Lincoln aronia berry company wins $2,000 at REV Pitch

A Lincoln, Neb., food company that makes products from aronia berries, a fruit grown largely in Iowa and Nebraska, won $2,000 at REV Pitch 2026 on Nov. 5 at PACE’s Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center. Xiaoqing Xie, co-founder of A+ Berry, said the money will help the company grow demand for a crop most people in the Midwest have never heard of. “We have a local, homegrown super fruit,” Xie said. “People should know that.”

Cindy Estrada of Típico Helado, the ice cream shop at 157 W. Broadway, won the competition’s top prize of $10,000. Janna Selander of J Selander Media, a Glenwood photography company, won $9,500.

The aronia berry, also called chokeberry, is native to North America and very high in antioxidants. Its bitter taste has kept it from catching on with consumers. Xie and her husband, Changmou Xu, are food scientists at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and they developed a patented process to remove the bitterness while keeping the berry’s health benefits. “It’s not because our product is healthier,” Xie said. “It’s because our product is healthier and tasty.” The company, founded in 2021, sells aronia juice, powder and concentrate. The university’s technology commercialization office named it its 2025 startup company of the year.

Xie said Iowa is the leading state for aronia production, followed by Nebraska. Many Midwest farmers who mainly raise corn and soybeans grow small plots of the berries, she said, and stronger demand could make the crop more profitable for them. The company sells to stores and food service businesses and offers samples at farmers markets. Xie said many older customers remember the fruit once they taste it. “That reminds me of my grandma’s chokeberry pie,” she said customers often tell her.

A+ Berry recently received support from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services and the Nebraska Department of Education to provide aronia products to schoolchildren, Xie said. She said she entered REV hoping to start a similar effort in Iowa, especially for children in rural schools. “This is an opportunity to position Iowa not only in growing aronia berry, but in building the stronger, sustainable market for aronia berry,” she said.