Nosh Live 2025 — Agenda
Dec 4+5, 2025
Pacific Time
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2025
- 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast
Location: Promenade Ballroom - Lobby Level
Breakfast, coffee and beverages are served from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM PT and are included with registration. Registration and badge pick up opens for the day at 7:30 AM PT. - 8:00 AM – 2:30 PM
1:1 Meetings, Powered by Vdriven
Location: Outdoor Sinder Lounge - Lobby Level
Nosh Live attendees have the opportunity to meet 1:1 with retail buyers, investors and experienced food leaders. Prior registration is required and meeting times are sent individually. Please check in at the 1:1 Help Desk before heading to your meeting room. Meetings will be 10 minutes each and the complete schedule is posted at the Help Desk.- Brody Burk, Sr. Foraging Manager (Sprouts Farmer's Market)
- Jing Gao, Founder & CEO (Fly By Jing)
- Rich Gillmore, Vice President of Center Store (Gelson's)
- Mollye Santulli, Senior Associate (Springdale Ventures)
- Eric Skae, CEO (Carbone Fine Food)
- Jeni Britton, Founder (Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams & Floura)
- Becca Millstein, cofounder + CEO (Fishwife)
- Karen Ivanis-Rogers, Senior Director of Business Ventures (Albertsons)
- Brad Barnhorn, Board Member and Strategic Advisor
- Mason Webb, Forager Manager (Sprouts Farmer's Market)
- Laura Broggi, Department Specialist - Foraging Team (Sprouts Farmers Market)
- Michael Sands, Principal Consultant (The Maker Group )
- William Quartner, Partner (Prelude Growth Partners)
- 8:00 AM – 9:45 AM
Boot Camp Presentations
Location: Promenade - Lobby Level
Boot Camp is a fast dive into the basics of launching a food brand with hand-chosen CPG experts and entrepreneurs. All Boot Camp Presentations are 15 minutes, starting at 8 a.m.; as soon as all speakers are finished, attendees join them at round tables for individual Q and A. - 8:00 AM – 8:15 AM
Ready, Set, Comply: A Regulatory Boot Camp for Food Brands
Location: Promenade - Lobby Level
Is your brand ready to go to market? This rapid-fire Regulatory Readiness Boot Camp will help ensure you are. In just 15 minutes we will cut through the noise and spotlight what food companies need to know right now to be FDA compliant. From shifting enforcement priorities, and ingredient scrutiny to hot-button plaintiff’s bar labeling challenges, you will leave with a quick hit checklist of smart, practical moves to strengthen your compliance posture and stay ahead of potential blind spots.- Claudia Lewis, Partner (Venable LLP)
- 8:15 AM – 8:30 AM
Branding 101 for Retail Success
Location: Promenade - Lobby Level
Developing a memorable brand and getting a great product package on shelf quickly, efficiently, and without breaking the bank is one of the greatest challenges facing beverage brands. During this presentation Voiecbox will share valuable brand design do's and don'ts – insights developed over two decades designing brands and packaging systems for clients ranging from some of America's most recognizable brands to innovative category disruptors. Attendees will walk away with a proven brand design process to achieve speed-to-market with a brand that captures attention, inspires interest and trial, and drives repeat purchase.- Jacques Rossouw, Creative Director & Managing Partner (Voicebox)
- 8:30 AM – 8:45 AM
Innovation on a Shoestring
Location: Promenade - Lobby Level- Sam Kressler, Principal (Stir Innovation)
- 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM
Early Stage Brand Playbook
Location: Promenade - Lobby Level- Jack Acree, Consultant (Brand & Retail Strategy)
- 9:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Understanding Shopper Marketing
Location: Promenade - Lobby Level- Julia Knott, Marketing Advisor (Mission Driven Brands)
- 9:15 AM – 9:45 AM
Boot Camp Roundtable Networking with Experts
- 9:40 AM – 10:00 AM
Networking & Sample Break
- 10:00 AM
-- Main Session Starts --
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level - 10:00 AM – 10:10 AM
Welcome Remarks
