Winners Announced for the 2022 Spark Bowl Competition

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Liquid Limbs and their student business consultants line up for a photo holding giant checks.
Credit: Delaware Valley University. Liquid Limbs won first place.

The top three small businesses received checks to support their ideas at a “Shark-Tank”- like competition in Bucks County on November 17.

Spark Bowl, a “shark-tank” - like competition, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, brought small businesses together to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges on Thursday, November 17. The competition awarded a total of $21,000 dollars in prize money to three small businesses in DelVal’s Life Sciences Building auditorium. During the competition, each business was given five minutes to pitch to a panel of judges, and 10 minutes to answer questions from the judges.

As part of DelVal's experiential learning program, DelVal undergraduate students served as business consultants for the finalist teams by helping the businesses prepare their presentations, and were awarded prize money for their efforts as well. Three student teams received a total of $6,000 in prize money.

“Student teams work with the finalists by doing market analyses, helping them with their business plans, making sure that they're effective in how they present, and in some cases, they might look into the patent process,” said Dr. Tanya Casas, dean of DelVal’s School of Business and Humanities. “Getting that hands-on experience working with the businesses and researching a particular industry is really exciting for the students.”

Spark Bowl is hosted by the University and the Central Bucks Chamber of Commerce and is possible because of sponsorships from Bucks County businesses and individuals. The five competing businesses represented the following industries: animal nutrition, education, prosthetics and mobility aids, job training for individuals with varying abilities, and public safety.

The top business, Liquid Limbs, received $12,000 and the top student consultant team received $3,000. Prizes were also awarded to the second-and third-place teams in both categories.

Liquid Limb’s first product, The Navigator, is a patent pending waterproof mobility aid designed specifically to help people with transtibial amputation navigate the shower independently. Liquid Limbs works with a group called Salute to Service in Newtown, PA, where they have a dedicated workspace, working with military veterans who lost a limb fighting for our country.

“This is really changing the game for us because we have a lot of expenses that we need to meet,” said James Calcagni, Founder and CEO of Liquid Limbs. “This is enabling us to bring this product to market and create more units, so we can get them in the hands of amputees, have people try the device, and give us the feedback so we can get to a finalized design to essentially launch the product next year.”

Business Prizes

  • $12,000, First Prize, Liquid Limbs (James Calcagni and Amoyah Gilliam)
  • $6,000, Second Prize, Saint Rocco’s Treats (Kolby and Kaleb Rush)
  • $3,000, Third Prize, Bake Ability Bakery (Paula Fasciano and Denise Campbell)

Student Consultant Prizes

  • $3,000, First Prize, Liquid Limbs, Bridgette Schoultz, Lysette Eloi, Julia Lorenz (Advisor Michael Wojcik)
  • $2,000, Second Prize, Saint Rocco’s Treats, Elizabeth Goetz, Zachary Wasser (Advisor Lyndsay Williams)   
  • $1,000, Third Prize, Bake Ability Bakery, Joseph Musa, Ryan Wiggins (Advisor Dom Boffa) 

Saint Rocco’s Treats, Spark Bowl’s second-place winner, is a dog treat company that aims to foster transparency and quality in the dog treat and food market by baking treats and small batches of food within transparent, live, gourmet dog kitchens. Customers can view the process from Raw ingredients to finished products. Saint Rocco’s Treats are Jerky-style, high protein, including just five human-grade ingredients with no chemical preservatives, and no fillers or by-products.  

Bake Ability, Spark Bowl’s third-place winner, is a bakery in Holicong, PA, that provides the local marketplace with creative and freshly-baked confectionary products and serves the local community of differently-abled children in obtaining the necessary experiential job skills required for transitioning into the workforce.

The 2022 lead event sponsors were: Michael Araten, of Sterling Ventures; Susan Lonergan, of Fulton Bank; DelVal Former Trustee William Schutt; DelVal Trustee Kate Littlefield; the YMCA of Bucks and Hunterdon Counties and Robert and Pamela Byers. The Bucks County Herald is the official media sponsor of the 2022 Spark Bowl.

 

 

Kaleb and Kolby Rush, founders of Saint Roccos Treats hold a giant check on stage.
Credit: Delaware Valley University. Saint Rocco's Treats won second place.
Credit: Delaware Valley University. Bake Ability Bakery won third place.
Credit: Delaware Valley University. Bake Ability Bakery won third place.