Experience Sunrise on the Inside: Waku, a Modern Twist on an Ancient Tea

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Experience Sunrise on the Inside: Waku, a Modern Twist on an Ancient Tea

This week we’re delighted to speak with Juan Giraldo and Nico Estrella, founders of WAKU plant-based tonics, whose mission is to revive the body and spirit through the time-tested knowledge and homegrown flavors of Ecuador. Learn more about their successful pivot to a direct-to-consumer model in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as some of the strategies they leveraged to succeed in this unprecedented environment.

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Diving into Food Investment with Lisa Sebesta

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Diving into Food Investment with Lisa Sebesta

In our last Member Monday highlight of 2020, we’re thrilled to feature Branchfood member Lisa Sebesta, founder of Sitari Capital! At Sitari, Lisa works with investors who are interested in food and agriculture investing to achieve their financial and impact goals. Their mission is to help investors support these impactful businesses utilizing financing solutions that work for both the investor and the company.

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Creating a Resource Network for Food Businesses with The Kitchen Network

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Creating a Resource Network for Food Businesses with The Kitchen Network

Branchfood member Ian Pasquarelli has always had a passion for supporting, educating, and empowering the communities he lives and works in. Coming from a small town in Aroostook County, Maine, he developed a strong work ethic and sense of community that’s driven him to where he is today. As the founder and owner of The Kitchen Network, a Boston-based food business consultancy, Ian knows that there is no greater way to connect than through food.

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Fostering a Local Food Community with Fork Food Lab's Bill Seretta

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Fostering a Local Food Community with Fork Food Lab's Bill Seretta

A longtime supporter of food entrepreneurs, Bill Seretta got his start working in the restaurant industry before moving on to for-profit and non-profit businesses in human services, environmental education, food service, retail computer sales, Internet services, higher education and business consulting. Now primarily focused on food, Bill dedicates his time to supporting the local food system by creating the Maine Food System Innovation Challenge and taking a role as Executive Director at Fork Food Lab.

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How one Branchfood Member is Introducing Sparkling Wine to the Masses

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How one Branchfood Member is Introducing Sparkling Wine to the Masses

When Branchfood member Matthew Demma left his native Boston in 2013 to pursue a career in food, he quickly realized his love of wine watching the sommelier at the joint butcher shop-restaurant he worked at. Seven years later, Matthew is a sommelier himself studying for his Champagne Master Level certification through the Wine Scholars Guild.

After returning to Boston last year, Matthew saw an opportunity to launch a business built on this passion. He founded Perlage Sparkling Wine Club in July 2020, offering members the opportunity to experience a sommelier-curated selection of sparkling wines, a total of 18 bottles during the twelve-month subscription, along with a cookbook in each shipment. Perlage’s mission is to teach members how to integrate sparkling wine into their everyday lives, enjoyed outside of just special occasions.

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Improving your Digital Presence and Content Marketing with Nature & Nurture

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Improving your Digital Presence and Content Marketing with Nature & Nurture

Member Monday returns with a spotlight on Elise Yost, Account & Marketing Strategist at Nature and Nurture Creative. Elise’s background is in marketing with an emphasis on the food industry and small businesses. She and the team at Nature & Nurture help clients succeed in the food and beverage space through dedicated partnerships. Read on to learn Elise’s top tips for working remotely, long-lasting marketing trends that arose from COVID-19, and what makes marketing in the food world unique!

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Launching Allergen-Friendly Consumer Products with Freed Foodies

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Launching Allergen-Friendly Consumer Products with Freed Foodies

Freed Foodies founder Daniel Brassloff was dissatisfied with gluten-free pizza and other baked good options on the market. After being diagnosed with tree-nut allergies in 2000 and Celiac in 2006, he has tried his best to support brands making great products for those who follow a gluten-free diet. After starting his gluten-free microwave-made mug cake business, MuggedCake, with a few of his peers at Babson College and spending a semester abroad in college studying Gastronomy at CETT university, he set out to experiment with flour blends and come up with a formulation he knew he could stand behind.

