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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Accelerator

The International Fresh Produce Association Launches Technology Accelerator

This week, the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) announced they were launching a technology accelerator to attract companies interested in entering the global produce market. Fresh Field Catalyst is a six-month immersion program for companies (start-up, scale-up, and corporates) to help them integrate into the fresh produce and floral industry.

I caught up with Vonnie Estes, the VP of Innovation for the IFPA, to learn more about the program and understand why an industry trade association for fresh produce is launching an accelerator.

Why is an organization focused on fresh produce starting a technology accelerator?

The fresh produce industry has the potential to provide solutions to almost every major global health and economic challenge we are facing. When we formed the new association, International Fresh Produce Association, built on the legacies of PMA and United Fresh, the goal was to create an association primed to address tomorrow’s challenges – including leading from the front and demonstrating our relevance to the world. 

Part of that work is showcasing the potential and possibility for innovators with technologies that can be adapted to the produce industry. The accelerator, Fresh Field Catalyst, is designed to bring those with an adaptable technology into the produce market by creating a bridge into the industry, creating industry connections, and minimizing risks by sharing industry learnings and lessons to those exploring the produce market for the first time. 

Can you briefly talk about the story of how this idea came together?

Based on my interactions at non-industry events and engagements, I’d argue that many investors and innovators are unaware of the kind of opportunity they have in the produce industry. The perishability of our product means that our supply chain is fast-paced, providing a phenomenal environment for testing, iteration, and improvements. Our products are critical and available in almost every community across the globe, providing not only an ability to make a huge impact on what matters to people the most, but also an enormous opportunity for scaling and growth.  

As we looked to scale the opportunity for technology in the produce industry and what other groups are doing, we had to ask ourselves, what can we offer that no one else can?   What do companies need most? 

Connections. Contacts. Risk mitigation. An open door. 

We knew that we could scale our impact and help bring transformative tech solutions to our industry by throwing open the door to innovators who already have tools ready to be adapted to our industry needs.

Many accelerators take equity in the companies, but you chose not to. Can you talk about your thinking process?

Right now, we want to bring technology into the industry with the least number of barriers. This is a new program and we are figuring out what is best for the industry, the companies, and IFPA. With most incubators/accelerators the negotiation of equity is one of the hardest parts and ends up blocking out some companies.   I’m not saying we would never look at taking equity, but for this first cohort, we want to get it up and running as soon as we can to bring technology to the industry.

Are there any specific technology areas you are excited to see involved in your accelerator?

There are so many challenges to the industry that we are looking to solve! We are open to all solutions to the big problems – labor, climate change, food waste, digitalizing. And also solutions that just make things work better. We will show companies how to enter the produce industry to solve the problem they are solving elsewhere – in other countries or other industries. We are looking for solutions, the technology applied is up to the company.

We have a great opportunity to learn not only from other industries but also from those innovators coming from different regions. One of the difficult challenges to overcome as it relates to technology and produce is the need to cater to different commodities and conditions. A more diverse field of innovators provides so many more opportunities to learn and generate new ideas. 

Is this something we will see every year?

Yes. We plan to do this every year. The program will grow as we learn. For example, we might move toward more themed challenges.

Barilla’s Venture Arm Opens Up Applications for its Fall 2020 Accelerator

BLU1877, the venture firm of Barilla, announced a call for food and agtech startups to participate in its Fall 2020 accelerator program. Dubbed Good Food Makers, the program is a collaboration between BLUE1877 and startup incubator, KitchenTown.

Good Food Makers will be a primarily-remote 8-week program for startups to work directly with Barilla. In a forthcoming press release, BLU1877 said this iteration of the Good Food Makers program will focus on kids’ snacking, alternative channels, traceability systems and regenerative agriculture. Participants should already have a product or solution in the market.

This is the second cohort for the Good Food Makers program, which announced its first batch of participants earlier this year. As we wrote when the program launched:

While there’s no financial investment for startups participating in Good Food Makers, chosen companies get mentorship and collaboration opportunities with Barilla, as well as access to a wider industry network.

Though like so many other accelerators and incubators in this space, the global pandemic has pushed Good Food Makers to go mostly virtual, which, as my colleague Jenn Marston has reported, isn’t all bad. Except, in this case, participants miss out on the chance to visit Parma, Italy.

For those interested in applying for Good Food Makers, applications are open now and will close on August 8, 2020.  To apply and for more information go to goodfoodmakers.net.

