Dill pickle, buffalo, and black bean— these are the disruptive, inventive flavors the “hummus rebel,” also known as UCF student Jesse Wolfe, CEO of O’Dang Hummus, created that could be sitting on the shelves of some major grocery stores soon.
After taking third place in the Joust, the UCF College of Business Administration’s Business Plan Competition, Wolfe was selling his hummus at Lake Eola and other farmer’s markets, making 300 tubs of hummus a week.
Roughly eight months since he started O’Dang Hummus, Wolfe’s business has dramatically progressed.
We first told you about Wolfe and O’Dang Hummus in September of 2014. A little over a month later, Wolfe placed second in Blackstone’s first LaunchPad Demo Day in New York City, winning $15,000.
“UCF has done so much for us,” Wolfe said. “From the start, the one thing everyone needs to know that Blackstone Launchpad isn’t out to steal your ideas or take part of your company. In return, the school gets huge recognition. Four teams out of 20 were from UCF.”
The Blackstone Launchpad is a student-serving organization that is supported by The Blackstone Charitable Foundation, which seeks to support innovative projects and catalytic ideas that can accelerate start-ups, job growth and economic activity.
“I would say I received $150,000, if I had to put a price on it, in help with free legal advice, referrals, and countless introductions to important, crucial people,” Wolfe said. “When it came to my accounting needs, they referred me to someone. They don’t take any of your patent. It’s literally an incubator to help you. From the moment you walk in, you time stamp your idea. Everything is confidential.”
Wolfe was also featured twice on Fox35’s Good Morning Orlando. While on the show, Wolfe met the owner of The Meat House in Winter Park. Just a few months later, the product now sits on the shelves at The Meat House with the new labels his team created.
“You set yourself up three to five years [for your business plan]. Our year one is out the window. We’ve grown much faster than we projected. We are past the introductory phase we planned for Jan. 1,” Wolfe said.
When asked about the future plans for O’Dang Hummus being in other stores, Wolfe said he couldn’t reveal the names of the stores because the contracts still have to be finalized, but he discussed his plan to dominate the hummus industry of Orlando.
“We have one of our final meetings next Wednesday. We are waiting to finalize, but we have interest in three, large national chains. All we really need is one of those. If all goes through, it would be located in the Dr. Phillips area. The next chain will put us in all of Orlando,” Wolfe said.
He doesn’t want to stop there.
“Our business plan isn’t to build a giant facility, instead utilize smaller facilities across the country. It would be easier for us to allow Amazon to fulfill it. We want to be the first hummus business through Amazon,” Wolfe said.
He still plans to launch his to-go pack and a website, which he says will be ready in a couple of months. He also says that his crazy flavors have no end.
“We have a bacon hummus and garlic-Parmesan flavor. Brownie batter dip, which is a black bean dip that taste like brownie batter. We beta tested it two weeks ago and it went very well.”
As Wolfe’s business plan and flavors are growing, he still plans to be a contestant on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in the near future.
