Emergenetics Receives Annual Honor as a Woman-Owned Business

VIDEO: The Denver Metro Chamber's minority- and woman-owned business award included Fruit Revival and Copper Door Coffee Roasters in the running as well

Gigi Sukin //April 29, 2018//

Emergenetics Receives Annual Honor as a Woman-Owned Business

VIDEO: The Denver Metro Chamber's minority- and woman-owned business award included Fruit Revival and Copper Door Coffee Roasters in the running as well

Gigi Sukin //April 29, 2018//

WINNER

EMERGENETICS

Before company culture was such a commonplace field of study or practice, and empathy in the workplace was hardly expected, Dr. Geil Browning developed Emergenetics. Founded in 1991, the strengths-based assessments and training solutions encourage individual and organizational performance and harmonious working relationships. Results reveal employees' thinking and behavioral traits in an attempt to bolster business tactics. Emergenetics serves a wide variety of industries and organizations around the world, from Fortune 100 companies including Western Union and MolsonCoors, to governments, educational entities, nonprofits and startups. 

What, in part, sets Emergenetics apart are its conceptual, analytics, social and structural parameters upon which the assessment is built. 

The program's train-the-trainer growth model has cultivated a global faction of experts. 

In 2004, Browning was contracted by a publisher to write a book, but suffered a stroke. Her son took a leave of absence from law school to complete the publishing project and ultimately helped to produce a book that was later named a best seller and attracted worldwide distribution. Additionally, Morgan Browning formally joined the company, leading to more than 600 percent revenue growth. 

While Emergenetics continues to offer the in-person assessments that put its name on the map, the company has also moved its offering online as well as to a mobile app. 


FINALISTS

COPPER DOOR COFFEE ROASTERS

Copper Door Coffee Roasters is the only 100-percent female owned, operated and manged coffee shop in Denver. In 2006, Hannah Ulbrich took the plunge into the industry and by 2013, she took over a neighborhood friend's roasting operation, adding a brick-and-mortar shop at 932 Jersey St. 

To get her business fully up and running, Ulbrich says she leaned on the Denver Metro Chamber's small business programming to research, develop her business plan, marketing strategy and more. She was also connected to nonprofit lender, Accion, who she says, "took a chance on us."

Ulbrich has, in the last five years, morphed into a sought-after thought leader in her industry, seeking to empower women and educate baristas. She is also the chair of the Rocky Mountain Craft Coffee Alliance.

Of her market potential, Ulbrich says, "87 percent of Americans drink coffee." 

Last year, she opened her second storefront, which has the capacity to roast 60 pounds of beans per hour, and in two days, can roast enough to fill orders for an ever-growing list of wholesale customers, including Marczyk Fine Foods, To the Wind Bistro, and more. 

"We're here to serve the community more than a cup of coffee," Ulbrich says.


FRUITREVIVAL

Striving to fuel workplace wellness, FruitRevival delivers fruits, veggies and snack boxes to company offices and hungry customers along the Front Range and beyond.

Twin sisters, Melissa Edison Barnes and Jennifer Zats co-own the company, launched in 2011. Fresh fruit and healthy snacks are hand-selected for every box, and shipped nationwide. 

"People spend the majority of their time at work," Zats says. As health-care costs continue to grow, "FruitRevival impacts employers because employees change habits and make better choices, like picking up and apple versus a bag of chips."

In recent years, FruitRevival has experienced a surge of competition from bigger brands offering similar services, and especially following Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017. Still, last May, the family-run and woman-owned company bought a building that doubled the size of their previous office, storage and distribution space. FruitRevival has cultivated sub-specialties, offering gifts with Colorado artisan products, and branded, personalized corporate gifts. 

Looking forward, the lady leaders intend to expand their marketing and brand awareness campaigns, particularly noting how many people go without access to healthy food. 

When it comes to food waste, the company needs an expedient way to handle produce that is discarded, and so donates unused products to Denver Metro Caring and We Don't Waste. 

"We rescued thousands of pounds of fruit last year," Zatz says.

2018 Business Awards – Women-Minority Owned Business of the Year Finalists from Denver Metro Chamber on Vimeo.