UR students’ salad dressing brand set to launch early next month

The Envee team presenting at the UR “bake-off.” (Courtesy University of Richmond)

A group of University of Richmond students are trying their hand at a new food startup created in the classroom. 

Envee (pronounced ‘envy’), the latest venture born out of the school’s Bench Top Innovations program, is prepared to launch its first product, a pesto-caesar salad dressing, in early February. 

The year-long Bench Top program takes 16 UR students from across fields of study to develop and launch a beverage or packaged food company. Students are split up into teams of four to come up with a concept.

This year’s theme for the program was salad dressing. 

Envee CEO Lindsay Batten co-founded the startup alongside fellow UR seniors Trey Creamer, Sophia Devlin and Grace Maclean. The team spent a few months last semester in an on-campus kitchen cooking up the idea. 

The Envee logo

Trying different combinations of salad dressings and ingredients, the Envee team experimented with a pesto-caesar fusion and realized that it wasn’t already on the market. 

“You’d be tempted to have some unicorn ingredient, but my team was like, ‘we wanna make something that tastes really good’,” Batten said. “So, we prioritized flavor.”  

The Envee team competed against their fellow classmates at a November “bake-off” where they came out on top as the chosen startup for the spring semester.

Now, all 16 students in this year’s Bench Top class have joined the Envee team.

The startup has contracted with a Chicago-based food manufacturing company to produce the salad dressing. The 12-ounce squeeze top bottles are being produced ahead of the early February release. Prices are still being finalized, Batten said. 

The Envee sales team is now pitching the product to local markets like Ellwood Thompson’s and Yellow Umbrella Provisions. The goal is to eventually move into major grocery chains like Whole Foods, Envee CMO Ginny Beringer said. 

The marketing team is collaborating with VCU Brandcenter on a new brand logo and label before the launch and targeting social media personalities for future promotion. 

The Bench Top program is led by UR marketing professor Dr. Joel Mier, who’s held positions at Netflix, Genworth and Adobe. Mier told BizSense he’s excited to see Envee go from an idea to store shelves this semester. 

“They’re in the planning phase, then will go into the execution phase. They’ll encounter challenges they can’t foresee right now, and that’s how they learn,” Mier said. 

The Bench Top program is funded by a portion of a $1 million gift to UR from the Jason & Jaime Brown Family Foundation and the RB Charitable Foundation made in 2021. New Bench Top startups also draw on revenues from previous years’ startups to help cover operating costs. 

The Envee team serving their products.

Envee is the fourth startup to be created in the Bench Top program. The program’s first project, snack mix brand Absurd Snacks, is still operating with UR grads Grace Mittl and Eli Bank at the helm. 

Energy drink company TwinTail Brews, which was the program’s second startup, announced its shutdown in April 2023, while baba ganoush startup Noosh from last year’s program has also been shut down following the students’ graduation. 

Batten said learning about how to operate a startup in a safe place to learn like the Bench Top program has been invaluable. 

“The support has been palpable. It’s been a unique experience, to be 21 and creating a business and leading a team that’s gonna be sold in stores in Richmond,” Batten said.

As for whether she’ll continue on with Envee post-grad? Batten isn’t sure. But she is certain she’ll continue to be a supporter of the Bench Top program. 

“It’s a unique atmosphere to be a part of,” she said. “Why sit in a classroom and learn about startups when you could just do it?” 

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