Breakfast, coffee and beverages are served from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM PT and are included with registration. Registration and badge pick up opens for the day at 8:00 AM PT.

Location: Outdoor Sinder Lounge - Lobby Level
Prior registration is required and meeting times are sent individually. Please check in at the One-to-One Help Desk before to heading to your meeting room. Retail meetings will be 10 minutes and SPINS consultations will be 30 minutes. The complete schedule is posted at the Help Desk.

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Attendees will hear from executives who are familiar with both ends of the industry spectrum, having spent time at global companies before going on to lead or launch their own brands. Panelists will include Arnulfo Ventura, who was formerly the CEO at Alter Eco and Beanfields after working at PepsiCo, Denise Woodard, who started Partake Foods after six years at Coca-Cola, and Vilma Livas, CMO of Nature's Bakery.

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
As a lens for her story, Abuelhiga will discuss the methods she used and parameters she laid out for finding the right capital partners — and how she decided that it was the right time for them to invest. The growth of Mason Dixie, a minority-owned, woman-owned business is an inspiring narrative and Abuelhiga’s story will take the audience through its early years to the present.

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
A panel of expert judges will offer participants and attendees valuable insights on what makes for a successful food brand. They’ll evaluate the emerging brands, business plans and innovative products presented by our contestants, which include Lentiful, Lexington Bakes, Maazah, Fair & Square, Zwita and Confusion Snacks.
Judges include:

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Drawing from their decades of experience, the two entrepreneurs will discuss how their own times in the captain’s chair and their experiences fundraising shape their investment strategy. Attendees will also learn not only how to approach raising capital at different stages of business development, but also how to find a partner that can provide much needed strategic assistance.

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Hear from LesserEvil president and CEO Charles Coristine about the ways the snack brand maintains a focus on capital efficiency. The result: new products, new retail channels, new investment capital and new manufacturing facilities, with every quarter either break-even or profitable depending on whether the aim is revenue or margin growth. Being efficient with capital is a strategy companies of all sizes need to master in order to grow sustainably

Lunch is served in the Bayview Ballroom on the rooftop level and is included with registration. Sampling continues in the foyer of the main ballroom and Taste Radio Studio livestream interviews take place in the Peninsula room on the lower level.

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Cheer on the Pitch Slam finalists during the second round of pitches. Finalists include Lentiful, Lexington Bakes, Maazah, Fair & Square, Zwita and Confusion Snacks.

Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Working with chefs and incorporating food trends has become a common marketing tactic for CPG brands, but that’s very different from building your brand as an outgrowth of your restaurant business – and bringing that company’s cooking mindset to its products. For Dario Wolos, however, there was no other option.

Wolos’ Mexican food empire began with a taco stand run out of a refurbished 1963 bus in Playa del Carmen. In 2010, he “upgraded” his digs to a taqueria located in a New York City garage, a modest start for what ultimately became Tacombi, a venture-backed chain of restaurants across six states in the eastern U.S.. But brick and mortar only can expand so far and so fast, and in 2021 Wolos and his team spun out Vista Hermosa, a retail line of tortillas, chips, and frozen burritos, to reach customers across the nation.

As the sun sets on NOSH Live, you're invited to join the NOSH, Startup CPG and LA Vibrations communities for a Friday evening sunset cruise featuring an open bar. Please arrive at 330pm (10 minute walk from NOSH Live). The boat will leave at 4 pm sharp. Prior registration is required and space is limited. Register here.