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Illinois ice cream start-up wins Midwest Dairy’s 2025 Accelerator program

The founder of southern Illinois-based RoseBud Ice Cream says winning Midwest Dairy’s 2025 Accelerator program is helping get dairy products into more hands.

Sam Rose says the $20,000 grand prize comes at a time when the business is expanding nationally.

“We’re using this prize to help us scale our production and improve our manufacturing significantly, which is really exciting,” he says.

Sidney Herr, research and innovations manager with Midwest Dairy, tells Brownfield RoseBud’s kid-friendly soft serve in pouches and readiness to expand set them apart.

“We narrowed it down to four businesses and they entered this eight-week program.”  She says, “There was tons of mentorship, industry connections, and resources provided from Midwest Dairy and Venture Fuel to help launch their business a little bit farther into the market.”

AUDIO: Sidney Herr – Midwest Dairy

Rose says the experience changed his perspective on dairy innovation.

“Having access to improve on my professional network to talk to these folks who are experts in their field, and their insight is really beneficial in business.”  He says, “And so being put into that position was really great for me.”

Herr says the overall goal is to expand dairy demand by supporting new consumer-reaching uses.

Nebraska-based Zoguri won the $10,000 second-place prize to expand its fermented dairy probiotic products.

A link to further details can be found HERE.

AUDIO: Sam Rose – RoseBud Ice Cream