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Using Video to Elevate Food Brand Marketing and Awareness

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Using Video to Elevate Food Brand Marketing and Awareness

Driven by passion for innovation and humanity’s growth, Tom Dodge and the team at NewView.Media guides brands through pre-production, filming and video editing to craft creative content that engages, educates and encourages action. In 2019, the company produced 413 videos across 85 marketing, event, and fundraising campaigns! All of Tom and his team’s dedication and hard work has paid off — NewView.Media earned “Best Business Video Marketing Agency - Greater Boston” from Corporate Vision Magazine’s Media Innovator Awards.

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Balancing Family, Nutrition, and a Successful CPG Business with Little Pickins

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Balancing Family, Nutrition, and a Successful CPG Business with Little Pickins

Providing nutritious, delicious food for her family was always important to Branchfood member Jenn Bingham, but with a busy work schedule, it wasn’t always easy — she is a working mom, Physician Assistant, and certified natural foods chef after all! When Jenn couldn’t find a healthy frozen food option that her young daughter would love, she decided to take matters into her own hands. After meeting Co-Founder Kelly Wannier, the two launched Little Pickins, which offers nutritious, gummable, frozen finger food for ages 10 months plus.

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Bringing Mindfulness to the Local Food Movement with Fork on a Road

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Bringing Mindfulness to the Local Food Movement with Fork on a Road

Inspired by a lifetime of vegetarianism and the diversity of flavors sourced from around the world, Branchfood member Suman Shah set out to launch Fork on a Road. Suman founded this food-centric business on the belief that cooking is an opportunity to be present and connect with loved ones. She is using her 20+ years of experience in marketing, strategy and collaboration to grow Fork on a Road and provide vegan and vegetarian meal kits, specialty spices, recipes, cooking classes, and chronicles that nourish life.

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On the Perillas Menu: Dignity, Respect, and Bibimbap

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On the Perillas Menu: Dignity, Respect, and Bibimbap

This week, our Member Monday campaign highlights James Choi, founder of Perillas, a fast-casual Korean eatery specializing in bibimbap, a traditional Korean rice dish topped with vegetables and meat. Through a career in finance and consulting, James saw just how much leadership and culture affects the workplace. Attending Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary to learn about Workplace Leadership and Ethics, he started shaping Perillas’ culture and values rooted in the treatment of people with dignity and respect; a focus on people which ultimately creates more value than focusing primarily on profits; and sharing in the joy of delicious and healthy Korean food in a fast, convenient, and affordable way. Following the launch of Perillas catering and a temporary pop-up location, James is opening a permanent storefront in Bow Market this summer. Read on to learn about the inspiration behind the company, mission-driven businesses, and more.

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Building Products that Customers Trust: Learn how Rootastes Launched One of Boston's Leading Catering Businesses

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Building Products that Customers Trust: Learn how Rootastes Launched One of Boston's Leading Catering Businesses

Member Monday continues this week with a spotlight on Mint Pattanan, founder and CEO of Rootastes. After moving from Thailand to Boston for graduate school, Mint founded Rootastes in 2016 with a mission to change the way office employees eat their lunch. Rootastes is designed for companies run by people who believe that taking good care of their team is smart business and the right thing to do. In addition to office lunch delivery, Rootastes recently launched their Fresh Baskets service. These weekly farm fresh baskets deliver a mix of fresh fruits, seasonal veggies and proteins plus local goodies. Rootastes is offering Branchfood followers 10% off their first Fresh Basket order — use code BF10 at checkout!

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Delivering the Farmers Market to Your Front Door with Market 2day

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Delivering the Farmers Market to Your Front Door with Market 2day

Up next in our Member Monday campaign is Insa Elliott, co-founder of Market 2day. Insa’s background in technology and business strategy led her and her co-founder, Stephanie Marmer, to launch a solution for making local food more accessible to Greater Boston community. The Market 2day app seeks to support the local food community and bolster sustainability by giving farmers a direct-to-consumer (DTC) delivery platform and allowing consumers to shop small.

