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Rusell Haines and Cleo Gilmour, from Lilo Desserts. The company won the start-up category at the Foodstarter competition.
Gilmour started the Queenstown business with Alex Worker, Russell Haines and Hayden Kennedy with the help of seed funding.
“We really wanted to make a product that had the dairy level of indulgence and that has been a big challenge,” Gilmour said.
The timing of the Foodstarter awards fitted perfectly with product development, Gilmour said.
Lilo Desserts was ready to start talking to suppliers and promoting the brand.“Foodstarter came at a really amazing time,” she said.
The company won the start-upcategory with a cherry topped cheesecake using cherries that would have otherwise been thrown out because of imperfections.