Jiminy Crickets! Local protein purveyor gets noticed

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This article was published 21/11/2015 (1003 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STONY Mountain's Alex Drysdale, founder of Crik Nutrition, is the sole Canadian entry on the Global Entrepreneurship Network's list of the 50 most promising new startups in the world.

The cricket protein powder entrepreneur is excited about being included in the exclusive the list that came out this week as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

"It was a nice surprise," said Drysdale.

Crik Nutrition was also highlighted by the U.S. cable network CNBC in its list of 20 of the World's Hottest Startups extracted from the GEW 50.

Drysdale applied through Crik Nutrition's involvement in the Spin Master Innovation Fund earlier this year. That earned him a $50,000 loan through his work with Futurpreneur Canada.

Crik Nutrition sells a protein-rich vanilla-flavoured powder made primarily from crickets, one of the most nutritious and efficient food sources on the planet.

He gets his supply from a farm near Peterborough, Ont., and is about to launch new flavours and an organic version.

The international recognition does not mean Drysdale, 29, is a hard-bitten entrepreneur who's seen it all. He's still feeling his way through the process.

"I did a pitch this week (with the Manitoba Environmental Industries Association), and I was telling my dad I had to hold onto the podium because my hands were shaking so much," he said.

The GEW 50 were selected by an international panel of judges based on a range of criteria including growth potential, passion, creativity, level of idea development, and their pitching skills.

Drysdale sells Crik Nutrition's vanilla protein powder directly to consumers from his website and is just in the process of hiring a marketing associate to start pursuing queries he's received from retailers and other potential distributors.

But he's careful about managing the attention.

"I'm going to be going into debt getting this next big order in," he said.

He's been fighting off other media attention including getting aggressively recruited by Dragons' Den, which wants him on the show.

"I've had a couple of conversations with them but I don't want to go on air and not have enough money to have enough inventory," he said.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca