Unstoppable entrepreneurs feed the world and fuel our future

This is the second in a series about Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni taking action to address the challenges and repercussions of COVID-19.

It’s another week of staying at home for me and millions of others. Despite the restrictions, I’m filled with gratitude — for my family, for my health, for my job — and for those on the front lines battling #COVID19.

I’m also grateful for the food on my table — something many of us take for granted, while others who have lost livelihoods no longer can. Food policy experts say that as many as one out of every four Americans is projected to join the ranks of the hungry as job losses continue to mount. [i]

That’s a sobering statistic. But I am finding hope and inspiration in the unstoppable entrepreneurs who are stepping into the breach to help feed their communities. As in my last post, I want to share some of the can-do attitude and community spirit I’ve heard in their stories.

In California, a fourth-generation family business, built by six resilient women of the An family, is working to feed the community right outside its doors. House of An is an industry-leading group of restaurant and food service businesses led for the past 45 years by the family’s matriarch, Helene “Mama” An. Helene and her five daughters are Entrepreneur Of The Year 2013 Award winners.

Every day, the An family works feverishly to keep their businesses on track and find new ways to help. “Mama said that we had to do something for the doctors and the nurses and everyone on the front lines,” says Elizabeth An, CEO of House of An. [ii] The Crustacean Cares initiative is the result. House of An chefs cook up delicious pho noodle bowls and donate them to medical professionals on the front lines at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. Through the #BUYABOWL program, every bowl of pho purchased by customers means an extra bowl in the next delivery.

And House of An efforts don’t stop at the hospital door. Through two more programs, #BUYABAG and #BUYABOX, supply staples like eggs and milk and household goods like toilet paper can be purchased to give to older adults and to food and beverage workers laid off during the outbreak.   

Hamdi Ulukaya is an entrepreneur who is living and working in an epicenter of the pandemic. As the community-spirited CEO of New York-based yogurt-maker Chobani, Ulukaya has been making weekly donations to food pantries for years. But when COVID-19 hit, he knew he needed to do more. In recent weeks, his team has launched Chobani Pantry to send out a truck a day to food pantries in the US, donating millions of cups of yogurt thus far. He and his team have also transformed Chobani’s New York café into a food pantry and donated branding and marketing services to help get the word out about Feeding America, a national hunger-relief organization. Ulukaya is the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year? 2013 Award winner.

In Cranford, New Jersey, Nuts.com continues to make its mark as one of the most reliable civic-minded online grocery stores. As the “Chief Nut” of Nuts.com, Jeffrey Braverman is focused on keeping his Nuts.com family safe and healthy, so they can stay open and keep serving the community.

What does civic engagement mean to Nuts.com? Well, in February, Jeff, third-generation owner of this nearly 100-year-old family business, worked with his team to create a custom trail mix — the aptly named Apple Pie Crunch — and are donating a portion of all its sales to Feeding America. Jeff and team also launched the company’s “Essential Snacks for Essential Workers” initiative, which sends free single-serving snack packs to nurses, doctors and hospital staff at every single one of the over 6,500 hospitals in the US. Jeff is an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014 Award winner.

Although Brett Lindsey, President and CEO of Everstream, doesn’t run a food-related business, he’s determined to help the most vulnerable among us. Everstream is an essential business as a fiber network provider that’s running at full steam during the pandemic. For Lindsey, helping others has meant 30 days of daily meal donations to seven Ronald McDonald House Chapters in Everstream’s service area. The company has also been ordering meals from local restaurants to assist as many of these challenged businesses as possible in the seven communities. “This is our opportunity to give back to the communities we serve in a meaningful way at this very difficult time,” Lindsey says.[iii] Everstream committed to providing an estimated 295 meals a day, feeding between 8 and 100 people at each Ronald McDonald House, including families and staff. Lindsey is an Entrepreneur Of The Year 2017 Award winner.

Over the next few months, as we all look to celebrate the heroes among us, I’ll share more of these encouraging stories. And this year, for the first time ever, you can hear inspiring stories of 46 entrepreneurs from around the globe during the groundbreaking EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year live virtual experience. See how these unstoppable entrepreneurs are using their ingenuity to create and lead great companies and make a difference. Tune in with me on June 4 and watch as the 2020 award winner is announced. To register, visit cnbc.com/weoy

The views reflected in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.

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[i] “‘We don’t know how it will end’: Hunger stalks amid virus,” AP News, https://apnews.com/742466992f8998757bb579e49c212223, May 3, 2020.

[ii] “Crustacean gives back at a time restaurants themselves are hurting,” Fox 11 Los Angeles website, https://www.foxla.com/news/crustacean-gives-back-at-a-time-restaurants-themselves-are-hurting, April 18, 2020.

[iii] Press release, Everstream, https://everstream.net/press-releases/everstream-to-donate-more-than-8850-meals-to-seven-ronald-mcdonald-house-charities-chapters/, April 13, 2020.