The food business can be a tough nut to crack. The Food Loft, a Boston co-working space specifically for food startups, is trying to make it an easier space for Bostonians to break into. Case in point: It just formed a network of mentors now at the disposal of local food entrepreneurs.
"There is no shortage of thriving food businesses here - supply is not the problem," Casey Hogan, community manager of The Food Loft, told me. "So we set out to bring together leaders of these top food companies, investment funds and service providers invested in helping food companies to give food entrepreneurs a place to go when they need experienced food people to help them work through problems or reach their next milestone."
With the new Food Loft Mentor Network, the organization plans to connect leaders among different spaces - from investment to media - with early-stage food startups to provide personalized, strategic help in overcoming specific business obstacles. Mentors will use their own experience to offer guidance with food packaging and design, marketing, sales, operations, fundraising and restaurant-tech.
"Food businesses have their own sets of unique challenges," Hogan said. "Sourcing the best ingredients, creating value restaurants will pay for, or navigating distribution channels are not quick learns, and most accelerators don’t cover these food industry-specific topics. We’ve heard again and again that connecting with mentors who understand food is a challenge for food companies we talk to. This is why we started The Food Loft: for food entrepreneurs to connect with other people in the industry that can help them build their businesses. It became clear that it was time to grow this beyond our co-working space."
As of now, the active mentors within The Food Loft Network are:
- Nick Rellas of Drizly
- Justin Robinson of Drizly
- Trish Fontanilla of Freight Farms
- Andy Freedman of Riskified
- Joe Kopinsky of Silicon Valley Bank
- Jeff Tenner of Tatte Bakery
- Maggie Battista of Eat Boutique
- Andy Levitt of Purple Carrot
- Alex Linkow of Fair Food Network
- Laura Marelic of Cookin
- Connor Russo of Cookin
- Adam Salomone of The Food Loft
- Lisa Sebesta of Fresh Source Capital
- Julia Shanks of Julia Shanks Consulting
- Bob Stringer of Edible Ventures
- Erin White of Community Food Lab
The company is hoping to expand that network, adding other leaders in the food space and related industries who can offer their expertise to entrepreneurs pursuing edible ventures.
Image via Michael Stern, CC BY-SA 2.0.
