Member News & Headlines Blog

Have a food or beverage start-up and want to accelerate? Hear from the Springboard Incubator teams and Inaugural class on what Springboard can do.

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In partnership with the Loyola University Supply & Value Chain Center,
and AFN Logistics, CFBN presented 
Solutions Workshop: Hot Topics in Supply Chain Management on September 13^th. The event featured a panel of top supply chain experts from Walgreens, World's Finest Chocolate, AFN, Enjoy Life Foods and Lawson Products. This diverse, dynamic panel, shared key insights and challenges that supply chain professionals are experiencing in the industry. 

“Hot Topics” discussed included:

• The “Amazon Effect”: rising expectations based on the growth of Amazon, and overnight services.
• Tariffs: Operating within a whole new (and challenging) environment
• Transportation: especially tight truckload capacity, rising shipping rates, stringent compliance requirements
• Traceability and documentation: especially in regards to FSMA and allergens
• Warehousing and distribution: building a system to support your business by identifying and qualifying a network of providers

While the panel was able to touch on and discuss all of these issues (and more!), it was agreed that each hot topic could also represent an opportunity for a future “deep dive” at an upcoming event.

What do you think?  What supply chain topics are you and your company most interested in for the future.  Email us at info@chicagolandfood.org and tell us what conversations and topics would deliver the most value for you. 

Place your vote here: https://chicagoinnovation.com/peoples-choice-award-voting/

Out of 519 nominees, Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network has been selected as one of the Top 100 Finalists still in the running for the 17^th annual Chicago Innovation Awards.  The awards celebrate the most innovative new products and services in the Chicago region across all organization sizes, sectors and industries.  1500 business and civic leaders will come together to honor the winners when they are announced on October 29^th at Chicago’s Harris Theater.

“Chicago continues to rise as a global hub of innovation due to the breadth of organizations in our region that introduce a stream of new products and services into the market each year,” said Tom Kuczmarski, co-founder with Chicago journalist Dan Miller of the awards.  “This year’s nominees generated a combined total of $3.44 billion in revenues through their new products and services alone.”

As one of the Top 100 Finalists, Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network will receive a $2,500 scholarship to attend The Practical Innovator, a day-long executive education course on September 26th led by top faculty who teach innovation at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Each of the Top 100 Finalists is also in the running for the annual “People’s Choice Award,” selected through online balloting at https://chicagoinnovation.com/peoples-choice-award-voting/

Out of the Top 100 Finalists, the judges will select 10 winners of the Chicago Innovation Awards, as well as 10 winners of the Up-and-Comer Awards representing innovation in the start-up community, the Social Innovator Award, the Collaboration Award, and 3 Neighborhood Award winners, which will showcase innovation occurring in Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.  The winners will be invited to ring the NASDAQ Bell in New York City, invited to separate meetings with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Governor Bruce Rauner and Cook Count President Toni Preckwinkle, and receive widespread media recognition.

Chobani has revealed the eight participants of its Fall 2018 incubator programme, including the two inaugural participants in the company’s new Food Tech Residency Class.

Chobani announced earlier this year that it would launch the Food Tech Residency Class to support start-ups who have developed solutions which reduce waste and bring greater sustainability to the food value chain.

The two participants in the Class are Skyven Technologies and CinderBio, both of which have developed innovative solutions for the food processing industry.

Skyven has created a thermal energy solution which reduces fuel use, energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions for food processors, while CinderBio has developed an enzyme for dairy processors which works at much higher temperatures, in more acidic conditions, and faster than industrial enzymes available at the moment.

Meanwhile, the six participants in Chobani’s conventional incubator program are:

• • MatchaBar – a matcha tea company that distributes a shelf-stable bottled product across the US.
  • TeaSquares – a naturally caffeinated snack producer based in Chicago.
  • Ithaca Cold-Crafted – a producer of a premium hummus made using an innovative cold manufacturing process.
  • Haven’s Kitchen – a manufacturer of sauces made from a range of natural ingredients
  • Partake Foods – a line of allergy-friendly children’s’ food products.
  • Supernatural – a producer of allergy-friendly baking ingredients.

A statement from Chobani said: “Since 2016, the Chobani Incubator program has helped entrepreneurs with big hearts and ideas break into food and beverage industries through equity-free investment and a strong focus on mentorship.

“There is proof the model works: the Incubator’s first two classes have seen a 250% in total average growth in distribution, as well as an average 147% increase in quarterly revenue.

“Alumni have also launched over 30 new SKUs and several have achieved successful rebrands.”

Read the full article here

Tyson Foods Inc. said Chief Executive Tom Hayes is leaving at the end of this month for personal reasons, a surprise leadership shift as the top U.S. meat company revamps its strategy to prioritize branded meat products.

Tyson said Monday that Noel White, a longtime Tyson executive who has overseen chicken, beef and pork processing, will become its new chief executive.

Read the full article here

“I have always loved Chicago for its great food and performing arts,” said owner and creator Barton G. Weiss, “and what we have in store is nothing short of bold and culinarily insane.”

Chef Erwin Mallet (formerly of Chicago Firehouse and Webster’s Wine Bar) will head the Chicago kitchen, producing such eye-catching dishes as Thai Sexual Surf N Turf (spicy wings and baked grouper with coconut-pistachio chutney), presented alongside a flower-draped (fake) elephant head; and Marie Antoinette’s Head — Let Them Eat cake, which features a 2-foot-tall cotton-candy pompadour atop a mannequin head surrounded by cake and candy.

Read the full article here

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katlin Smith. Thanks for sharing your story with us Katlin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there. Simple Mills grew out of a dietary change that I made six years ago. I felt so much better and more energetic when I began eating real, whole foods that I decided I wanted to provide better and cleaner food choices for other people.

To read the full article click here

CHICAGO (WLS) --

Read the entire article from ABC7 here 

Diverse networks can foster new ways of thinking by connecting you to people whose viewpoints, insights, resources, and lived experiences differ from your own. 

Consider a 1985 study by Carnegie Mellon researcher Robert Kelley and Janet Caplan, who analyzed the characteristics of exceptional engineers at Bell Labs. According to their research, IQ didn’t explain the difference between top performers and average ones; star performers approached their jobs differently. The most-productive employees proactively developed relationships with other experts — and these networks were significantly more diverse than their average-performing colleagues’

To read the full article click HERE

Welcome to Kellogg Company’s 10th Global Corporate Responsibility Report. Annually, we’ve highlighted the work we’re doing around the world to fulfill our company’s purpose of nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive. We’re proud of our accomplishments during the past decade, and we’re even more proud of our company’s 112-year legacy of making a difference. 

Access the full .pdf report here