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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 3 of the series features Alex Waite, cofounder of Shameless Pets, a pet food company making delicious dog treats using upcycled ingredients. Learn how Alex and her team are combating food waste by finding a productive use for unwanted ingredients, how she’s building a brand pet parents can trust, and why entering a space dominated by big corporations can be a great idea.

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. In part 2, we spoke to Moemen Abbas, CEO and founder of i-Bars Club, whose mission is to create internationally themed, healthy protein bars. Read on to learn how i-Bars Club tests new ideas, how an incredible team is driving his innovative products, and the secret ingredient in his soon to be released Tokyo-themed bar.

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. We’re kicking things off with Dale Roseman, CEO and founder of Veggie Table Foods, a maker of healthy twists on familiar foods. In this interview, Dale discussed how she developed her initial concept for her company, what makes her brand unique, and how building a great team became the foundation for her success.

There’s no one recipe for success in the food industry. The space is crowded and many verticals are dominated by massive corporations. How can a startup food brand succeed? This is the question we put to five startup founders at Branchfood, our community that promotes food entrepreneurship and innovation. Over the next five weeks, we’ll be publishing interviews with a few of the most exciting and promising food brand founders in our community to understand how they’re building standout brands and developing their products. Though each of these founders’ journeys is far from over, they’ve learned a lot that other founders can and should apply to their own businesses.

This is an exciting time of year as the MassChallenge Boston cohort was announced on May 23rd. 1,600 applicants from countries across the world competed and 128 startups have succeeded as finalists. Another exciting note about this cohort is that more than half (51%) of these startups include at least one female founder.

Here at Branchfood, we like to say, “Innovation will fix the food system.” Another way to put this is, “Disruption will innovate the food system.” Last week, innovation and disruption were on full display at the first-ever Food Edge Summit, a two-day “meeting of the food minds” in Boston’s Seaport District that brought together the entrepreneurs, scientists, thought leaders, and chefs who envision a food system that is safer, tastier, simpler, and better for all.

In the old days – meaning 20 years ago – Boston eaters had but a few options for filling their pantries and refrigerators. Some could find the ingredients they needed at a farmer’s market or a co-op, but most likely, we were visiting the local supermarket, with its lines, its crowds, and its fluorescent lighting. For many locals, it was Stop & Shop, which began in Somerville in 1914 as the family-owned Economy Grocery Store before adding dozens of stores throughout New England over the coming decades.

One cannot discuss food innovation without discussing food science. Scientific inquiry and innovation undergirds nearly every facet of food, from how and what we grow to the nutritional balance of foods we consume, and to the environmental sustainability of what we eat.

With every food revolution, expect to see a farm revolution. The reason for this is simple: as consumers demand more from their food – locally sourced, fresher, fewer chemicals, and the like – food innovators are working to shorten the distance between field and fork. Consequently, growers are changing their practices to accommodate this new, more transparent reality.

The Smart Kitchen Summit is the first and only event dedicated to mapping the future of food, cooking, and the kitchen. Branchfood is thrilled to be a marketing partner of the conference since its inception and we'll have someone there at the event! If you would like to connect with us, DM us on Twitter!

If you’re a member of the Branchfood coworking space, you may have noticed a few changes to our layout. There’s more to come! We’ve evolved into the largest community of food innovators in New England and realized a strong desire among our members to create, connect, and network with others in the industry. Partnered with the Perkins + Will architecture and design firm, we set out to create visual elements reflecting the spirited intention of Branchfood as a network and community for people launching and growing transformative food businesses.

From humble beginnings, Boston’s restaurant scene is fast developing a national reputation. Celebrities like Julia Child and Ming Tsai have added star power to the city for decades, and local favorites such as Mike’s Pastry and Legal Sea Food attract tourists by the droves. Now, the next generation of restaurant innovators is changing the face of Boston dining through technology like never before. As Sam Hiersteiner writes, “economic growth, a rising crop of young talent, burgeoning ethnic communities, and culinary innovation from the likes of MIT and Harvard are all contributing factors working in [Boston’s] favor.” Providing restaurateurs with a supportive environment to bolster business development, this primordial soup continues to nurture new ventures in a virtuous cycle of innovation that benefits newcomers and veterans alike. In an industry where the average profit margin is 3.7%, Boston innovators lay the groundwork for a whole new restaurant experience.