We aim to cover food tech accelerators extensively here at The Spoon. So be sure to check back often to learn about new opportunities (and deadlines) for startups.

Surplus Veggies and High-Tech Farm Cooperatives: FS6 Accelerator Announces New Cohort

Food System 6 (FS6), a San Francisco Bay Area-based food and agriculture accelerator program, just announced the participants for its fifth cohort. The six chosen startups are focused on creating sustainable solutions for farmers, ranchers, and other upstream food producers.

All participating startups will receive a year of mentorship and support in areas like business development, marketing, and R&D. Through FS6’s partnership with investment fund 1st Course Capital, each cohort member will also get a $25,000 cash investment after they complete the accelerator program (in exchange for 1.5 percent in equity).

Without any further ado, here are the participants in FS6’s newest cohort:

  • Firebrand Artisan Breads – Oakland-based bakery supporting the local community through employment and high-quality breads and pastries.
  • Central Grazing Co. – Regenerative farming enterprise selling lamb and leather made from animals raised on the company’s zero-waste Kansas farm.
  • Matriark Foods – Upcycles surplus farm produce to create healthy vegetable products for large foodservice establishments like hospitals, food banks and schools.
  • Revel Meat Co. – Small-scale butchery and meat wholesaler focused on local meats raised in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Farm Generations Cooperative – Piloting GrownBy, an online sales platform for direct market farmers.
  • Keller Crafted Meats – Whole-animal butcher and charcuterie producer and distributor, purchasing from local farms.

These startups are more on the ag side of agtech, but all are thinking creatively to reinvent a certain aspect of how our food is produced. Farm Generations Cooperative and Matriark especially are tapping into some trends we’ve been seeing a lot of at The Spoon, like online marketplaces and upcycled food.

Food accelerator and incubator programs are so hot right now. It seems like practically every company, especially Big Food brands, is rolling out their own, hoping to attract a pool of startups to potentially acquire (and help then keep a finger on the pulse of innovation). As a nonprofit, FS6 has a slightly different agenda — though both are hoping that through mentorship and investment, they can help a new group of companies succeed.

We’ll check back in a year and see how FS6’s Cohort 5 is doing.

Aquaculture Accelerator Hatch Raises $8.4M, Recruits Fourth Cohort

Hatch, a Norway-based accelerator program focused on aquaculture startups, announced yesterday that it had raised $8.4 million to recruit a fourth cohort and further invest in its existing portfolio (via The Fish Site). Thus far the fund has raised over $10 million in external investment thus far. It currently operates in Hawaii, Bergen (Norway), and Singapore.

Founded in 2018, Hatch launched its first three-month accelerator program, which included eight aquaculture startups, in the spring of 2018. As my colleague Jenn Marston wrote at the time:

Each team will get $30,600 (USD) in addition to mentoring, development help, office space, and the chance to make new connections in the aquaculture industry. For those companies that have “high potential,” an additional loan will be available once they complete the program.

Since then the numbers have gone up. Per the Hatch website, each startup in the accelerator program will receive a total of $130,000 ($75,000 in cash, $55,000 in kind). They’ll also receive a year of free office space, mentorship, and product development connections.

Hatch is looking for startups that are reinventing and streamlining any part of the aquaculture field, from seafood nutrition to population management to new species development. Past participants in Hatch’s program range from Algaebra, an automated shrimp hatchery, to Gaskiya, which tests tilapia for the streptococcus virus. They’ve even invested in Finless Foods, the startup growing bluefin tuna from fish cells in bioreactors.

Overfishing is a pressing problem, depleting oceans of seafood and disrupting the delicate balance of the ecosystem. Aquaculture is certainly one alternative, but it carries its own burdens: water pollution, and overuse of pesticides, to name a few. As our population — and hunger for seafood — increases, we’ll need to get more creative to make seafood cultivation more sustainable.

A growing number of startups are getting creative with ways to solve this disconnect. Aquabyte uses machine learning to monitor in-ocean fisheries, Ynsect is developing insect farms to use for fish feed, and companies like Timberfish and BluePlanet are reinventing seafood farms altogether. There’s also a handful of companies developing cell-based seafood, which could dramatically reduce our reliance on ocean fishing and aquaculture altogether.

With seafood consumption set to increase, Hatch’s fresh funds could be chum in the water for innovative aquaculture startups.

Applications for Hatch’s newest cohort open today. If you’ve got a startup that is out to change the way we cultivate seafood, you can apply here.

