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Just like mom would like, Frontier Soups founder continues to be resourceful

When Trisha Anderson of Lake Forest thinks about soup, she thinks of her mother, Jane Clarke of Evanston.

Anderson is founder and president of Waukegan-based Frontier Soups, and she credits her mom as her inspiration, she said.

"She was always resourceful in the kitchen," Anderson said of Clarke. "She would know what meal could be pulled together quickly with just the materials she found in her cupboard."

Anderson remembered her 94-year-old mother just as Frontier Soups recently introduced West Coast Kale and Quinoa Vegetable soup mixes, which are vegetarian and gluten free. They are among the company's 34 varieties of all natural, no-added salt or preservatives or MSG soups, stews, chilies and chowders. They can be found at Whole Foods, Great Harvest Bread Company, Omaha Steak stores and other retailers.

Clarke was part of that Depression-era generation that knew about resourcefulness. They may not necessarily be gourmet cooks. But they knew how to cook good meals that were often prepared with recipes that were cut out of magazines, Anderson said.

"I always found it was fun to be in the kitchen with her," Anderson added.

Her mother also gave her some good advice: "Always follow your interests."

She took that advice after she majored in English in college, then married and raised three children. She drew on all of her mother's resourcefulness in the kitchen and even took some cooking classes. That's when she discovered how much she really enjoyed cooking herself, Anderson said.

Anderson became a cooking instructor and a caterer. Her company started after she helped a friend, who was organizing a holiday market. Anderson sold out her product, a bean soup mix, at that holiday market. She then took her products on the road to other such events in 1986, and it then became Frontier Soups.

"We were looking at something that was like the casserole of the 1950s, something that offers the home cook a short cut to homemade soup," she said.

Her product line continues to grow and she is developing some rice mixes that may be added possibly as private label products next year and under their own label in 2016, she said.

Now, she has her son Matthew Anderson of Wilmette a part of her team, and the company continues to grow. They are looking for a larger headquarters as well, she said.

"We just love paying attention to what's going on in the market," she said.

The next Zuckerberg? Jobs?

Two suburban natives will be part of the Entrepreneurs' Organization's Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Wednesday in downtown Chicago. Dan Stanek, a senior at the University of Chicago, is the founder of Castle Party Rentals, a special events company offering a range of rental products and event production. He was born in Arlington Heights, raised in West Chicago, and since high school has lived in St. Charles. His business warehouse is in St. Charles and two other facilities are in Elgin. And Kaeya Majmundar, a senior at Emory University and an Oak Brook native, said she had a bad experience after her freshman year moving, which led her to invent the Bzbox, a collapsible, assembly-free storage box. She pitched her product on the season finale of ABC's "Shark Tank" and is now in the process of aligning with local/national retailers. Since 1987, GSEA has recognized top student entrepreneurs from around the world. These students run profitable businesses while still in school. This annual competition is not based off business plans, but rather the stability of their business and what they are doing. The winner will receive $20,000 for their business and the title of Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year.

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• There's more to business than just the bottom line. We want to tell you about the people that make business work. Send news about people in business to akukec@dailyherald.com. Follow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter.

Dan Stanek
Kaeya Majmundar
Ed Pitula
COURTESY OF ZENGELER CLEANERSIcela Chavez, from left, Tom Zengeler and Fernanda Estella.
Mark Shults
Jai Jung Nho
Srikanth Davuluri
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