It’s not easy being a food innovator. There’s no road map for reinventing an industry.

That’s why we’ve teamed up with ForceBrands to celebrate failure in all its glory at Fail Friday (on a Thursday). Join us to hear stories of failure and lessons learned from top food entrepreneurs.

We will also have food from emerging brands Mademeals, Partake Foods, Brooklyn Delhi, Yumi, New York Shuk, Square Roots, Sanzo, Luke’s Lobster and Raaka Chocolate as well as festive cocktails from Pomp & Whimsy.

SCHEDULE:
6:30 – 7:30: Networking, Snacks & Drinks
7:30 – 8:30: Failure Stories & Q&A
8:30 – 9:30: More Networking

SPEAKERS:
Erin Patinkin, Co-Founder, Ovenly; Executive Producer & Co-Host, Start to Sale
Erin Patinkin is the co-founder of the award-winning bakery Ovenly and executive producer & co-host of Start to Sale on Vox. She has been recognized as one of the most “badass women” in food by Zagat and Thrillist and as “one to watch” by Conde Nast, among other accolades. Erin speaks about her work at national events, and her writing has been featured in Lucky Peach, Vice, Cherry Bombe, and in her cookbook, Ovenly: Sweet & Salty Treats from New York’s Most Creative Bakery. She has appeared in on Good Morning America, The Chew, Unique Sweets, and in Eater, Bon Appetit, Inc, Food & Wine, The New York Times.

Ben Conniff, President, Luke’s Lobster
Ben Conniff is co-founder of Luke’s Lobster, a Maine-bred lobster shack with over 30 locations across 9 US cities and internationally in Japan and Taiwan. Luke’s controls their catch all the way from the docks to the plate, meticulously preparing and handling every claw, knuckle, and tail to make the world’s best-tasting lobster roll. Ben is also the author of Real Maine Food, and has written for Saveur, GQ, Tasting Table, and more. He was named to the Inc. and Zagat “30 Under 30” lists and serves as an advisor to restaurant, fishery, and agriculture businesses. He splits his time between Brooklyn, NY, and Portland, ME.

Chitra Agrawal, Founder, Brooklyn Delhi
Starting in Brooklyn, Chitra has been cooking, teaching and writing about food inspired by her family’s recipes from India for ten years. She co-founded Brooklyn Delhi with her husband Ben Garthus in 2014 to bring the flavors she was creating to a wider audience. Chitra is the author of Vibrant India: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Brooklyn (Penguin, 2017). Prior to Brooklyn Delhi, Chitra held marketing roles at American Express and DDB and completed her MBA at NYU Stern. Brooklyn Delhi’s award-winning condiments can be found in Whole Foods nationwide and in Blue Apron meal kits and have been featured by food critics at the NY Times, Saveur, Food & Wine and more.

Dr. Nicola Nice, Founder & CEO, Pomp & Whimsy
Dr. Nicola Nice is a sociology PHD, researcher and brand consultant. She launched Pomp & Whimsy to take back the role of women as cocktail innovators overlooked by history. For Victorian women, who were the chief home distillers and recipe makers at the time, the infusion of additional fruits or botanicals into gin made for a richer sipping spirit. With Pomp & Whimsy, we set out to breathe new life into this long forgotten tradition, while simultaneously updating it for a modern palate. Bringing fancy, modernity, and dare we say it, even a touch of femininity, to this stuffy, old world spirit.

PARTNERS:

ForceBrands is the leading specialized recruiting firm for the consumer products industry — we build the teams that build the brands. Our industry-specific divisions BevForce, FoodForce, BeautyForce, and HerbForce offer executive search services, board of director assembly, and a digital job board to connect directly to qualified candidates.

We are ‘people for a hire purpose’ and strive to transform the way consumer product professionals of all levels identify employment opportunities and employers are connected to world-class talent. Go HIRE with ForceBrands.

Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects. We are an independent, founder-controlled company of 132 people working together in an old pencil factory in New York City. Over 10 million people, from every continent on earth, have backed a Kickstarter project from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology.

The Brooklyn Brewery is made up of a rich collection of characters from all over the world. In our Williamsburg home, these characters are dedicated to brewing and selling great beer and enriching the communities we serve. Together, these Brooklyners have assembled the skills needed to transform a home brewing hobby into an independent brewery with a brand that has become an international beacon for good beer.

The post Join us at Fail Friday (on a Thursday) December 6th! appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

I Heart Keenwah is a company focused on heirloom quinoa. The company exclusively sources Bolivian Royal Quinoa for all of its products, grown by smallholder farmers that employ sustainable agricultural practices. Its commitment to Fair Trade Certification ensures that its farmers make a living wage. Its co-founder and president Ravi Jolly joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share his stories of failure and lessons learned.

Ravi established I Heart Keenwah with the idea of using a brand to make quinoa part of people’s everyday. The company soon found itself embarking on an ambitious path. Its first product was a superfood-loaded quinoa cluster, which caught on to the ancient grain craze and gave the company enough momentum to raise money for expansion into conventional retail. Ravi quickly realized that what translated well in the health food space didn’t have the same sort of appeal in conventional. As one of the early players in the health food movement, the company also saw itself facing a new host of competition against other snacks.

