What We Do for
Emerging Brands
You have an idea for a new food or beverage entry, people seem to like your recipe and deem it “unique”, you start selling to a few local stores or at a food market on the weekends…you can feel success is imminent…but is it? You are not a food expert and haven’t tried to reach for broader distribution or out to a direct community on your website or other marketplaces. Is your packaging compliant, is your brand story compelling and communicated, where can you find a good co-packer and how can you strike a fair agreement? How much funding will I need and how do I connect with the best sources in my category?
This is what the cluster is here to help you with…we call it acceleration…it leads to a faster sales ramp and broader distribution, with affordable margins and sustained growth. It can also lead to better pivots when a concept isn’t achieving plan, by helping you work with a network of mentors, experts and current CPG, grocery and food service executives who can track your progress and extend a hand when needed – that’s our Cluster Community.
What We Do for Leading Edge, Established Brands
Product development is a tough business…reading trends, doing the research, getting the concept right, and testing…internal processes take time and capital and only “large” initial ideas often make it through the screen. But food and beverage sectors are continuing to fragment and small, niche brands often point the way, at a lower investment, to the big emerging markets. Large brand companies need to stay in touch with the innovation layer and must also learn how to work with entrepreneurs and small companies in the best ways. Food’NBev Connect offers these companies a local presence in an emerging and prominent food scene that has produced results and large brands over the years…peer networking to discuss trends and innovation are also helpful to keep internal processes sharp and collaboration is often needed to make new concepts blow into the market successfully. Staff can also learn to engage the entrepreneurs and this offers a development opportunity for emerging leaders. Food’NBev Connect provides this access and peer networking opportunities without lots of needed staffing or investment.
Featured Cluster Successes
Food’NBev Connect is a new step forward for our Northeast based brands. We regularly help our brand members solve both tactical and strategic issues, leading to accelerated growth and efficiency. Here are some successes we have aided along the way: