Food business accelerator to help budding entrepreneurs

Do you love to cook or bake? Do you dream of turning that passion into your own business?

Collab and CitySeed can help early-stage culinary entrepreneurs with their business aspirations. The organizations are seeking applications now for the 2021 Food Business Accelerator. 

The statewide accelerator aims to remove barriers to food entrepreneurship by providing participants with training, network-building and access to resources. 

Caroline Smith, a co-director of Collab, has said the goal is to help early-stage food ventures get the resources and skills they need to grow their businesses.

An information session is planned for Thursday, Nov. 5 from 4 to 6 p.m. via Zoom. Click HERE to register for the session. Applications are due on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 11:59 p.m. Click HERE to apply.

The 2020 accelerator attracted about 60 applications, with nine ventures ultimately selected to participate. 

They included catering, delivery and food truck businesses focused on cuisine from around the world, from the United States to Ghana, Afghanistan, Turkey, China and the Caribbean. Those ventures got seed funding, a mentor, coaching, training, network-building services and access to resources such as child care. They also had an opportunity to sell their food at CitySeed farmers markets to get customer feedback. Participants also get to pitch their products and ideas to investors and the community.

The non-profit CitySeed works to provide New Haven residents with access to fresh and local food. Collab New Haven, launched in 2017, helps budding businesses, with a focus on nurturing entrepreneurship among people of color, women and immigrants.

For more information, visit Collab’s website at collabnewhaven.org.

Contact Michelle Tuccitto Sullo at msullo@newhavenbiz.com.