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level- Monica Watrous, Managing Editor (Nosh)
- 10:10 AM – 10:35 AM
Keeping Up With Khloud
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Strategies to set a brand up for fast growth, from the leader of Khloud Foods, Khloe Kardashian’s functional snacking brand.- Jeff Rubenstein, CEO (Khloud Foods)
- 10:35 AM – 11:05 AM
State of Food Investing
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
From VC to PE, what is driving investment decisions and what can founders do to get a meeting in 2026 and beyond?- Genevieve Gilbreath, Co-Founder and General Partner (Springdale Ventures)
- Pedro Aldrete, Senior Financial Analyst (Santatera Capital)
- Scott Caras, Founder and President (Relentless Consumer Partners)
- William Quartner, Partner (Prelude Growth Partners)
- 11:05 AM – 11:30 AM
The Scoop on Success
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
As she launches a new brand, what’s an ice cream legend’s advice to founders - and to herself?- Jeni Britton, Founder (Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams & Floura)
- 11:30 AM – 11:55 AM
Finding that Big Breakout
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
How three fast-growing brands prepared, recognized, and capitalized on sales growth opportunities.- Hailey Swartz, Co-Founder and Co-CEO (Actual Veggies)
- Eugene Kang, Founder and CEO (Archer)
- Laurel Orley, Co-Founder and CEO (Daily Crunch)
- 11:55 AM – 12:05 PM
Elevator Talk on Stage
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
We’re reserving time for two high-energy sessions where pre-selected founders will each share a short (90-second) introduction on stage. - 12:05 PM – 12:15 PM
Nosh Best of 2025 Awards - Presented by TrüFrü - Announced
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Who will win Person of the Year and Brand of the Year? - 12:15 PM – 1:30 PM
Lunch Break, Taste Radio Studio & Sampling
Location: Bayview Ballroom - Rooftop
Lunch is served on the rooftop level and is included with registration. Sampling continues in the foyer of the main ballroom and a live recording of Elevator Talk on the livestream takes place in the Venice room on the lower level. - 1:30 PM – 1:50 PM
Weird but Relevant Retail: A Conversation with Heatonist's Noah Chaimberg
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
The “hot sauce sommelier” for Hot Ones, Chaimberg’s an unexpectedly powerful gatekeeper in CPG. We’ll learn how he makes his decisions, and how brands can capitalize on the exposure that a cult hit can create.- Noah Chaimberg, Founder and CEO (Heatonist)
- 1:50 PM – 2:05 PM
Elevator Talk on Stage
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
Elevator Talk offers a unique opportunity for attending food brands to introduce themselves and their products to our full audience of investors, retailers, operators, and media. - 2:05 PM – 2:30 PM
Inside and Out: Single-Sponsor VCs
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
A pair of venture capital investors -- one tied to Corporate Venture Capital, another independent but informed by its ties to a large international food brand - will share how they evaluate investment opportunities, and how brands can benefit from the resources, operational expertise and scale of Big Food.- Brian Bernstein, Investor (Rich Products Ventures)
- Axel Malbrain, Investment Director (FF2032)
- 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM
From Regional to National
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level
When the strategy is to take your brand into the big chains, what are the tactics?- Jason Parasco, CEO (Insignia International)
- 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Art of the Collaboration
Location: California Ballroom - Lobby Level- Becca Millstein, cofounder + CEO (Fishwife)
- Kendall Dickieson, Founder (Flexible Creative)
- Jing Gao, Founder & CEO (Fly By Jing)
- 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Nosh Live Happy Hour
Location: Sinder Outdoor Lounge - Lobby Level
At the end of Day 1, continue the day’s conversations at the Nosh Live Happy Hour.
Please note that event agendas are subject to change.