BEST FROZEN ITEM

STARTUP CPG SHELFIES AWARDS

BEST FROZEN

FINALISTS

SAVORLY

Savorly’s products are the appetizers you never knew your party needed – and you won’t be able to live without. On a mission to bring European-quality appetizers to American freezers, Savorly replaced the traditional frozen appetizer cheese goop and artificial preservatives with only real ingredients and elevated flavor combinations. Their Mini Gratins pair potatos with four flavor-packed cheeses, and crisp to perfection in the oven.

BAOZZA

Baozza is forever altering the frozen aisle with their innovative mashup between pizza and Chinese bao buns. Filled to the seams with delicious cheesy goodness, these buns come in a microwave-safe steam bag so you can throw them straight from freezer to microwave. In just one microwave minute, you’ll have a perfectly steamed bun absolutely bursting with flavor. Their BBQ Chicken flavor pairs tangy BBQ sauce and chicken with rich, gooey mozzarella cheese.

BEST FROZEN ITEM

BALKAN BITES

Balkan Bites all started in 2018 when founder Ariana Tolka approached her aunt Alida to teach her how to make traditional Albanian recipes in honor of her late grandmother, Magbule. “On Sundays, we found solace in baking together, reminiscing about her while bringing her recipes to life,” Ariana recalls. Soon enough, they were debuting their authentic Albanian bureks at outdoor markets in NYC, receiving overwhelming support from customers around the world. And so came the start of an ‘unBurekable’ bond and the birth of Balkan Bites. Balkan Bites are bureks, or savory phyllo pie, that is flaky on the outside and oozing with goodness on the inside, authentic to the founders’ Balkan roots. Their all-natural phyllo dough is made from scratch with premium ingredients like unbleached flour, extra-virgin olive oil, and real butter. Fillings range from a traditional Cheese Medley (loaded with feta and ricotta cheese) to Beef and Onion and Spinach and Cheese — all crisp and flaky on the outside, yet gooey and soft on the inside. Balkan Bites are made fresh and frozen for easy preparation, rendering a perfect, justbaked, handmade pastry in the comfort of your home. Since the Balkan Bites team started selling their bureks, they were eager to get into retail to make their product more accessible. But they hit a wall when they realized they didn’t have the production capacity or target cost of goods to succeed in retail while self-manufacturing. “We emailed basically every burek manufacturer in the world in hopes of finding a partner,” says Ariana. “To make burek at scale, we needed special machinery from Europe which we didn’t have the funding to buy, so we had to find a co-packer that had the machine.” After searching for almost two years, they finally

found the right co-packer for their needs. “It was a really trying process but it definitely taught me patience. Luckily we had built a loyal base of DTC customers that allowed us to stay in business during that time.” After securing a co-packer, Balkan Bites has expanded far outside of the founder’s backyard in the Northeast to Foxtrot Market and Central Market in Texas — with some more accounts launching in the Midwest soon. As they grow, they hope to continue to drive their mission of sharing a new culture through everyday Southeast European comfort foods. You can find Balkan Bites in independent retailers across the Northeast and Mid Atlantic, through home delivery services in the NYC area, Foxtrot Markets, and Central Market in Texas. You can find their complete stockist list here or order Balkan Bites through their website: balkanbites.co.