Dr. Philip Tew, PhD / JD

Conference Day Overview

Students will arrive to the A-State campus on the day of the Small Business Leadership Challenge and take over the 3rd floor of our Student Union.

The morning will have multiple hands-on workshops for students while finalists give their presentation to our judges. Everything is completely run by our college students and staff, so teachers can take a break!

The afternoon will be split with half of the students having lunch in our Acansa Dining Hall – our buffet-style cafeteria at a group rate of $8 per student – and half of the students participating in our Grocery Games workshop where they will receive grocery lists and work in teams to obtain all items at the best cost.

Registration Instructions

For this conference, there will be three separate registration links.

Teacher Registration – This will be for each teacher to submit their information as well as total student headcounts. We will need one for each school (so if you are bringing students from multiple schools, we will need multiple forms).

Non-Competing Student Registration – This will be for any students you are bringing that will not participate in the competition aspect but will attend our conference day.

Competing Team Registration – This form will register the competing students as well as submit their materials. All materials will need to be accessible/public through whatever platform you are using (Google Drive, Canva, YouTube, etc.). There will also be space to register up to 5 students in a team. A form will need to be completed for each team.

Competition Rules

Students may work individually or in groups up to 5 students to create a healthy (or healthier alternative) food item and accompanying food cart.

To qualify for the overall grand prize awards, submissions must include all of the following:

• One-page written business plan
• Logo
• Recipe card with nutrition information
• 5-minute (or less) demonstration Food Network-style video

If teams do not submit all four parts, they will not be chosen as finalists, but they still have the opportunity to place in the individual categories.

The top 8 finalists will be announced the week before the conference. These teams will need to bring 5 servings of their product on conference day for our judges.

Business Plan

Business Plans should have the team/food cart name at the top stylized however the team would like, but the body of text should be Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spaced. Students should focus on answering the following questions:

• Paragraph 1 – Overview
  • What is your food cart name and who is on your management team?
  • What is the food or drink you are featuring?
  • Who are the people that you are going to try to sell your food or drink (who is your target market)?
• Paragraph 2 – Details
  • What ingredients will you use to make your food or drink?
  • What makes your food or drink healthy or healthier than other alternatives?
  • How will you advertise your food cart to customers?
  • Why will people want to buy your food or drink?
• Paragraph 3 – Finances
  • How much will your food or drink cost to make?
  • How much will you charge for a serving?
  • What profit will you make per serving? (Hint: Subtract the cost to create from the amount you will charge.)

Instructions have changed since previous years, but check out our 2024 winner below!

Logo

Logos can be done by hand or with an online tool like Canva. Logos should include:

• Food cart name
• Picture/graphics representing the food/drink/food cart name
• Tag line for your food cart

Instructions have changed since previous years, but check out our 2024 winner below!

Recipe Card

Recipe cards should include:

• Food cart name
• Price per serving
• Tag line
• Ingredients, including nutrition information per serving

Instructions have changed since previous years, but check out our 2024 winner below!

Demonstration Food Network-Style Video

Demonstration videos should be 5 minutes or less. It should include:

• Food cart name
• Food or drink (you are showing how to make it)
• Ingredients, including nutrition information
• Why is your food or drink healthy or healthier than the alternative?

Instructions have changed since previous years, but check out our 2024 winner below!

Judging Rubric

	Excellent	Above Average	Average	Below Average	Poor
Business Plan	Answered all plan questions. No formatting, spelling, or grammar errors. 10 points	Answered all plan questions. Minor formatting, spelling, or grammar errors. 8 points	Answered most plan questions. Minor formatting, spelling, or grammar errors. 5 points	A few errors with formatting, spelling, or grammar and/or incomplete answers. 3 points	Many errors with formatting, spelling, or grammar and/or incomplete answers. 1 point
Logo	Includes food cart name, picture/graphic, and tag line. No spelling or grammar errors. 10 points	Includes food cart name, picture/graphic, and tag line. Minor spelling or grammar errors. 8 points	Includes product/service, name, price, and tag line. A few spelling or grammar errors. 5 points	Does not include all items. A few spelling or grammar errors. 3 points	Many items missing and/or many spelling or grammar errors. 1 point
Recipe Card	Includes food cart name, price, tag line, and ingredients with nutrition information. No spelling or grammar errors. 10 points	Includes food cart name, price, tag line, and ingredients with nutrition information. Minor spelling or grammar errors. 8 points	Includes food cart name, price, tag line, and ingredients. A few spelling or grammar errors. 5 points	Does not include all items. A few spelling or grammar errors. 3 points	Many items missing and/or many spelling or grammar errors. 1 point
Demonstration Video	Includes all necessary parts of the video. Stays within time limit. Engaging. 10 points	Includes all necessary parts of the video, but not as detailed. Stays within time limit. Engaging. 8 points	Includes all necessary parts of the video. Doesn’t stay within time limit or is not engaging. 5 points	Missing some necessary parts. Doesn’t stay within time limit. 3 points	Many items missing, doesn’t stay within time limit. Boring and uninteresting. 1 point