At 9, He Sold His Mom's Mustard To Pay For A Football Game. Now It Won $3,000.

Some kids save birthday money for a big goal. In 2014, a 9-year-old named Alex Del Vecchio made a different plan.

Alex wanted to go to a Denver Broncos game. His parents agreed on one condition: he had to pay for the trip himself.

So Alex picked up a hot mustard recipe from his mom, Beth, and started selling jars at local farmers markets in Northeast Iowa. People kept buying. He made it to the game. And according to the company's website, he went on to sell thousands of jars.

Twelve years later, that same mustard has a new name, Big Al's Hot Mustard. On September 29, 2026, Alex, now a student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, won the $3,000 Emerging Entrepreneur prize at 865 Fest, a startup event in Knoxville.

"This is a brand," he told the judges. "This isn't just a business or limited to one product. This is 12 years in the making."

Here is what young cooks and builders can learn from his story.

Alex did not start a business because he wanted to be a CEO. He started one because he wanted to see a football game.

That is a great way to begin. A clear goal does three things:

• It tells you how much you need. A ticket, travel, and food add up to a number. Now you know your target.
• It keeps you going. On a slow day at the market, you remember why you are there.
• It tells you when you have won. Hitting the goal is a real finish line you can celebrate.

His parents' deal was smart too. They did not just hand him the money. They let him earn it, which turned a wish into a project.

If you have a goal in mind, write it at the top of a page. Then write the total cost underneath. That number is your first business target. If you want help breaking it into smaller steps, the kids section on Foundra has planning guides you can work through with a parent.

Alex did not invent his first product. He started with something his family already made well.

That is common for food businesses. A grandparent's cookies, a parent's salsa, or a family barbecue rub can become a product if people outside your family love it too.

Inside of Knoxville reported that Alex's mom had a mustard recipe people kept asking for. That is an important clue. When friends and neighbors keep asking for something, you might have a product.

Today the company honors the family in its product names. There is Big B's Gluten-Free Hot Mustard, named for his mom, and Big D's Sweet Heat, named for his older brother, Richard.

A tip if you try this: ask permission before turning a family recipe into a business. It belongs to your family, not just to you. Your relatives may also be your best helpers and taste testers.

Selling homemade food is a little different from selling bracelets or art. Food can make people sick if it is not made and stored the right way, so every state has rules.

These are often called cottage food laws. According to the Institute for Justice, a group that tracks these laws in all 50 states:

• Every state allows homemade food to be sold directly to customers at farmers markets.
• But only 26 states allow homemade pickles and other acidified foods, which can include some sauces.
• Some states limit what you can sell to an approved list.
• Nineteen states require recipe approval or lab testing for at least some homemade products.
• Some cities and counties add their own rules on top of state rules.

That means a recipe that is fine to sell in one state might need testing or a permit in another.

Safety rule: before you sell any food, have a parent or guardian look up your state's rules, handle any permits, and help you label your jars with ingredients. Never skip this step. Even Big Al's now makes its products in a rental kitchen, not at home.

Here is a part of the story many people miss. Alex's business did not grow in a straight line.

According to the company's website, "life paused the business for a few years." Alex grew up. He went to school. He found other interests. At 16, he started going to the gym and lost 60 pounds in eight months.

Then, in 2025, he teamed up with his older brother, Richard Heveron, to relaunch the old idea with a fresh look. The original name, Alex's Hot Mustard, became Big Al's Hot Mustard. They added new flavors and focused on low-calorie sauces.

The lesson: a kid business does not have to last forever to count. You can stop, learn, grow up, and come back with new skills. Everything you learned the first time still helps.

If you had a lemonade stand, a bracelet shop, or a bake sale that you stopped, it is not a failure. It might be chapter one.

The relaunched company has grown quickly. Teknovation, a Knoxville business news site, reported these numbers from Alex's pitch:

• More than $30,000 in online sales over 16 months.
• Online ads that drew more than 100,000 views in a single month.
• Plans to move from a rental kitchen to a co-packer, which is a company that makes food products for other brands in a professional facility.
• Possible test trials at Food City, a grocery chain in the Southeast.
• Ideas for new products like a low-calorie ranch and other dips.

Alex said the $3,000 prize will help pay for packaging and move toward outsourcing production.

He also has fans who help. Inside of Knoxville reported that local entrepreneur Brandon Bruce buys the mustard by the case and handed out a couple hundred jars at a conference in Nashville. Happy customers who tell their friends are one of the best things a small business can have.

Pitching to 250 people sounds scary. Alex had a trick.

"I just pictured like I was going on stage again and making a show for them," he told Inside of Knoxville. He used to do theater.

You can borrow that idea. A pitch is a short story with three parts:

1. The beginning: how you got started. Alex opens with being 9 and wanting to see the Broncos.
2. The middle: what you sell and why people love it.
3. The end: what you will do next and what you need.

Practice your pitch out loud for your family. Time it. Most kid pitch events give you one to three minutes.

His parents also drove more than 12 hours to watch him pitch and helped make hundreds of jars. "It's one thing to talk on the phone," Alex said. "It's another thing for them to see it."

Want to try a mini version of Alex's first business? Make a goal jar plan with a parent.

Here is a made-up example to practice the math. These are not Big Al's real prices or costs.

• Goal: a concert ticket that costs $60.
• Product: homemade granola in small bags.
• Cost per bag: $1.50 for ingredients and packaging.
• Price per bag: $5.
• Profit per bag: $5 minus $1.50 = $3.50.
• Bags needed: $60 divided by $3.50 is about 17.1, so you need to sell 18 bags.

Now plan how and where you will sell those 18 bags. Write it on a jar and add a tally mark for each sale.

Before you start, have your adult check your state's food rules, as covered above.

Who started Big Al's Hot Mustard? Alex Del Vecchio started selling his mom's hot mustard recipe at age 9 in 2014. He relaunched the business in 2025 with his older brother, Richard Heveron.

What did Big Al's win? It won the $3,000 Emerging Entrepreneur Pitch Competition at 865 Fest in Knoxville, Tennessee, on September 29, 2026.

Can kids sell homemade food? Often yes, but the rules depend on your state and sometimes your city. Every state allows some homemade food at farmers markets. A parent or guardian should check the rules and handle any permits.

What is a co-packer? A co-packer is a company that makes and packages food for other brands in a professional kitchen or factory.

Is it okay to stop a kid business and restart it later? Yes. Alex paused his business for years and came back with new skills and a new brand.

1. Bold flavor, big prize: Big Al's Hot Mustard wins 865 Fest Emerging Entrepreneur Pitch Competition, Teknovation.biz, September 29, 2026
2. Hot Mustard to High Tech: A Vicarious Report from 865 Fest, Inside of Knoxville, October 2, 2026
3. Meet the Founders, Big Al's Hot Mustard
4. Food Freedom: Homemade Food Laws, Institute for Justice