Berks LaunchBox has announced the winners of its 2026 Lifestyle Business Pitch Night.<\/p>\n
Berks LaunchBox, a business accelerator initiative supported by Penn State Berks and Berks County\u2019s Imagine Berks Fund, assists early-stage entrepreneurs with business needs such as prototyping, marketing and product development.<\/p>\n
At the pitch competition in June, participants shared their vision, story, and the customers they hope to serve while competing for prize money and receiving feedback from the Berks LaunchBox advisor panel.<\/p>\n
The winners are:<\/p>\n
First Place, $1,000: Jessica King, ElderCARE Collaborative<\/p>\n
ElderCARE Collaborative provides aging advocacy that empowers families to make confident decisions.\u00a0With more than 15 years of experience supporting families through care coordination and complex aging transitions, Jessica King offers guidance rooted in clarity, compassion, trust, and respect for each senior adult\u2019s autonomy, Berks LaunchBox said in a release.<\/p>\n
Second Place, $600: Tom and Kim Chilton, Garden Infuzions<\/p>\n
Garden Infuzions creates 200 flavors of handcrafted infused olive oils designed to elevate cooking with flavors like New York Pizza, Cilantro-Lime, Philly Cheesesteak, and more, Berks LaunchBox said. Taste them at the Fairgrounds Farmers Market, along the front wall between Salino\u2019s and Spring Glen, Thursday through Saturday.<\/p>\n
Third Place, $400: Annette Faust, A Box of Berks and Beyond<\/p>\n
A Box of Berks and Beyond creates thoughtfully curated gift boxes that celebrate the history, culture, and flavors of Berks County, Reading, and Pennsylvania. Since 2017, Annette Faust has helped customers send smiles, local treats, and a taste of home through gift baskets that offer a delicious alternative to sending flowers, according to Berks LaunchBox.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to the 12 terrific contestants who prepared excellent pitches and the 13 Berks LaunchBox advisors who served as judges, offering their time, insight, encouragement, and practical feedback to help each entrepreneur move forward,\u201d Berks LaunchBox said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Berks LaunchBox has announced the winners of its 2026 Lifestyle Business Pitch Night. Berks LaunchBox, a business accelerator…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,60,182,200,28,128,130,129,100571,706],"class_list":["post-232724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-business","tag-local-news","tag-montgomery-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-salford-township","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}