Member News & Headlines Blog

MADISON, WI – April 17, 2018 – Kinsa Group announced today they have been recognized by Forbes, Inc. as one of 2018’s America’s Best Professional Recruiting Firms.

Working with market research company Statista, Forbes, Inc. set out to identify the most well respected recruiters in the United States. Forbes, Inc. compiled a top 250 ranking of the best recruiting firms based on recommendations from thousands of recruiters, professionals, and hiring managers. Of the 250 recruiting firms named, Kinsa Group is the only firm that exclusively focuses on food and beverage industry hires.

On average, Kinsa Group places 75 food and beverage industry professionals and executives annually in C-Suite, Sales/Marketing, Food Production/Operations, Food Safety/Quality, R&D/Product Development, Supply Chain/Procurement, Engineering, Finance and HR roles. Kinsa Group clients are located all across the US, with significant concentrations in Illinois, Wisconsin, California, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Florida.

“I am excited that Kinsa Group’s relatively small recruiting team was nominated by numerous clients and talented professionals in the food industry niche for our quality of communication and process as well as selection of talent and jobs. It is a great recognition for our hard work and dedication to making Kinsa Group a leader in food and beverage executive search and recruiting,” said Kinsa Group Vice President, Laurie Hyllberg. “We are proud of this accomplishment and our ability to serve the food and beverage marketplace for 33 years as consultants to identify, recruit and match top talent for a variety of critical food industry positions.”

About Kinsa Group

Kinsa Group is an executive search firm based in Milwaukee, WI that specializes in the placement of management, director, vice president and C-suite level positions within the food and beverage industry. Kinsa Group’s parent company, ABR Employment Services, helps connect people to jobs and provides workforce solutions to companies in Wisconsin. ABR is an eight-time recipient of Inavero’s Best of Staffing® Awards.

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The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network is partnering with the SmartFood Expo & Conference in an exciting opportunity for your company and our industry to raise our profile and reach key wholesalers, retailers and foodservice executives.

The inaugural SmartFood Expo & Conference will take place June 25-27, 2018 at Chicago’s McCormick Place and is powered by United Fresh Produce Association, EnsembleIQ and Progressive Grocer. This NEW food and beverage event will offer the following:

• SmartFood conference sessions driven by retail, food industry and market experts

• In depth Learning Center right on the show floor for further education and networking

• 10,000+ attendees from multiple wholesale, retail and foodservice channels, as well as food industry leaders, venture capital firms and other investors

• 100's of complementary exhibitors and sponsors from the fresh, healthy and better-for-you food sector

• National food media and bloggers looking for the next big thing in food

The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network will host “The Chicagoland Food & Beverage Start-Up Zone” on the SmartFood Expo floor to promote food and beverage start-up companies in the city of Chicago. SmartFood Expo is making booth space available to CFBN member companies at a rate of $995 that includes a branded kiosk, allowing attendees to sample products and drive success.

The SmartFood Expo is held alongside four existing trade shows, which attracted 7,500 attendees and more than 700 exhibiting companies last year. United Fresh hosts United FreshMKT featuring hundreds of fruit and vegetable marketers, reaching retail and foodservice fresh foods buyers. In addition, co-located events focus on technology innovations in fresh foods (United FreshTEC), cold chain management (Global Cold Chain Expo) and the global floral business (International Floriculture Expo).

The new SmartFood Expo offers local start-ups and next-stage firms with a high-profile opportunity in a well-established trade show that already attracts many of the supermarket and restaurant buyers that you want to reach.

For further information, please contact Nina Sader at 202-303-3401 nina@smartfoodexpo.org.

Food Business News by Donna Berry

CHICAGO — “If companies stop competing for a second and start collaborating, there’s a lot we can do,” said Derk Hendriksen, vice-president and general manager of the Ekocenter project for the Coca-Cola Co., Atlanta, at Tyson Foods’ Chicago office last week. Tyson hosted the monthly breakfast meeting of the Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary.

Read the entire article here. 

Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network, approaching its one-year anniversary, is well on its way to creating a space (a value network, if you will) where innovative startups and established giants can connect, talk, and collaborate.