SKS 2019: Why Big Food is Betting So Heavily on Startup Accelerators

So you’re a new food startup who wants to level up and get some funding and mentorship. Or you’re a big CPG company who wants to uncover the latest food trends and acquire companies already tapping into them.

The answer for both quandaries might be food accelerators or incubators. Key word: might.

At SKS 2019, we dove into the wide world of food accelerators: what are they, which types of food companies should consider them, and why they’re suddenly all the rage. Weighing in on this conversation from the stage were Natalie Shmulik, CEO of The Hatchery; Tessa Price, Program Manager of WeWork Food Labs; and Peter Bodenheimer, Partner & Managing Director of Food-X.

If you’re contemplating applying for an accelerator program or just curious what they actually entail, you should watch the whole video of the panel below. Here are a couple of standout points made by our speakers to spark your interest:

What do food accelerators look for?
All of the panelists agreed that when searching for candidates for their programs, fit is critical. Shmulik emphasized the importance of a good founder presence. Price said that companies have to align with WeWork’s values and offer some technology that can accelerate WeWork’s ecosystem. For Bodenheimer, though, one of the biggest factors is persistence. “When the sh*t gets tough, will they stick with it?” he asked.

Why are food accelerators so hot right now?
You may have noticed that food accelerators seem to be popping up left and right lately. According to Bodenheimer, this is at least partially because of Big Food companies. He explained that large food and beverage companies typically only allocate 1-2 percent of their budget to R&D, so they turn to accelerators as a way to access more innovative products. Sometimes this can be productive, but other times it can be muddy, especially if the Big Food company doesn’t have a clear objective for their program.

So, what are the newest food trends?
Of course I wasn’t going to let these industry experts off the stage without asking them about the innovative new trends they were seeing bubbling up at their respective accelerator/incubator programs. Shmulik noted that more and more companies were looking to make eating an experience, not just a task. Price spoke about personalized nutrition and on-demand ordering, and Bodenheimer said he’d seen a lot of companies tapping into food as medicine, plant-based offerings and CBD.

If you want to hear the rest of the panelist’s up-and-coming dining trends to watch, or learn more about food accelerators in general, watch the full video below.

SKS 2019: Building a Food Accelerator

Black Sheep Foods Makes Plant-Based Lamb to Target the Asian Market

Maybe it’s because of my last name, but I never took to lamb even before I became a vegetarian. It could have been the gamy flavor, the fact that it’s often dry, or just thinking too hard about what exactly lamb is.

But for much of the world, specifically Australia, New Zealand, India, China, and other Asian countries, lamb is a dietary staple. As these countries grow in population and become more wealthy, it’s likely their demand for all meat — lamb included — will only increase.

So it’s timely that a new startup called Black Sheep Foods is developing a plant-based alternative to ground lamb. Founded in June of 2019 by two former employees at cell-based seafood startup Finless Foods, Black Sheep’s lamb burger is made from soy protein, coconut oil, and natural flavors. Sunny Kumar, Black Sheep’s co-founder, told me over the phone last week that they’re eventually planning to develop a versatile ground lamb product that can be used to make everything from patties to curries.

Black Sheep has been working out of the MISTA food business accelerator program, which is run by Danone, Mars, and more. However, they’re packing up to move to Singapore to participate in the 5-month Big Idea Ventures accelerator program, from which they will also receive $250,000 in funding. [Ed note: The author is a mentor for Big Idea Ventures but is not directly involved with Black Sheep Foods.]

Their go-to-market plan is to sell the plant-based lamb through restaurants and foodservice, specifically targeting large office cafeterias. Kumar said they plan to launch product on a limited scale by the end of the Big Idea Ventures program in five months. In terms of price, the plant-based lamb will likely be on par with the cost of lamb in the U.S., where the meat commands a premium, but more expensive than lamb in areas like Australia where it’s cheaper.

Kumar hasn’t decided precisely where they’ll debut their plant-based lamb, but said that Singapore would be a natural choice because of the area’s love for the new wave of uber-realistic meat alternatives, like Impossible Foods’ burgers which debuted there last year.

Whether or not they launch in Singapore, Kumar was very specific that Black Sheep would initially target Eastern regions, like India and China. Not only is there less competition — the plant-based meat alternative space is not as crowded as it is in the West — there’s also a pressing need to find sustainable, tasty protein sources to feed booming populations in these areas. And while Asian consumers might have a plant-based burger every once and a while, to make a real difference there must be alternatives to everyday staple meats, such as like lamb.

