Opening the Tent
Thirteen brand members of Food’NBevCT were onsite October 3rd to showcase their products and meet with our rapidly growing food and beverage community for our “Opening the Tent” event to help strengthen and build out the network.
Over 100 people – from service providers to investors, from distributors to manufacturers – attended to help build upon this entrepreneurial community with the goal of reaching more brands to provide them with the expertise needed to continue their growth.
The evening was co-hosted by Business Council Board Director Tim Brown, President & CEO Americas, Upfield (and former President, Chobani and Nestlé Waters), Rep Caroline Simmons, House Chair of the Commerce Committee and Gary Breitbart, Managing Director, Food’NBevCT, an initiative of The Business Council of Fairfield County.
The Beginning and the Vision
The grassroots initiative, now one-year old, is currently accelerating 15 Connecticut brands with the professional expertise of over two dozen industry advisors and investors. The brands are each growing 35+% per year and are rapidly expanding their distribution in the U.S. and beyond.
Now, as the accelerator looks ahead to year two, Tim Brown, a member of the Food’NBevCT’s Executive Advisory Panel, and Gary Breitbart shared their plans and vision for the next year of growth.
Reflecting on the initiative’s origins, Breitbart early on identified the food and beverage sector as one with growing potential but one, if it were to succeed, needed to connect the individual brands to each other and to the wider community of related professionals.
“We have accomplished this on a grass roots level but to drive real sustainable economic growth we need to increase our investment to build out support for more brands,” Breitbart added. “We couldn’t have got to this stage without the support of our sponsors and advisors.”
Joining Gary on the dais was Rep. Caroline Simmons, who as House Chair of the Commerce Committee, has been an active supporter of the vision of growing and supporting these Connecticut based entrepreneurs.
The Passion and the Community
“This is personal for me,” Tim Brown began. “I owe my life to the food business, and I feel like I have to give back.”
“These people have guts, dedication and talent,” as Brown described the entrepreneurs in the room, “some will make it, some won’t. But they won’t be sorry for trying and we are all better off for supporting them.”
“If we can get this going,” he continued, “we could be looking at supporting 30 companies next year. I go to Boulder, Austin, Nashville. It could be here, but certain things need to happen to make it possible here.”
Brown then identified the three critical ingredients needed from those in attendance – sponsorship, investment and mentorship. By supporting an ecosystem where young talent wants to be, by investing in companies for the future, and by providing the expertise these entrepreneurs need, a community currently boot-strapped can become one that is profitable and one that grows jobs.
“This is an amazing opportunity. I really hope in a couple years they are talking about this at Expo West,” concluded Brown. “But for now I just want to express my gratitude to all of you who came here to participate, to give action, and to advise. Let’s hope we are on to a really big thing.”
