Startup Company

Founder of Proper Cookie Dough leverages social media, Kickstarter to market on shoestring budget

17-Apr-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Advertising on Facebook is about more than spreading the word about a new brand or product, it is also a tool for entrepreneurs to identify their core consumer base, which might not be who they initially thought, according to one entrepreneur who recently...

Investing in the Future of Food: Balance empathy & tension to break free from the ‘giant sea of sameness’

10-Apr-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

While the food and beverage industry is virtually oozing with innovation as entrepreneurs launch category-breaking and -making ideas at a rapid-fire clip, the full potential of many new products and companies is held back by lackluster branding that a...

Finding stevia 'polarizing', beverage brand Petal switches up its sweetener ahead of national retail launch this summer

27-Mar-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Sparkling botanical beverage brand Petal has had a busy first year as the company doubled its product line with three new flavors, underwent a reformulation (swapping out stevia and erythritol for organic agave), and is now primed for national distribution...

Chobani Incubator’s diverse new cohort illustrates new focus to lift up underrepresented entrepreneurs

18-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

“Disheartened” but “not surprised” that so little venture capital currently is invested in startups led by women and minority entrepreneurs, Chobani Incubator’s new program director Zoe Feldman says she wants to more intentionally support founders from...

Investing in the Future of Food: Mars’ new Seeds of Change Accelerator seeks entrepreneurs who share its vision for ‘better food today, better world tomorrow’

13-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Following the lead of many other established food & beverage players, Mars, Incorporated is launching a new accelerator to help early stage food-focused companies fast-track growth in exchange for access to the energy and ground-level market insights...

Investing in the Future of Food: Look beyond the obvious when fundraising, advises Kuli Kuli CEO

06-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

The frequency with which food and beverage startups in the US secure multi-million dollar investments in early fundraising rounds might lead some entrepreneurs to believe earning capital is easy – but the founder of the moringa company Kuli Kuli says...

Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: How is the flood of investment funds reshaping the food & beverage space?

01-Mar-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Whether through multi-million dollar investments in startups or high dollar mergers and acquisitions of larger, established companies, the food and beverage industry currently is being flooded with funding, and with it many opportunities as well as challenges.

Investing in the Future of Food: Unique technology can offer startups protection from competitors

27-Feb-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

As recently as a few years ago, the words food and tech were incongruous together, but today they signal a booming industry that is ripe for innovation, and according to the VP of business development at the Israel-based incubator The Kitchen, the combination...

Equity crowdfunding offers a way to raise funds without compromising values

31-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Conventional investors focused on the bottom-line or high returns may not be a good fit for small companies that are unwilling to compromise their values to increase their margins – but that doesn’t mean mission-based businesses are limited to bootstrapping,...

Investing in the Future of Food: Saying no and letting go enabled I Heart Keenwah to say yes to better opportunities

30-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

Many entrepreneurs describe their startup as their baby, but just like parents they need to learn to say no sometimes and to let go – lessons that the founders of I Heart Keenwah learned early.

Investing in the Future of Food: Measure velocity – not doors – to determine early success

23-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

With new players entering the food and beverage space daily, entrepreneurs at startups may feel pressured to stake out their shelf space in as many stores as they can as quickly as possible – but this can be a recipe for disaster.

C.A. Fortune and JB Chicago converge to help level up early-stage brands: ‘The whole path to market has changed’

15-Jan-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

The road from startup to category leader is not for the faint of heart, and there are few end-to-end resources available to an emerging brand that can guide food entrepreneurs on branding and packaging all the way through to sales and marketing strategy.

Free-from claims are out, clean label & transparency are in, says founder of Blake’s Seed Based

07-Jan-2019 By Elizabeth Crawford

While clean label remains a top-priority for consumers, the litany of associated free-from claims that have dominated marketing the past few years are not, suggests the founder of allergen-friendly snack startup Blake’s Seed Based.

Brooklyn Bites cookie brittle seeks to forge path to national distribution: ‘I want to be a brand to the world’

02-Jan-2019 By Mary Ellen Shoup

Since launching last October, Brooklyn Bites gluten- and dairy-free cookie brittle has gained distribution in 600 stores with the goal of becoming a national brand, co-founder Barbara Dayan shared.

Investing in the Future of Food: Chobani helps startups navigate food safety, picking partners and more

12-Dec-2018 By Elizabeth Crawford

Earlier this week, Chobani put out an open call for “big-hearted food and beverage startups” that make delicious, nutritious, natural and affordable food to help it “take on the broken food system” by participating in the fifth cohort of its highly competitive...