PepsiCo North America Nutrition (NAN), a division of PepsiCo, Inc. focused on the company’s nutrition brands, has partnered with The Hatchery Chicago, a non-profit food and beverage incubator, to help food industry entrepreneurs grow their businesses. The partnership aims to “foster collaboration with the long-term goal of making high-quality, delicious products available to more people in more places,” PepsiCo said.
“I’m really excited about what we’re doing to make sure trusted nutrition choices are always within reach,” said Seth Kaufman, president of PepsiCo North America Nutrition, which includes the Quaker, Tropicana, Naked, Gatorade, Sabra, Near East and KeVita brands. “One of the ways we do this is by collaborating with like-minded, nutrition-forward partners who provide great insight into the future of food and who can also benefit from our expertise and resources.”
The partnership will include two-way mentorship between NAN and The Hatchery. Entrepreneurs from The Hatchery will have the opportunity to receive insight from PepsiCo leadership, and PepsiCo employees will learn best practices from The Hatchery about innovation and infusing “start-up problem solving” into their business.
“Our network of entrepreneurs will greatly benefit from NAN’s deep knowledge and expertise around things like go-to-market strategies as a means to reach greater distribution,” said Natalie Shmulik, chief executive officer of The Hatchery Chicago. “The future is all about collaboration, and we couldn’t be happier to have PepsiCo join our group of exceptional partners and resources. This is where real change will happen.”
The mission of The Hatchery is to enable local food and beverage entrepreneurs to build and grow successful businesses through three major areas of need: access to production space, financing and resources. The company is constructing a 67,000-square-foot facility in East Garfield park that may house 75 to 100 food and beverage manufacturers. The new facility is expected to open in December.
The Hatchery previously has worked with Rumi Spice, Indian as Apple Pie and Viet Nom Nom. In January, Ingredion Inc., partnered with The Hatchery as part of its emerging business initiative that the ingredient supplier launched to help start-up food and beverage companies turn innovative ideas into on-trend, scalable, food and beverage products.
“The industry is evolving, and our partnership with The Hatchery demonstrates our dedication to supporting the food and beverage entrepreneurial community,” said Evan Hyman, director of emerging business at Ingredion, at the time of the partnership announcement “It is an avenue for us to help start-up companies emerge faster and reach their full potential with innovative food and beverage products in demand by today’s consumers.”
Source: Food business news
