By Michele Walters, Vice President SBA Commercial Relationship Manager, Core Bank
Have you ever met someone that you just knew had a great idea and was going to do great things? I did in August 2017… her name was Lisa Ragan and her company was Safely Delicious. Since then, the company has accumulated many great reviews, featured stories, speaking engagements, and awards!
So what is Safely Delicious?
Safely Delicious is a brand of allergy-friendly snacks that are free of gluten, dairy, nuts, soy, and egg as well as being vegan. The snacks come in flavors like classic and dark chocolate, mint, raspberry, and mocha — and new flavors like pumpkin pie spice and lemon are now available! They have no cholesterol, artificial colors, artificial flavors or preservatives and can be found in over 125 grocery stores and retailers throughout the United States (check here for locations). Let me tell you from personal experience — they truly are delicious!
Lisa tells the story about how she started her business: as a mother of four children with multiple food allergies she began cooking allergy free in 2004. It broke her heart to see her children and others like them excluded at school, birthday parties, and social events because they could not eat what the other children ate. So she went to work in her kitchen and it became her mission to create snacks that looked and tasted similar to what the other children ate, but remained safe from all of the food allergens. In November of 2015, she took her snacks and turned them into a business called Safely Delicious.
Remember the part about having a great idea and doing great things?
Safely Delicious has been reviewed and featured in 20 health food magazines and online, in addition to several appearances on television. Lisa has been a keynote speaker and panel member on how to become a successful entrepreneur with several groups and organizations, most recently speaking at the March IAW Kansas City Metro Chapter event.
The awards are beginning to stack up — she just received the 2019 Emerging Business of the Year by the JCCC Kansas Small Business Development Center and was named the Overland Park 2018 Small Business Person of the Year by the online networking site Alignable.
As an SBA banker, I get to see lots of different concepts and meet lots of different business owners. I am glad that as a preferred lender with the SBA we are able to help small businesses like Safely Delicious. As a customer (even though I do not have a food allergy but love the mint snacks!) and her banker, I am eager to support Lisa and Safely Delicious and excited to see what the future holds!