New York City, July 2, 2024/FINewswire/ – On June 24, The Well professional network including The Food Institute, US Veg Corp and Blossom in collaboration with RodeoCPG, Naturally New York and BeyondBrands, hosted a private reception during the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show in New York City. The event benefited Wellfare, a nonprofit providing food support programs to local families, and also recognized industry leaders in the food and beverage industry across the retail and food import sectors.
“Our work at Wellfare feeding those in need is only made possible by this incredible CPG community and groups like The Well. Since we launched, we’ve been rallying founders, brands, service providers, funds and more behind our mission, and events like this help us to galvanize support to help end food insecurity across this country,” said Cole Riley, CEO of Wellfare.
A portion of the event proceeds supported Wellfare, a nonprofit based in New York City which delivers premium and nutritious groceries directly to families in need. Wellfare’s Better Box programs with its better-for-you natural products support over 2,000 local families a month.
Attendees included Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods Market, who delivered the keynote presentation at the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show, and George Gellert, Chairman of the Board at Gellert Global Group, who received a lifetime achievement award from the Specialty Food Association for his contributions to the specialty food industry.
The event was organized in collaboration with RodeoCPG, Naturally New York and BeyondBrands, which together with The Well invited an influential group of founders, investors, advisors, retailers and other key partners in the industry.
“Our partnership with The Well has strengthened the dynamic of the CPG community. The enthusiasm at the networking event following the Summer Fancy Food Show exemplifies our shared commitment to innovation and industry growth. Naturally New York is proud to support initiatives that foster meaningful connections to help propel everyone’s business forward,” said Adrienne DeLisio, Executive Director of Naturally New York.”
The Well is providing thoughtful experiences for the CPG community that will create unique opportunities for founders, investors, and thought partners. The quality of conversations that I observed in New York were certainly indicative of this belief and I look forward to participating in future programming,” said Zachary DeAngelo, CEO of RodeoCPG a software platform which is reinventing how brands grow in retail and one of the hosts of the event.
The event was presented by lead sponsor Bank of America. Other sponsors included CohnReznick, Ito En, Oishii, ForceBrands, Secure CPG, Morrison Foerster, Wayflyer, Cipriani Food, Pretzelized Snacks, Gorgie, Aura Bora, Prestige Worldwide Logistics and Bae Juice.
“CohnReznick was proud to sponsor The Well event that benefited the organization Wellfare and brought together so many food and beverage businesses that our firm supports through advisory, assurance and tax services to help forward-thinking CPG and manufacturing businesses achieve their vision while optimizing performance, maximizing value, and managing risk.” said, Henrietta Fuchs, Partner and Co-Leader of the Manufacturing and Distribution Industry practice at the firm.
Sponsors including Pretzelized Snacks, Cipriani Food, Ito En, Oishii, Gorgie, Aura Bora and Bae Juice provided snacks and beverages for attendees at Legacy Records and for the 150 gift bags.
“We love attending and supporting events where founders and investors, along with key retailers like Whole Foods Market can spend quality time together during a busy trade show. We shared Pretzelized Snacks, our newest innovation combining two of your favorite snacks in one, oven-baked pretzel crackers and pretzel pita chips which have been authorized in over 10k locations since our launch this spring. It was also important to continue our support for Wellfare as we were among the first supporters of this impactful nonprofit that is very aligned with natural products brands and how they can nourish local families,” said Jason Cohen, co-founder of Pretzelized and a multi-exit founder of leading snack brands including Sensible Portion’s Veggie Straws & SkinnyPop.
“I had a great time at an event that supports over 2,000 NYC families each month. Events like this will surely support efforts to end food poverty across the nation. Thanks to the CPG community and groups like The Well who have united us and other service providers to stand with this transformative cause,” said Haittam Greib, CEO of Prestige Worldwide Logistics.
The Well hosted four events in New York City since May with the New York launch event with Hugo Boss in May, and with Entrepreneur Ventures during TechWeek in June, and is planning other programs this summer in New York, Los Angeles and at the Newtopia show in Denver in August.
“This was the event of the trade show in my humble opinion and demonstrates that The Well is helping to build something very special with our industry partners,” said William Iyawe-Parsons, part of the founding team of The Well and Founder of Cream of the Crop. “It was the highlight of my first visit to New York City, and I’m very excited the next events in July will be back in Los Angeles with our investor and brand partners.”
For more information about The Well, please contact: mark@followthewell.com.
About The Well
The Well is a membership-based organization committed to empowering the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and wellness community. Our mission is to engage with CPG and wellness companies to enhance the growth stages of their brand lifecycle, leveraging our network of members to connect them with the resources necessary for their business advancement.
Co-founders of The Well include professionals at Blossom.it, Cream of the Crop, The Food Institute, Force Brands, Happy Wellness Consulting, Planet LA Records, Poe Law PLLC, Roadmap Advisors, Narwhal Network, SMC Consulting, Two Shes Productions, US Veg Corp, Vierra Ventures, Vertage Foods and other companies.
Updates: #FollowTheWell and at www.followthewell.com and @followthewell on Instagram and LinkedIn
