By Jack Weatherly, Mississippi Business Journal, Feature Article, July 8, 2016. Six Mississippi startup companies went to Bentonville, Ark., last week, and all came back as certified suppliers for the international retailing giant.
“The potential for these Mississippi startups is incredible,” said Tony Jeff, president and chief executive of Innovate Mississippi.
Billy’s Original Foods is indeed a startup. “We just opened our manufacturing facility about a month ago,” said Mani Chansparith, chief operating officer.
“You can imagine the high we’re getting,” she said Tuesday.
That exhilaration was already fueled by hitting the shelves of 68 Kroger stores in five states, including stores across the Jackson metro area and in north and south Mississippi, she said.