A percentage of sales from Spinning Wheel Brands' Mozaics chips funds scholarships at Chicago Mosaic School

Article by Crain's Chicago Business

By the end of this year, a line of snack chips called Mozaics is expected to generate enough sales to fund scholarships for 16 students at Chicago Mosaic School, the only professional mosaic school in the country. It's based in Edgewater, as is Spinning Wheel Brands, the creator of Mozaics. Eventually a portion of sales from all Spinning Wheel brands will benefit nonprofits, says Julia Stamberger, the company's CEO and co-founder.

Mozaics, which come in five varieties, has bits of vegetables embedded in each chip, making them look like tiny mosaics. And Anne Curley, the late wife of Spinning Wheel co-founder James Curley, was a mosaic artist; those two facts made the school a natural recipient of the chip brand's fundraising. The chips are available at Hudson newsstands, Target, Freshii fast-casual restaurants and other locations. The 3.5-ounce bag sells for $3.99. By the end of this year, Stamberger expects sales of $5 million; a donation of 0.5 percent (about 2 cents a bag) will fund introductory classes and materials for 16 Chicago Mosaic School students. 

Up next: Finding appropriate nonprofit partners for Spinning Wheel's other brands, all of which are focused on nutrition and taste and are gluten-free, and where possible, vegan and kosher, Stamberger says. Those brands include Hope & Sesame, a line of sesame-seed-based milks that will launch this quarter; Handfulls, which are nut-based snacks and trail mixes; and Copious Brands, a line of individual-portion packed shelf-stable hummus, olives and other Mediterranean-influenced snacks.

Stamberger and her co-founders launched Spinning Wheel in 2016, bootstrapping the startup and then assembling a team of investors, most of whom are Chicago-based.