote on their favorite through texts and the Web, with Food4Good tying with Magnetros, a startup manufacturer of fashion-conscious bracelets that contain a QR code linking to the wearer’s medical condition that emergency personnel could access in seconds in order to administer the correct treatment. Food4Good and Magnetros each won a $250 gift card.
The judges for the event, in addition to Linkner, were social marketing strategist Ted Rubin and Nick Kishfy, founder and CEO of local app developer MojoTech. The moderator was Maria Aspan, senior editor at Inc.com.
Other finalists were Direct Doctors of Wickford, Rhode Island Creative Magazine of Cranston and Truepreneurs of Providence.
Searight is not a stranger to the “Shark Tank”-like atmosphere of business pitching. He won the annual SharkFest competition at Johnson & Wales in February for the Food4Good concept, taking home $2,000.
“The five finalists who pitched their business ideas are prime examples of the talent and innovation in Rhode Island,” said Mark Scott, vice president of Cox Business. “I’m excited to watch these businesses grow, succeed and make positive contributions to our economy and communities.”
Other sponsors of the event included Pitchmaps, which coached the finalists in advance of their pitches; Providence Business News; the Hatch Entrepreneurial Center; the R.I. Small Business Development Center and the Rhode Island district office of the Small Business Administration.
“Food4Good is from the community, for the community,” Searight said in remarks distributed by Cox. “When you buy a meal from us, you’re investing in your community.”

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