Michele Hoskins

Biography

About Michele

Michele Hoskins turned a 100-year-old family three-ingredient recipe into a multi-million-dollar business — Michele Foods — whose specialty breakfast syrups now grace the shelves of more than 8,000 stores nationwide.

In the early 1980s, a single mother of three with limited startup capital, she sold her possessions, moved her family into her mother's attic, and began hand-filling syrup bottles from a 55-gallon drum in the basement. Within a year she'd secured Chicago's two largest retail chains — and went on to become the first minority supplier for both Denny's and Wal-Mart, with collaborations including General Mills and Sara Lee.

Her story has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show (three times), CNBC's The Big Idea, CNN, BET, and in Fortune, People, Black Enterprise, Ebony, and Essence. She holds the 2002 Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Women Foodservice Forum, the Madam Walker Entrepreneurial Award, and an honorary doctorate from Johnson & Wales University.

Through her 'From Recipe to Retail' mentoring program she has helped 100+ entrepreneurs launch products in retail chains across the country.