Black Sheep isn’t the only company hoping to tap into the massive potential of the Asian alternative protein. Right Treat’s Omnipork makes plant-based ground pork, sold in both retail and foodservice, which target Asian consumer preferences. And on the cultured meat side, Singapore-based Shiok Meats is making cell-based shrimp and Integriculture is tackling cultured foie gras (and other meats) in Japan.

Eventually, Kumar does want to bring his plant-based lamb to the United States. “Ultimately, we can’t ignore the U.S. market,” he told me. There, Black Sheep’s focus on lamb could help them stand out from a sea of beef burgers, especially if they decide to branch into retail. Then again, lamb’s gamey flavor makes it a pretty polarizing meat for U.S. consumers, which may scare foodservice spots away from trying out Black Sheep’s initial product.

Regardless, I think Black Sheep would be wise to continue focusing on the Asian and Australia/NZ markets. Australia and New Zealand eat a ton of lamb, so they might welcome a high-quality plant-based alternative. And while the aforementioned startups like Omnipork do make faux meat for Asian markets, the space is relatively empty compared to Western markets. Plus nobody’s making lamb there yet.

However, if Black Sheep does make its way to the U.S., I’ll have to get over my lamb skepticism and give it a try. Last name be damned.

Hybrid VC Firm Big Idea Ventures Wants to Scale the Alternative Protein Revolution

We hear a lot about plant-based startups raking in big funding dollars — cough, Impossible Foods, cough — but not a lot about the companies investing in them.

One such company working to fund the alternative protein revolution is Big Idea Ventures (BIV). Helmed by Andrew Ive, formerly of food innovation accelerator Food-X, Big Idea Ventures is a hybrid venture firm with a VC arm and accelerator program.

It tore onto the scene a few weeks ago when it closed its first fund: the New Protein Fund, which now stands at roughly $50 million. “It’s the first and largest plant-based accelerator fund,” Ive told me over the phone last week.

The fund is backed by giants like Tyson Foods and Temasek, the Singaporean government’s VC arm. It will focusing heavily on plant-based protein startups, Ive said they’re are allocating 5 to 10 percent of their money for cell-based endeavors.

That makes it all the more interesting that they chose to make their first investment cultured shrimp company Shiok Meats. Ive told me that they were drawn in by the Singaporean startup’s product focus: crustaceans. He believes that the flavor and texture of cultured shrimp will be easier to commercialize than, say, beef or chicken. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it is impressive that Shiok Meats, which is less than a year old, has already done an (apparently successful) taste test of its minced “shrimp” in dumpling form.

BIV is also launching physical accelerator programs in two locations: New York City (to launch in Q3) and Singapore (to launch in Q4). Mike Lightman, Managing Partner of BIV, told me that they plan to accept 8 to 10 companies per cohort and do two cohorts per year. All accepted startups will receive $250,000 in funding, a space to work, and mentorship from their entrepreneurs in residence in exchange for a convertible note. Once the program is over, BIV will allocate $1 to $3 million among the top-performing companies. Over the next four years, Ive said that BIV is hoping to back around 100 companies.

In a lot of ways, this accelerator follows the typical script: young startups get funding and advice in exchange for a portion of their company. But BIV’s program diverges in a few ways. Firstly, it’s five months long as opposed to the more traditional three-month programs like Y Combinator and Food-X, which Ive found was too short to really help a company grow. BIV also has a full kitchen in their accelerator space, so startups can actually work on developing/scaling their products in-house. Finally, with their dual presence in Asia and the U.S. (with plans to expand into Europe sometime in the future), Lightman also noted that they can help reduce opportunity costs for entrepreneurs by giving them ready access to multiple markets.

BIV is entering the scene at a time when every major company and their mother seems to be launching a new accelerator. For mega CPG companies, like General Mills, Danone, and Kraft-Heinz, they’re a relatively easy way to discover new companies for acquisition and keep a finger on the pulse of what’s new and “hip.”

With this in mind, it’s not hard to see why Tyson and Temasek want to get in on an alternative protein accelerator.

Tyson has set out to become the number one provider of protein, no matter the source. It has invested widely in both plant-based and cell-based meat companies, including Memphis Meats, FutureMeat, and, up until recently, Beyond Meat. They’re also developing their own line of plant-based proteins set to launch this summer. Through their involvement in the BIV accelerator, Tyson will have access to a wide range of innovative new alternative protein companies, which they can try to acquire or just use to gain inspiration.

