When it comes to retail, consumers have spoken and made it clear that they value experience.  In the food and beverage space, they also value authenticity, along with buying fresher, healthier and foods made with simpler recipes.

Rep. Caroline Simmons, Sanj Rai, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Stamford Hotel and Gary Breitbart, Food’nBev Connect Managing Director

While partnerships between larger grocers and locally based food-preneurs have elevated the presence of the local food movement, an untapped point of purchase in our region is the hospitality market.

For Food’NBev Connect, an initiative of The Business Council of Fairfield County, the idea of bringing local, growing brands into area restaurants, convenience shops and courtesy bars of our area’s hotels just seemed natural.  And starting in March, the Crowne Plaza Stamford Hotel is launching the region’s first pilot of a go local, go fresh, go healthy initiative.

Partnering to Expand Choices and Increase Brand Awareness

Food’NBev Connect is a food and beverage accelerator headquartered in Stamford, CT.  They are helping local brands scale by building a community of advisors, investors and peer food and beverage entrepreneurs from across Connecticut to grow their businesses both locally and nationally. One channel that had not been exploited was hospitality and the initiative’s Managing Director, Gary Breitbart, saw a great way to build sales and brand awareness for Connecticut brands by ensuring the thousands of tourists and business travelers to the region got a chance to experience local products in their hotels.

“We are currently tracking close to 60 Connecticut based brands and are working directly with a dozen of them” said Breitbart. “The consumer demand for food prepared with fresh, simple ingredients coupled with a growing number of non-traditional selling channels, presents a huge growth opportunity for these businesses.  Making that opportunity sustainable is our goal.”

Gary approached and found an enthusiastic partner in Sanj Rai, General Manager, Crowne Plaza Stamford Hotel and they have jointly developed the new initiative to help put the Connecticut food and beverage community on the map.

Connecticut Made

Launched at the end of February, the hotel now offers 15 local food and beverage products under the ‘Connecticut Made’ banner. Included on the menu are healthy snacks, vegetarian entrees and sweets represented by Norwalk’s Kelly’s Four Plus granola, Hamden’s Maia Yogurt, New Haven’s Eat Plentiful vegetarian entrees, Newtown’s MuscleUp Bars and ready to eat cookie dough from Weston’s Unbakeables. Visitors can refresh with Danbury-based Cross Culture Kombucha, cold brew from Rise Brewing Co. (Stamford), Virgil’s handcrafted sodas (Norwalk) and craft beer from Stamford-based Half Full Brewery, Stratford-based Two Roads Brewing and Danbury-based Charter Oak Brewing Co.

“We welcome over 130,000 guests a year to Stamford and we want to provide each with a unique and enjoyable visit,” commented Crowne Plaza’s Rai. “Knowing we can offer a quality product sourced locally makes us stand out in our guests’ experience. Plus, we just think celebrating our local economy makes sense.”

“Crowne Plaza’s commitment to these businesses has been one of many accomplishments in our first quarter of activity,” said Breitbart. “Now it’s time for our second course.”

About Food’NBev Connect

Food’NBev Connect is an economic development organization whose mission is to nurture and grow start-up and scaling natural product companies and promote Connecticut and Fairfield County as a key epicenter of the natural products movement. Our goal is to connect our vast resources to make it easier for start-ups to access talent, funding and advice without having to re-create the wheel and to make entrepreneurs aware that this is a great place to start and grow their concepts.

The Business Council of Fairfield County

The Business Council of Fairfield County is a member-driven organization, providing a wide range of services to Fairfield County based firms, including legislative advocacy, economic development initiatives, networking programs, leadership training and more.  Founded in 1916, The Business Council leads private sector efforts to shape a prosperous, equitable, sustainable future for our region.  Our work is driven by data, research and best practice exchange.  We develop practical, bipartisan solutions to critical issues and provide a framework for business action to achieve high performing infrastructure, a competitive talent pool, a vibrant innovation ecosystem, and resilient communities. Member teams serve as platforms for business relationship development and individual professional learning.

About Crowne Plaza Stamford Hotel

Crowne Plaza Stamford boasts 355 guest rooms containing 23 spacious suites and over 30,000 sq. ft. of meeting space. We are ‘The Place to Meet’ due to our proximity to several major corporations, highways, airports, Metro-North and Amtrak Rail service. Crowne Plaza Stamford is perfectly suited for leisure and business travel and feature well-appointed new furnishings, comfortable beds, flat panel TV’s, complimentary Wi-Fi access and downtown shuttle service. With capacity for over 1600 guests, Crowne Plaza Stamford is ideal for hosting all types of events, ranging from day meetings to conventions to galas and social events. Guests are assured a pleasant night’s rest with our Sleep Advantage Program – a holistic approach to better night’s sleep that includes relaxing new beds, Quiet Zones, sleep amenities and a guaranteed wake up call. We are situated near many opportunities for team building, such as the E. Gaynor Brennan Golf Course, Stamford Twin Rinks, Terry Connors Ice Rink, Chelsea Piers, Sterling Farms Golf Course, and Pinot’s Palette just to name a few. Downtown Stamford features the Palace Theatre and many fine dining options, all of which are within a short drive or shuttle from the hotel.