Envee

University of Richmond Students Launch New Salad Dressing Brand Developed in Classroom

UR’s Bench Top Innovations Program Demonstrates Entrepreneurship From Ideation to Commercialization   
November 21, 2024

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND — University of Richmond students recently competed in the fourth annual Bench Top Innovations Great Bake Off, where four teams of students presented salad dressings and business directions developed in the classroom.  

Envee, a brand whose first product will be a pesto-caesar dressing, emerged as the final winner.

Bench Top Innovations (Bench Top) is a Robins School of Business marketing course operated in collaboration with the Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship initiative. Each year, students develop a different food product from ideation to commercialization. This year’s cohort spent the fall semester experimenting with recipes for their salad dressings in UR’s kitchens and worked on product branding in partnership with the VCU Brandcenter.

At the Great Bake Off, teams demoed and pitched their products to over 400 students, faculty, and the community as well as a panel of judges that included advertising and marketing executives and food and beverage experts.

In their pitch, the Envee team emphasized the versatility of their pesto-caesar dressing and the unique combination of two beloved flavors. It is also nut-free, making it allergy friendly. The team also highlighted the business opportunity that their dressing offers, as there is no other product like it on the market. 

“The judges chose Envee because it was the product that they could see generating the broadest and strongest initial interest,” said marketing lecturer and Bench Top Innovations Program Director Joel Mier, who co-teaches the course with Executive-in-Residence Shane Emmett, former co-founder and CEO of Health Warrior. “Envee presented a very unique product with thoughtful, fun branding, a consumer-friendly flavor profile, and ingredients that are clean and easy to source and produce. Plus, it’s simply delicious.” 

All 16 students in the class will now rally around Envee, working in various marketing, sales, operations, and finance roles, and work to bring the pesto-caesar dressing to market in January 2025.

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