Fifteen small Connecticut food and drink businesses presented their dishes and business plans at a special showcase on Monday at CitySeed on James Street in New Haven. The event was the culmination of a 12-week-program designed to take their company to the next level.
Supporting Local Entrepreneurs
Nonprofits CitySeed and Reset have supported early-stage food entrepreneurs in the past. This program is the first iteration of their jointly-run, statewide Food Business Incubator training program. The nonprofits offer the classes for free and each business that completes the course receives $1,000 in funding.
The course teaches business owners how to manage finances, price product and marketing. At the showcase, businesses provided samples to the public and shared their pitch to judges for a chance at an additional $1,000 in funding.
With high food and gas prices, business owners like Soledad Kristan, owner of Downright Breads, said navigating costs can get tough if you’re not willing to be flexible. “We used to deliver our challah on Fridays and gas prices right now are $5 so we put a poll out to our customers, and they were fine picking it up from our bread locker,” she said.
Melissa Carrasco was a bus driver before she opened her business, Melissa’s Fusion Cuisine. She’s grateful to have completed the program. “I think this program changed a lot of my business that I didn’t know,” she said. “For example, marketing was one of them. How to ask for funding was the other one.”
Original reporting: NBC Connecticut (Hartford) — read the source article.
