Yanni Hufnagel
Yanni Hufnagel is the founder and CEO of Lemon Perfect, an organic and natural company that specializes in making frosting and confetti cake mixes for the home baker. As a limoncello and lemon extract specialist, Yanni has competed in tasting contests worldwide, including Rockefeller Centre, Italy; Montreal; England. Yanni Hufnagel is also a contributor to The New York Times and has been profiled on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “StarTalk” show.
Hufnagel was born on January 8, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Jewish family. Hufnagel grew up in Braintree and Westwood, Massachusetts. He played basketball as a center for his local high school team during his first year. In 2002, during his sophomore year of high school, at age 15, he was discovered by former NBA player Jim Sweeney while playing at an AAU tournament in Orlando, Florida. He began playing AAU basketball for the Sweeney’s-based Boston Amateur Basketball Club (BBBC) AAU program. Reebok and Adidas sponsor BBBC. Hufnagel played for the BBBC for four years and won the 2005 Adidas Big Time Tournament Championship in Las Vegas.
Hufnagel started the Atlanta-based company in 2017 after a career as a college basketball player for the University of Dayton Flyers, where he was named Big East Rookie of the Year. He graduated from high school in 2003 and was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in the second round of the 2003 NBA Draft. He played thirteen games with the Hawks during the 2004–2005 season before moving to Europe to play. In 2007, Hufnagel signed a one-year deal with Emporio Armani Milano and played with them during the NBA lockout for two months before signing with Virtus Bologna for the rest of the season. With Virtus Bologna, he won a Lega Basket Serie.
Today, Lemon Perfect is in direct competition with drinks like Bai and H20, which offers lemon-flavored sparkling water. The two plans to expand into other goods with their frosting and cake mixes from the lemon theme, such as a cake with tahini-lemon buttercream and an edible image of a lemon tart.
Yanni Hufnagel is one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. His lemon theme has been a great success and will continue to grow. Hufnagel started Lemon Perfect in 2017, going from selling lemon-themed frosting and cake mix for the home baker to making an edible image for a lemon tart.