Our Innovation Breakfast on April 12 proved that mission -- packed out with more than 200 members and event sponsors. One guest speaker summed it up perfectly with an African proverb, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” 

For more than 60 minutes, industry giants, Coca-Cola and Tyson, spoke of their strategies and sustainability initiatives, specifically how they pursue growth while still caring for the well-being of the community.

Justin Whitmore, Corporate Strategy and Chief Sustainability Officer at Tyson, shared his company’s recent endeavors: investing in alternative food companies, including one that utilizes unused food; reducing greenhouse gases by 30% and establishing an initiative to preserve soils used in production. “When you bring together food companies, the communities we serve, and the environment, something special can happen,” added Whitmore. “That’s how we feel about being part of the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network.”

Coca-Cola’s Business Integration executive and EkoCenter GM, Derk Hendriksen added, “When you stop competing [with each other] for a second and start collaborating – there’s a lot you can do!” Hendriksen grew up in a socially conscious family and is influenced by it today, professionally and personally. “We can’t just create value for ourselves. We need to think: What is our role in society? Our [business] strategies have consequences,” says Hendriksen.

Today Hendriksen is helping Coca Cola navigate sustainability opportunities, primarily in distressed parts of the world. His work focuses on three major priorities: strategic acquisitions; becoming water neutral (whatever is taken from a community, they want to give back); and empowering five million global women to start a business.

These are no small priorities…the last two were developed with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in mind and with the knowledge they would need to work closely with NGOs, governments, and communities to make a global impact. Through the Coca-Cola EkoCenter there are 150 solar powered EkoCenter Kiosks run by women, used to sell products and services. Together, they are accelerating development of underserved communities around the world..

16-Apr-2018 Food Navigator By Mary Ellen Shoup

A year since launching the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network, executive director Alan Reed has said the message of connecting the Chicago food community, an area with more than 4,500 companies, has spread like wildfire with major industry players joining the cause.

Read the article and watch the video here. 

Crain's Chicago Business by Brigid Sweeney

"Innovative startups and larger companies with enormous resources and talent are coming together here in an unprecedented way," says Alan Reed, a former executive vice president at trade association Dairy Management who now oversees the Chicagoland Food & Beverage Network, which links entrepreneurs with mentors and opportunities from big companies. He says Chicago's ingrained expertise—the area is already home to 4,500 food and beverage companies that employ more than 130,000 people—makes it stand out. "The coasts don't have the infrastructure and talent that we do."

Read the article here.

The Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network started almost a year ago with the mission to make Chicago the ‘Silicon Valley of Food and Beverage.’ Today, it’s gearing up for new projects including a seed fund for minority entrepreneurs, and creating a database of co-packers.

The Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network started almost a year ago with the mission to make Chicago the ‘Silicon Valley of Food and Beverage.’ Today, it’s gearing up for new projects including a seed fund for minority entrepreneurs, and creating a database of co-packers.

Find this entire article by FoodNavigator by clicking this link: http://ow.ly/L21530jcYYO

The future for food and beverage brands is not about market share, it is about mindshare, says Neil Saunders from GlobalData. “If you have a strong brand that is front of mind for consumers, you have a much better chance of being successful.” 

Click the link to read the full article by Stephen Daniells on FoodNavigator.com http://ow.ly/khSv30jbCKt

We had a great evening at The Hatchery Chicago, both networking and learning from IRI’s Executive Vice President, Larry Levin,  a recognized thought leader in new product innovation. Larry shared IRI’s thoughts and ideas surrounding the challenging and highly rewarding world of innovation sparked by small, “dark horse” brands.

 New product innovation is a cornerstone to success for any company in the consumer packaged goods space. Many companies rely on as much as 10% of their annual sales coming from new product launches. The trend of smaller companies quickly winning in today’s CPG environment has created a new mantra for “failing fast” so that time is not wasted getting new products to market. In IRI’s most recent New Product Pacesetters, 40% of new brands were from small, or “dark horse”, companies. These companies are surprising and delighting consumers across the country with new products that are “designed for me”. These small companies are breaking through with innovation and sparking a consumer innovation revolution.

Larry's slide deck can be accessed here. 

Food Scientist: the 8th most in demand job. Why are food scientist jobs hot in Chicagoland in 2018? Crain's Chicago Business asked our Network executive director. Read his interview for the scoop!