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturing is a leading global industry. Over the past ten years, food manufacturers have transformed business practices in response to changing consumer preferences. Campbell Soup, one of the largest CPG companies in the world, saw a decrease in profits of almost 20% in the last fiscal year, and is one of many Big Food companies that are experiencing the shift: since 2009, the top twenty-five food and beverage names in the United States lost the equivalent of $18B in market share to startups and small businesses. The entrepreneurs behind these smaller companies create products that reflect changing public values and build trust between company and consumer. Greater Boston has been an unsuspecting leader in CPG since the dawn of the NECCO wafer and cites companies like Schrafft's, Stacy's Pita Chips, and The Boston Beer Company as more recent success stories. Beyond brand, Boston is a place where innovative food product companies continue to launch and grow.

What do you do on your lunch break, besides eat? Socialize with colleagues, make a pharmacy run, eat chicken salad at your desk between emails? According to a study done by the hiring company OfficeTeam, Americans are increasingly falling into the latter category, with 29% saying they work through their breaks. New food startup Rootastes is hoping to bring a greater sense of community to the workplace through the oft-neglected lunch hour.

We are excited to be a Media Partner for Global AgInvesting’s 3rd Annual AgTech Week in Boston! The event will be held at the Marriott Long Wharf from June 26-28. There will be 19 panels and presentations including “Accelerating the Speed of AgTech Innovation,” “Funding AgTech – Lessons Learned from Investor Veterans,” and “Examining a Global Opportunity – Delivering AgTech to Emerging Markets.” The Branchfood community will receive a 15% discount off tickets by using the code “ATW17-Branchfood”.

In our endless quest to provide the best resources and community connections for New England based food entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups, and established businesses, we're thrilled to share our latest offering, Branchfood Community Membership! 

If you’re a Boston local, or planning a visit to the city, you know that you have no shortage of options when it comes to dining out. But paring down an extensive list of hotspots can be overwhelming, and there aren’t many resources available to find out where to go directly from the mouth of a local. A new website aims to solve this dilemma. If you know the vibe you’re after, or the cuisine, or the neighborhood, or even just the price point, The Food Lens offers to solve your dining dilemma with a few clicks.  

Every 3 minutes, a food allergy reaction sends someone to the emergency room– that is more than 200,000 emergency department visits per year. The number of people who have a food allergy is growing, but there is no clear answer as to why. As millions of Americans are diagnosed with food allergies, there is an increasing concern that research has not been keeping up.

This week I sat down with another recent addition to the Branchfood space: Eliza Wentworth, a multimedia producer whose work and interests lie in and around the world of food and craftsmanship—or, as she would describe it, the world of makers.

Snacking is trending. Everywhere you look, people are forgoing the “three square meals” regimen to incorporate more snacks and light meals into their day. But finding the coolest and newest products in the snacking world isn’t easy. Grocery shelves are overflowing with options, and it’s hard to know what to choose, especially, as Joyce Lee would argue, from a taste standpoint. Lee,

What pairs well with coffee? Julia Paino, the founder of Swoffle, would tell you it’s the stroopwafel. A stroopwafel, for those who may not be familiar with traditional Dutch snacks, is a cookie made up of two ultra-thin "waffles" sandwiched around a layer of oozy caramel. The cookie softens when placed over (or dunked into) a warm beverage. Julia, who launched Swoffle

BovControl, the fast-growing mobile livestock analytics platform, was founded in 2013. But, as co-founder Danilo Leao informed me, its roots go way back. When Danilo was a child on his father’s farm in Brazil, he was already experimenting with the way that data could be used to affect livestock productivity. At 12, he had taken on the duties of “tracking and tracing animals, understanding their activity, and understanding nature.”

What’s better than free food? Free food that helps promote a message of buying local! Read on to find out how you can enjoy some delicious snacks and beverages from your favorite local brands -- as well as some that may be new to you.

Across all cultures, food carries a significant social element. It’s meant to be seen, shared, and discussed. This makes food startups and social media a particularly strong pairing, as all of the major social networks lend themselves to doing those very things...

We're thrilled to announce that our annual [Will Work 4 Food] Job & Internship fair will be taking place on Tuesday, March 14th in partnership with the KITCHEN at the Boston Public Market.

Building innovative solutions to food system challenges requires diligent networking and a constant exchange of ideas, and a good summit does both. So, we here at Branchfood have done a bit of the heavy lifting for you and compiled this list of upcoming summits and other events -- all the way up until June!

The restaurant industry has been adapting to new technology at a rapid pace -- but we hardly notice, and that’s a good thing. New technology is a risky proposition. Sudden shifts can alienate consumers who are not interested in adapting to new ways of doing things. Over time, however, we’ve seen restaurants adapt to technologies that now seem commonplace -- online ordering, crowdsourced reviews, tablet-based POS systems (Toast, Square), and so on.

With the first snowfall, we can officially say it's winter here in Boston, and with winter comes the end of 2016. What better time is there to sit back and take a look at the past year? After all, a lot happened in the food world. There's no perfect place to start, so let's just dive in!