For Temasek’s part, Singapore has been quite progressive in pushing for innovation the alt-protein space. Through its new RIE2020 plan, the city-state will invest over $100 million in foodtech endeavors like cultured meat and microbial protein production. Temasek can use BIV’s cohorts to attract promising new alt-protein startups to Asia; which we’ve already predicted will be a hotbed for cell-based meat.

TL;DR: If you’re curious about what new companies are shaking up the alternative protein space, keep an eye on what Big Idea Ventures is up to. Another good way to stay up to date is to subscribe to our Future Food newsletter! You’ll get a weekly dose of in-depth analysis on the plant-based and cultured protein landscape.

If you’ve got a plant- or cell-based startup of your own, you can apply for BIV’s inaugural accelerator program here.

Nestlé is the Latest CPG Company to Launch a Food & Beverage Accelerator

Nestlé is the latest mega food company to get in on the food & beverage accelerator movement.

Today the Swiss company announced that it was launching an R&D accelerator program in Lausanne, Switzerland. This is the first internal accelerator for Nestlé, who previously partnered with Rabobank and Rocketspace to create the Terra Food + Agtech Accelerator program in 2017.

In the press release, Nestlé was pretty vague on the details. We don’t know what type of startups or individuals they’re targeting, how many have been accepted, or how often the cohorts will cycle through. The release lists “Nestlé scientists, students, and start-ups,” so presumably it will be a pretty diverse mixture of participants.

However, we do know a few key things about the program. Accepted individuals and groups will get access to Nestlé’s R&D labs, kitchens, equipment, and expertise, as well as some office space. The accelerator will kick off before the end of 2019.

Nestlé joins an ever-growing group of big CPG companies who are launching accelerators to sniff out new, trendy brands. Chobani, General Mills, Kraft-Heinz, and Pepsi-Co are just a few that have done so over the past year. It’s a smart move: accelerators are a relatively low-touch way to give corporations access to agile, innovative companies, which they can either acquire or partner with for image, product and marketing purposes.

My colleague, Jenn Marston, predicted we’d see even more of these programs from Big Food in 2019. It seems like she was right.

Givaudan Partners with Israeli Food Tech Incubator The Kitchen

Flavor and fragrance company Givaudan just announced a new partnership with The Kitchen, an Israeli food tech incubator.

Founded by the Strauss Group, the largest food & bev manufacturer in Israel, The Kitchen is a hub for emerging startups (many from Israel) looking to reinvent different parts of the food system. The program’s 12 current participants from cell-based meat company Aleph Farms to personalized recipe service MyFavorEats to food safety detector Inspecto.

According to an Givaudan announcement, The Kitchen’s partnership with Switzerland-based Givaudan will enable the latter to “expand its innovation ecosystem further by connecting with Israel-based food entrepreneurs who are contributing to the creation of healthier and sustainable products and solutions.” As details in the announcement were pretty scant, we’re still waiting to find out exactly what that means. We’ve reached out to Givaudan and will update this post if we hear back.

But it’s not too difficult to guess what the flavor and fragrance company will be getting out of the partnership: a direct line into the cutting-edge Israeli food tech ecosystem and a source for potential new company acquisitions. Working with an incubator like The Kitchen is also a great way for Givaudan to refresh their brand image as a company that’s hip with what’s new and not stuck in the past.

In fact, Givaudan has been slowly amassing partnerships with food tech innovation hubs around the world. In addition to The Kitchen, the company also works with Bits x Bites in China and EIT Food in Europe. Last December, Givaudan teamed up with Danone, Mars, and Ingredion to launch MISTA, a platform to help businesses solve problems in the food system, in San Francisco. And earlier this month, the company co-founded the Future Food Initiative, a joint venture with Swiss universities, Nestlé and food production company Bühler to encourage nutrition research in its native Switzerland.

Lately we’ve seen quite a few Big Food companies partnering with/creating their own accelerators to tap into emerging food trends. It seems like Givaudan is really taking the whole invest-in-innovation thing to heart — and I’m betting the company has more incubator partnerships in the pipeline.

Editor Roundtable Podcast: AI Everywhere, CBD Crackdown & Finding Love in a Fridge

Sure you’ve tried Tinder or Bumble, but have you looked for love with a fridge?

Now you can, kinda (not really), with Refrigerdate.

Samsung’s gimmicky smart fridge dating service is just one of the topics we talk about on our latest Spoon editor’s roundtable podcast edition of the Smart Kitchen Show.

