Griffith Foods is excited to announce a five-year innovation partnership with The Hatchery Chicago.
The Hatchery is a joint venture between three prominent Chicago nonprofits – Accion Chicago, ICNC, and IFF – and will meet demand for three major areas of need for food and beverage entrepreneurs: access to production space, financing, and resources.
Griffith Foods’ partnership with the food incubator brings a ‘shared value’ approach to action – positively impacting the organization, the community and innovative entrepreneurs, according to Brian Griffith, fourth-generation executive chairman of Griffith Foods.
“As a Purpose-driven organization, we are focused on blending our unique skills, core capabilities and global reach with innovative thinkers and doers in the food industry to find solutions to nourish a growing world,” Griffith said. “I am confident this partnership will bring new ways for us to live our Purpose – to help us Blend Care and Creativity to Nourish the World.”
Griffith Foods will leverage its core capabilities of food science, sensory science, consumer insight and culinary expertise in serving as a primary category partner for food ingredient application and development, and will provide an expert-in-residence and cross-functional leadership team to assist entrepreneurs.
The company will also serve as a customer to food start-ups which will help scale product innovations to others in the industry.
The Hatchery Chicago estimates that 900 jobs will be created over the next five years, with space for 75 to 100 entrepreneurs in the new facility. A ground-breaking ceremony was held on Tuesday, October 24 at 3100 West Lake Street.
Currently, the Hatchery is located in a business incubator in the West Town neighborhood of Chicago and has 55 members in packaged goods, meal delivery services and catering.
The new partnership with The Hatchery provides opportunities to accelerate innovation, impacting the entire industry, said TC Chatterjee, Griffith Foods’ CEO.
“The food industry is constantly evolving, and changes are happening faster now than ever before,” Chatterjee said. “No single organization can achieve all that is needed, so building the right partnerships, like with The Hatchery’s entrepreneurs, will elevate our ability to develop new products and solutions that consumers will want and need in the future.”
Natalie Shmulik, the food business consultant who manages the program, said Griffith’s expertise, entrepreneurial legacy and care for the community and partners is a valuable asset to The Hatchery’s members.
“The Hatchery Chicago is honored to be partnering with Griffith Foods- a prominent Chicago food business that stems from the same entrepreneurial mindset as many of our own entrepreneurs,” Shmulik said. “Being able to tap into the longstanding expertise of this company will be a huge value to our members and the food innovation community as a whole. Together we will be able to equip entrepreneurs with the tools they need for success. We look forward to a long-lasting partnership.”
Griffith Foods’ partnership agreement also includes a yearly internship program, educational sessions to be conducted by Griffith Foods employee experts, and other opportunities to share and grow insights.
