Boot Camp Registration & Networking

Welcome & Introduction

Building a Scalable Recipe

• Jeff Stopa

  Head of Culinary Innovation, ZoomEssence, Inc.

• Jeff Stopa, Head of Culinary Innovation, ZoomEssence, Inc.

Packaging Design

• Kelly Criswell

  Chief Creative Officer , The GRO Agency

  

  Kelly Criswell

  Chief Creative Officer , The GRO Agency

  Kelly Criswell is a visionary and creative leader, shepherding The GRO Agency as the Chief Creative Officer based in the Los Angeles office. With a fierce love of beverage branding and a 16+ year career in CPG brand development and packaging design, Kelly will relentlessly push brands to the next level for success on shelf. Over her career she has worked with such notable brands as Dunkin’ Donuts, Nestlé, Premier Nutrition, Diageo, and Red Bull. Her latest modus operandi is harnessing her extensive experience in CPG to help entrepreneurs and start-ups launch their brands. Her current passion project is Kabaki Kenyan Purple Tea- she has teamed up with the founder Martin and helped him position, brand, package, and develop go-to-market strategy for a 2018 launch. When she’s not obsessively taking photos in grocery stores (say hi if you see her!) she’s painting or hiking with her two kids.

• Kelly Criswell, Chief Creative Officer , The GRO Agency

Managing Co-Packers

• Brandon Hernandez

  Co-founder & Senior Partner, Whole Brain Consulting

  

  Brandon Hernandez

  Co-founder & Senior Partner, Whole Brain Consulting

  Brandon Hernandez is a high-risk quality and food safety consultant with over 10 years of experience in every aspect of food safety, R&D and sanitation applications. With a B.S. in biology from Colorado State University and experience with Whitewave Foods corporate headquarters (formerly Zateca Foods), Rodelle/Custom Blending and Claremont Foods, Hernandez brings a wealth of knowledge to the table. His depth of knowledge in the food industry includes: USDA and FDA processing applications, flavor and spice blending, snack and bakery manufacturing, vegetable dehydration processing, fresh-cut produce processing, bottling, harvesting practices, GAPs and frozen recipe meal manufacturing. Along with the food safety aspect of manufacturing, Hernandez has worked on numerous R&D projects. His work includes “from scratch” recipe formulation to cost optimization and process improvement and extensive work in sanitation protocols and practices that include working with chemical representation in optimizing and understanding the necessary sanitation processes and practices.

• Brandon Hernandez, Co-founder & Senior Partner, Whole Brain Consulting

Building Your Price

• Bob Burke

  Founder, Natural Products Consulting Group

  

  Bob Burke

  Founder, Natural Products Consulting Group

  As a consultant since 1998, Bob Burke provides assistance in bringing natural, organic and specialty products to market across most classes of trade. This includes work in strategic planning, growth strategies, writing sales, marketing and business plans, budgeting, pricing, building distribution, broker selection and management, organizational development, strategic options, branding and trade spending management. He is also the co-author and co-publisher of the Natural Products Field Manual, Fourth Edition and The Sales Manager's Handbook. Prior to consulting, Bob was with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt for 11 years as Vice President, Sales & Corporate Development and Vice President, Marketing & Sales. He has held marketing positions with Colombo, Inc. and Sperry Top-Sider. He received an MBA from Babson College.

• Bob Burke, Founder, Natural Products Consulting Group

Networking Break

Understanding Incubators

• Mitch Rubin

  Manager, Chobani Incubator

• Mitch Rubin, Manager, Chobani Incubator

UNFI: Your Primary Route to Market

• Beril Ancel

  Regional Supplier Development Manager, UNFI

  

  Beril Ancel

  Regional Supplier Development Manager, UNFI

  Beril Ancel is the Regional Supplier Development Manager at UNFI which is the largest natural and organic food distributor in the nation. In UNFI’s Next department, Beril is responsible for curating category disruptors and breakthrough brands that are headquartered in the Southwest Region. In this position, she mentors emerging suppliers throughout each phase of their unique growth and development challenges. Prior to becoming a Supplier Manager, Beril gained extensive sales experience by working in various positions as a Regional Sales Manager for Independent Stores, West Region Sales Manager for foodservice, and as the Norcal Account Manager for foodservice in her 10 years at UNFI. Previous to UNFI, Beril owned a sales brokerage company where she represented 13 different brands across the West Coast. She was also a national sales manager for Wild Garden Hummus and Artisana Raw and Organic Nut Butters. Beril holds a marketing degree from UC Berkeley and is fluent in French as well as Turkish, her maternal language. She resides in Carlsbad, California with her husband and her one-year old daughter Mila. In her spare time, she loves traveling and trying as many different food dishes as her stomach allows.

• Jen Pletscher

  Regional Supplier Development Manager, UNFI

• Beril Ancel, Regional Supplier Development Manager, UNFI
• Jen Pletscher, Regional Supplier Development Manager, UNFI

Growth Strategies – Optimizing At Each Stage

• Danny Rubenstein

  Strategic Advisor,

• Danny Rubenstein, Strategic Advisor,

Funding your Growth

• Nick McCoy

  Co-Founder and Managing Director, Whipstitch Capital

  

  Nick McCoy

  Co-Founder and Managing Director, Whipstitch Capital

  Nick McCoy is a Co-Founder and Managing Director with Whipstitch Capital. In 2001, he co-founded the investment bank Silverwood Partners. In 2009, Mike Burgmaier joined Nick at Silverwood, together they completed nearly forty transactions for clients such as Blake’s All Natural, KeVita, Cherrybrook Kitchen, Spindrift and Otter Creek Brewing Company. In October 2015, they formed Whipstitch.

• Nick McCoy, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Whipstitch Capital

Round Table Q&A