You have to love Forge. The upstart coworking space is moving quickly, gaining traction, and working really hard to bring compelling programming to the community. And their latest venture opens up a whole new community for them. Forge has launched a food accelerator.
FORGE: FOOD is currently accepting applications for their inaugural food accelerator beginning October 1, 2014. Foodpreneurs looking to scale their product into a regional or national business will benefit from this 6-week accelerator program. Accepted applicants will focus on building a solid foundation in finance, operations, marketing, branding, legalities and building relationship with some of Portland’s food experts. By the end of the 6 weeks foodpreneurs will be in a position to decide if they should aggressively scale to a national brand, or focus on operational efficiency to develop stronger local demand for their product.
According to Forge founder Rob Bart, “Portland’s food companies are an incredible opportunity for our community to create sustainable local jobs which cannot be exported. New food producers are incredibly talented creators with a passion to bring new products to market but often need support to build a business around their product. There is palpable excitement to help these individuals and this program does exactly that.”
The Forge program is underwritten by tuition from the participants. Selected companies will pay $1500 to participate in the program. And that gains them access to space and an impressive list of mentors.
For more information on the program, visit Forge.
