Food and beverage startups get a boost from accelerator program
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Wyman's is one of the Maine food businesses participating in MarketShare Accel and that will be at an expo in California next month.
A new program plans to grow Maine’s food-and-beverage companies' market by using trade data and coaching to expand sales beyond Maine.
Portland-based Maine Center for Entrepreneurs developed the program, called MarketShare Accel, in partnership with FocusMaine and business community sponsors.
MarketShare Accel is a membership-based initiative for companies that are either planning to expand domestic sales or are already selling out of state but have the desire and capacity to sell more.
Through the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs’ network of community mentors, companies receive coaching on selling strategies and learn best practices for sourcing and analyzing targeted industry data.
“Market Share Accel is one of several programs that FocusMaine has developed with MCE and CEI, to help food and beverage as well as aquaculture companies grow,” Kim Hamilton, president of FocusMaine, said in a news release. “These programs meet our mission to create jobs by elevating great Maine food producers and makers to the next level and align with the governor of Maine’s recently announced economic development plan.”
Law firm Pierce Atwood is a lead sponsor and hosts many of the MarketShare Accel market development workshops.
To date, 10 Maine businesses have joined the program, including companies from the dairy, seafood, blueberry, grains and microbrewing industries.
“MarketShare Accel’s access to syndicated data showed us how we are faring against the competition and where the true opportunities are for our products in the natural products retail sector,” said Ralph Chauvin, CEO of NibMor Chocolates in Kennebunk.
Colleen Craig of Wyman’s said, “MarketShare Accel is a great program for companies looking to expand their presence in the grocery and natural food sectors.”
West Coast expo
Many of the MarketShare Accel companies are participating in the upcoming Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, Calif., from March 3-7.
Maine companies scheduled to exhibit at the expo include Wyman’s, Bristol Seafood, Ocean’s Balance, NibMor, Grandy Oats, Gelato Fiasco, Tom’s of Maine, Stonewall Kitchen, R.E.D.D. Bar, Demers Foods, EnviroLogix and Simply Served.
The expo features over 3,600 exhibitors and draws 86,000 attendees. Expo workshops have been useful for developing new ways to increase retail presence and shelf space with new frozen product lines, Irene Moon, vice president of marketing at Bristol Seafood, said in the release.
The Maine Center for Entrepreneurs, FocusMaine and the Maine Department of Economic Development plan to sponsor cross-marketing activities at the expo, including digital marketing, public relations and Maine-branded giveaways.
On March 19, the Maine Center for Entrepreneurs, FocusMaine and The Maine Food Strategy are hosting a conference called “Selling More Maine Foods” at University of Southern Maine’s Abromson Hall. The conference is for value-added food and beverage producers with a focus on growing sales.
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