Other topics include:

  • The growing number of AI-meets-food stories and whether the term AI is being overused
  • The pushback by local city and state governments against the use of CBD in beverages
  • The foodtech accelerator trend (including agtech) and why the new BSH Appliances smart kitchen accelerator may be a new angle for the appliance industry

Joining me on the podcast are the usual cast of characters: Jenn Marston, Chris Albrecht and Catherine Lamb.

As always, you can download the episode, listen to it on your favorite podcast app like Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or Soundcloud, or just click play below.

IKEA’s Next Bootcamp Could Be Ideal for Grocery Startups Looking to Grow

IKEA is currently taking applications for the second iteration of its startup program, IKEA Bootcamp, which it holds in partnership with global entrepreneur community Rainmaking.

The Bootcamp works with companies tackling current issues around improving quality of life, whether that’s through sustainability, or making goods more affordable and accessible. While it’s not exclusively geared towards food businesses, startups in that area had a significant presence at the 2017 program. Participants included an Israeli startup Flying Spark, who’s created a protein source from fruit fly larvae, and goodbag, who makes smart shopping bags.

For the 2019 program, IKEA is looking for growth-stage companies and will run “a pilot-focused program,” according to a press announcement. Additionally, the company has increased the total number of companies who’ll participate to twenty.

This program will also add retail as a focus area, with participation from IKEA franchisee Ingka Group. (The IKEA Range & Supply business unit will also be involved for companies looking at product and supply chain development.)

With the application pool still open, there’s no word yet on what kinds of food businesses will be involved this year. But the new retail component suggests the possibility of a grocery-focused startup participating. That opens things up immensely: startups working on anything from more efficient ways of delivering food to smarter shopping to sustainable packaging could now theoretically join the Bootcamp.

IKEA isn’t specific about what kinds of food businesses should apply, so long as they’re ones that are trying to tackle significant global issues. Or as IKEA Bootcamp manager Per Krokstäde noted in the statement, “this is not a powerpoint exercise, this is about solving real problems in a way we can act on.”

The year may be winding down, but there are several other startup accelerators and incubators still taking applications for their next cohorts. Food-X, one of the biggest names in the world of food accelerators, is currently taking applications for its Spring 2019 program. FS6’s next cohort starts in February 2019, so those vying for a spot in that specific timeframe should apply soon. Techstars’ agtech-focused Farm to Fork Accelerator, meanwhile, will open its application pool on January 7, 2019.

The IKEA program will take place over three months, from March through June. It will be semi-remote, with startups spending some time in IKEA’s homebase: Älmhult, Sweden.

Applications are open until December 31, 2018.

The Food Nest Pivots from Being an Accelerator into Commercial Kitchen Services

When it launched last December, The Food Nest had big ambitions to be a food tech accelerator that helped companies already at market scale up to the next level. It was building out a facility on a decommissioned naval base in Alameda, CA, and was accepting applications for its first cohort, which the company planned to announce in Q2 of this year.

But then…

Almost a year later, The Food Nest has pivoted away from its accelerator roots without ever really starting, and is moving towards more of a commercial services space. To find out more, I called up Adan Martinez, Principal of the Alameda Point Redevelopers and the man who came up with the initial idea for The Food Nest.

According to Martinez, the big problem for The Food Nest was getting the actual physical space. He ran into a lot of permitting issues with the city of Alameda that pushed construction of the necessary food manufacturing facilities back. “The development has been going around and around with the city comment,” said Martinez, “We’ve been doing a bunch of work on the buildings.”

The Food Nest was meeting with a number of accelerator applicants, and had even found a handful of companies that they wanted to work with. But without a physical space for these companies to use, there wasn’t much point.

Permitting and building issues, however, were just one factor in the pivot. According to Martinez other contributing factors were the response from capital partners, the general model for CPG companies and the number of other accelerators out there (there are plenty).

So Martinez put the accelerator part of The Food Nest on hold to focus on building out commercial services for food companies. He thinks he’s just about worked through all of the permitting issues with the city and in the next three months will be able to launch The Food Nest 2.0, which will be a ten to twelve thousand square foot facility that will include a commercial kitchen, photography studio and R&D space.

“The accelerator will be an add-on,” Martinez said, “The main business will be service oriented.”

It’s not uncommon for businesses, especially tech-related business, to pivot. Thankfully, The Food Nest was honorable enough to pivot before bringing on a cohort. As we saw with Pilotworks shutting down abruptly this past weekend, if something catastrophic happens to an accelerator, either through poor planning or unforeseen market changes, the damage can impact an entire community.