FamilyFarmed

Financing Conference Insights: When Big Food Sees The Good In Good Food

There have been a few headline-grabbing Big Food purchases of Good Food companies that have involved huge amounts of money. There are stalwart Good Food advocates who cringe at this development. Those who support or are at least sanguine about the new reality say, however, that the Good Food ecosystem benefits from Big Food’s acknowledgement and intersection with Good Food. We share insights on this important topic from FamilyFarmed’s Financing & Innovation Conference, held June 19 in Chicago.

FamilyFarmed

Financing Conference Insights: Foraker On Importance Of Mission and Values

John Foraker shared his experiences as former CEO of Annie’s Homegrown and current CEO of the Once Upon A Farm organic fresh baby food company (co-founded by actress Jennifer Garner) at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference in Chicago on June 19. The entrepreneurs in attendance gained plenty of tips on scaling up a startup business, developing new products, taking risks and learning from what did not succeed. They also came away with one guiding principle from one of the pioneers in organic consumer packaged goods.

Oh Baby: Former Annie’s CEO Brings Good Food To The Small Set At Once Upon A Farm

During his more than a decade and a half leading Annie’s Inc., John Foraker played a pioneering role in creating the market sector for organic versions of popular consumer packaged goods (CPGs) such as macaroni-and-cheese mix, crackers and breakfast cereals. Foraker was so successful building the Annie’s Homegrown product line that General Mills bought the company in 2014 for $820 million. So what is Foraker doing for an encore? He, with other innovators who include actress Jennifer Garner, has co-founded Once Upon A Farm, which is spearheading an effort to create a new retail category for fresh, organic, refrigerated baby food.

FamilyFarmed

Learn From (And Meet) Industry Stars At Financing & Innovation Conference

FamilyFarmed, a leading nonprofit advocate for a better food system, is happy to introduce you to the program for its 8th annual Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference. The Midwest’s premier business gathering focused on locally and sustainably produced food will be held Tuesday, June 19 at the Morgan Manufacturing event space in Chicago’s West Loop — and it has its strongest-ever lineup of industry experts discussing cutting-edge issues.