In that moment, Ravi realized the need for a return to the company’s core mission and made the decision to pivot I Heart Keenwah into a platform brand, rather than a snack brand. This allowed the company to simplify its products and produce more mass-friendly formats. His biggest takeaway as an entrepreneur was to be open to the reality that the first path or format that he embarked on wasn’t the end-all, be-all.

Check out more Fail Friday videos here.

Huge thanks to our Fail Friday partners Force Brands and Kickstarter.

The post I Heart Keenwah CEO Ravi Jolly on Why Simpler Is Better For Mass Appeal appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Inspired by 1960s Los Angeles, west~bourne is an accidentally vegetarian, all-day café with a social mission. A portion of every purchase made at its SoHo location benefits the poverty-fighting Robin Hood Foundation to fund hospitality training for youth in its community through its neighboring nonprofit, The Door, where the restaurant hires from to build its team. Its founder Camilla Marcus joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share her stories of failure and lessons learned.

Camilla was formerly the Director of Business Development for Union Square Hospitality Group and worked in real estate investing for Colony Capital and CIM Group. With her background in business development, law and investing, Camilla initially felt confident going into her first independent venture as a restauranteur. She scouted her first location right away, and quickly learned of the legal barriers that would carry on with her through her search for a home for west~bourne.

The process ended up taking a year, and with two failed locations and painful legal costs behind her, Camilla learned her biggest lesson as an entrepreneur: Failure is the point when you have to decide — is this really what I want to do? Getting over that hurdle is what continues to push you forward.

Check out more Fail Friday videos here.

Huge thanks to our Fail Friday partners Force Brands and Kickstarter.

The post West~bourne’s Camilla Marcus on Failure to Launch appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

PetPlate is a direct-to-consumer human grade pet food company that delivers ready-to-eat, nutritious pet food designed by veterinarians and made by chefs. In May 2018, it closed a $4 million seed round led by Dane Creek Capital to scale operations and meet demand. CEO Renaldo Webb joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share his stories of failure and lessons learned.

Renaldo founded PetPlate because he wanted to be able to feed his real food. After making hundreds of batches of home-cooked food for his dog Winston and his pup pals, Renaldo launched PetPlate as a nationwide subscription service in early 2017, following an appearance on the hit TV show Shark Tank.

Renaldo’s Fail Friday story begins as he’s scaling the company after raising pre-seed funding through Shark Tank. He and his investors decided it was time to expand the company’s manufacturing from a local commercial kitchen to working with a co-packer.

He honed in on three major failures and lessons learned:

1. Not having the right specs for PetPlate’s co-packer was a huge challenge. Ultimately this really comes down to learning what works at a small scale and what the startup’s customers loved, so as not marry them with a process that can’t deliver the experience its customers want.
2. PetPlate tried doing too much at once in the process of scaling bench-top formulations to something it could commercialize.
3. PetPlate moved too fast, especially when it came to finding its co-packer. He learned it’s important to take time to find the right co-packer and to cultivate a good relationship with them. Ultimately, PetPlate was able to find the right co-packer that met its needs and allow them to focus on what was important to the company’s mission: the quality of ingredients.

You can see videos of other presenters at our Fail Friday here.

The post PetPlate on Scaling Smarter appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.

Hu Kitchen is an NYC-based eatery and brand that offers paleo- and vegan-friendly food with a focus on fresh, organic and unprocessed ingredients. In May 2018, the company closed a $10 million round led by Sonoma Brands  to commercialize more of its products. CEO Rita Hudetz joined us at our Fail Friday this past June to share her stories of failure and lessons learned.

Rita joined Hu Kitchen as Chief Commercial Officer of Hu Products in 2016 to drive expansion of its retail product line. Since 2016, she has become CEO and has expanded Hu’s products business nationally, launched its e-commerce platform and increased sales by 5x.

Previous to joining Hu Kitchen, Rita worked for PepsiCo’s nutrition business, where she was met with the unrealistic expectation of growth and margins of a healthy food product to look like a soda or chips. She quickly learned the necessity of establishing realistic expectations and goals with stakeholders.

When she went to the startup world, she saw companies facing the same pressure for growth, pushing them to strive for unachievable business cases and profit margins.

Her biggest lesson is to fall in love with the company’s ugly numbers and its most conservative base case – i.e. when an account doesn’t come through or velocities aren’t as high as expected. It’s better to ensure your company is feasible even when it’s your most conservative numbers. In other words, “It’s better to stock out than code out. It’s better to have the demand and pull for your product and miss a few sales and grow a little bit slower, than have that situation where you’ve produced so much and you were so optimistic that your case falls apart on the other side.”

Huge thanks to our Fail Friday partners Force Brands and Kickstarter.

The post Hu Kitchen CEO Rita Hudetz on Loving Your Ugly Numbers appeared first on Food+Tech Connect.