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October 23, 2019

Food business accelerator aims to help culinary entrepreneurs

PHOTO | PIxabay.com
By Michelle Tuccitto Sullo

Do you dream of turning your love for baking into a business — like a cupcake truck?  Does your holiday cooking earn rave reviews and you want to start your own catering business? 

Help is available to turn your ideas into a thriving enterprise.

CitySeed and Collab are now accepting applications for the upcoming Food Business Accelerator, which aims to assist early-stage food entrepreneurs around Connecticut.

"Our goal is for these early-stage ventures to be equipped with the resources, confidence, and skills to take their venture to the next level," said Caroline Smith, co-director of Collab. "By the end of the program, success would look like them selling their first product, creating a prototype, or receiving funding for their next steps — and, overall, leaving feeling more hopeful and connected than they did to start."

Food entrepreneurs who have recently launched, or are about to launch, are welcome to apply. It can be any food-related business, such as a food product line, ice cream shop, restaurant or catering company, for example. 

Entrepreneurs accepted into the program receive seed funding, a mentor, coaching, SafeServe training and certification, and the use of free kitchen space. They’ll also get to sell at CitySeed farmers markets to test their products and solicit feedback from  customers. Finally, they will have the chance to pitch their products to investors and the community. 

To ensure there are no obstacles for budding entrepreneurs, participants can get additional help with child care, transportation and language translation services.

The goal of the Food Business Accelerator is to help food entrepreneurs achieve success by providing them with training, network-building and access to resources.

To learn more about the program, attend an information session on Tuesday, Oct. 29 at 6 p.m. at the Ives Branch of the New Haven Public Library in the Program Room.

The non-profit CitySeed works to provide New Haven residents with access to food that is both fresh and local. Collab New Haven was formed in 2017 and works to help budding businesses, with a focus on nurturing entrepreneurship among people of color, women and immigrants.

More information is also available on CitySeed’s website, here. 

 

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