Shelf Reliance: A Top Utah Entrepreneur
“A community of entrepreneurs is a powerful force that can transform economies, address large, complex problems, drive innovation, and improve our communities.” These words from Dave Jolly, Director of the Entrepreneur of the Year award program, explain why Ernst & Young puts so much time and energy into finding and recognizing top entrepreneurs each year in every region of the United States and 50 other countries worldwide. Shelf Reliance is proud to belong to the community Jolly speaks of as an Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 finalist for the Utah region.
Steve Palmer and Jason Budge, founders of Shelf Reliance, were among 25 finalists who competed in the categories of Distribution & Manufacturing, Health Care Services, Hospitality & Services, Nutrition Innovation, Real Estate, Retail & Consumer Products, Social Entrepreneurship, and Technology. At an awards gala at the Grand American Hotel in Salt Lake City on June 7th, Jason and Steve were recognized in the Nutrition Innovation category for the success of Shelf Reliance, which they founded in 2004 and helped to grow exponentially and expand globally over the last 8 years. A short filmed interview with Steve and Jason was shown at the gala to recognize their entrepreneurial efforts in the food storage industry, where Shelf Reliance has transformed the stigma of unappetizing foods bought solely to store until they expire into an entire self-reliant, thriving lifestyle where the long-lasting foods you store are healthy, convenient, and delicious enough to eat every day.
Through this award, Ernst & Young “recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance, and personal commitment to their businesses and communities . . . and celebrates those who are building and leading successful, growing, and dynamic businesses.” The entrepreneurial ideals of innovation are apparent in Shelf Reliance’s line of premium THRIVE foods, its original Food Rotation Systems that store, organize, and rotate canned foods, and its Q program that allows people to build and customize their own food plans that ship THRIVE foods to them each month at a budget they select.
The greatest entrepreneurs have a vision that expands far beyond merely selling products, and Shelf Reliance is no exception. Steve and Jason set out to help people all over the world to achieve self-reliant lifestyles, and Shelf Reliance has facilitated this with a business model that allows independent consultants to become self-reliant by earning an income and building up their Home Store at their own pace and on their own schedule. Shelf Reliance focuses not only on creating a relationship with the customer, but on building an entire community of consultants and customers that trust and rely upon each other professionally and interact socially as they continue on the path toward a thriving life.
Shelf Reliance is committed to giving back to the community as well, and to those in need all over the world. Thriving Nations, Shelf Reliance’s corporate charity, uses 5% of THRIVE profits to provide for families who don’t have the means to become self-reliant and to educate poverty-stricken families in third world countries on principles of agricultural and economic self-reliance so that they and generations to come will be able to provide for themselves in the future.
The other finalists recognized by Ernst and Young displayed the same desire to change lives through high quality products, unbeatable service, and sky’s-the-limit vision. Ernst and Young recognized companies in industries ranging from healthcare to real estate to food services to non-profit, illustrating the fact that innovation can come from anywhere and revolutionize any field. For more information, see our press release, and see Ernst and Young for the list of finalists for the Utah region.