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Bountiful's Restaurant-Quality Meals from Home

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Bountiful's Restaurant-Quality Meals from Home

This week, Member Monday features Julian Cohen, Founder and CEO of Bountiful Kitchen. Bountiful is a community-driven dinner delivery service based in Somerville that works with local chefs, farms, and artisans to provide a fresh and seasonal rotating dinner menu featuring restaurant-quality dishes. Keep reading to learn about launching a business during a pandemic, partnering with local farms and chefs, and more. Don’t forget to check out Julian’s Instagram takeover on our Member Monday highlight!

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Tasting Global Flavors with Naturel Juicing

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Tasting Global Flavors with Naturel Juicing

Our third installment of Member Monday highlights Nagélore Jean-Caïdor, founder of Naturel Juicing. Naturel Juicing creates fresh, nutrient dense, 100% raw cold-pressed juices, with no additives, preservatives or chemicals. These juices have globally-inspired flavors and seek to support a healthy life. Keep reading to learn about the process behind creating health-forward juices, balancing a day job with founding a startup, and more. If you missed Nagélore’s Instagram takeover, head over to our Member Monday Highlight to check it out.

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Health + Flavor — The Perfect Recipe for FlavaNaturals Chocolate

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Health + Flavor — The Perfect Recipe for FlavaNaturals Chocolate

Member Monday continues with a spotlight on Alan Frost, Founder of FlavaNaturals. FlavaNaturals specializes in performance-fueling (and tasty!) dark chocolate and cocoa powder products delivering cocoa flavanol levels proven to enhance brain, cardio and metabolic function. Keep reading to learn more about Alan’s successful career and the driving force behind FlavaNaturals. And, if you missed the Instagram sorry, check out the Member Monday Highlight on our page.

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Discover Spritzal Cookie Company + Branchfood Member Monday

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Discover Spritzal Cookie Company + Branchfood Member Monday

At Branchfood we strive to support the efforts of our industry-leading members and highlight their great work in many ways. To that end, we launched Member Monday, a campaign that seeks to support members’ and their efforts in building industry transformative businesses. Tune in to check out our members taking over our Instagram and revealing what inspired their entrepreneurial pursuits, how they launched their products, and what is in store for their future.

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Know Your Food Entrepreneurs #7: Liat Racin, Founder and CEO of Tamim Teas

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An Interview with Liat Racin, Founder and CEO of Tamim Teas. Liat first learned about medicinal mushrooms when her good friend contracted an immune deficiency disease and was recommended to integrate functional mushrooms into his diet for immune system support. She soon started to carefully pair these functional mushrooms with tasty organic herbs to enhance the flavor and health properties of each mushroom, all-naturally. She strives for her community to enjoy medicinal mushrooms in the same way they have been used for centuries, in a tea, and without any processed ingredients from unknown sources. Nothing brings her more joy than sharing the gift of a delicious mushroom tea that stays true to tradition.

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Planting the Seeds of Growth - How Bohana is Bringing One of India’s Favorite Snacks to the U.S.

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Our blog series, “Five Food Startups Winning the Branding Battle,” is all about founders at rising startups in the Branchfood community who are launching the next wave of exciting food brands. We spoke to five incredible founders about product development, branding and marketing, and the success stories they’ve experienced so far. Wrapping up our series is Nadine Habayeb, cofounder and CEO of Bohana, a snack food brand selling popped water lily seeds. Join us as we hear from Nadine how she and her cofounder, Priyal Bhartiya, built their own global supply chain, why brands have to reflect consumers’ lifestyles, and the harrowing story of how they made it to Expo West this year.

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Making Mealtime More Mindful - How Kinsho is Getting People to Slow Down and Pay Attention to Food

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Our new blog series, “Five Food Startups Winning the Branding Battle,” is all about founders at rising startups in the Branchfood community who are launching the next wave of exciting food brands. We spoke to five incredible founders about product development, branding and marketing, and the success stories they’ve experienced so far. Part 4 features Heather Sears, founder of Kinsho (formerly Kensho Kitchen), a retailer of kitchen products based on the idea of mindful eating and food choices. In this interview, you’ll learn Heather’s approach to starting her own online retailer, how her mission drives her decision-making, and why she’s changing the name of her company.

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