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Grow Your Food & Beverage Startup
Are you an early-stage food and beverage entrepreneur in Vaughan looking to bring your startup to the next level?
In partnership with YSpace’s York Region Food Accelerator Program, get access to the experts you need and take advantage of programming offered exclusively for you. Learn more below about programming, including venture consultations and workshops below and participate throughout the year.
Food & Beverage Venture Consultations
Delivered by David Kwok – Associate Director of Entrepreneurship, York University
Ongoing scheduling
One-on-one meetings for your food and beverage startup to identify areas for growth and resources that will help you as your grow your business. If you are interested in setting up a venture consultation, we need to learn a little more about your business.
About David: David joined York University in 2017 as the Entrepreneurship Manager for YSpace Markham and he now oversees both YSpace and ELLA. David led the development of Ontario’s first Food & Beverage Accelerator program at YSpace that has now supported 16 different ventures in helping them launch into retail and scale up in Canada.
David has extensive experience in helping founders connect the dots and understand what resources are available to them to launch and scale their business. His specialties are in overall business strategy and helping identify partnerships, focusing on connecting founders with the necessary resources and partners needed to build market feasibility. This may include product formulation partners, packaging experts, as well as distribution partnerships.
Spring 2021
How COVID has Changed Our Relationship with Food
Presented by Andreas Duess – Chief Strategist, Nourish Food Marketing
Date: May 27, 2021
Time: 12 to 1 p.m.
What has a year of pandemic done to our relationship with food?
In this workshop, we will explore which of our newly adapted behaviours will become permanent and what food and beverage businesses – from producers to retailers to foodservice – should do to profit in the new normal.
How to Create Unique Products
Presented by Dana McCauley – CEO, Blue Unicorn Innovation
Date: June 9, 2021
Time: 12 to 1 p.m.
This workshop helps innovators evaluate opportunities, build unique food business concepts and develop food products people want to buy and retailers want to carry.
New Food Development: Concept to Commercialization
Presented by Phillip Lee Wing, Ph.D, President & Raj Verma, Research Scientist – The Food Development Group
Date: June 24, 2021
Time: 12 to 1 p.m.
Whether beverages, to sauces to bakery, get the information you need on what is required for the development of food products starting from concept to commercialization. The latter portion of the presentation will be an interactive hands-on workshop on the steps involved in the development process.
This programming is supported by the York Region Food Accelerator Program, a first of its kind program in Ontario in partnership with The Regional Municipality of York and the Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. This program, run by York University’s YSpace, is helping Canadian food and beverage entrepreneurs scale up their businesses in the COVID-era.
Stay tuned for Fall 2021 workshop dates!