(VIDEO Podcast) The F&B-45 (A Monthly Series with Joel Warady)

Start
25 Aug 2020
(CDT)
End
1 Dec 2020
(CST)
Schedule
3 sessions
Location
(VIRTUAL EVENT)

Our popular video podcast series “The F&B-45” hosted by Joel Warady returns with a new monthly format and great, real conversations about issues impacting the food industry!

This conversational series provides a platform for Joel and his guests to explore pertinent issues impacting the food and beverage industry right now. Each panel includes a cross-section of perspectives from industry leaders to truly explore each topic and tackle the problems our industry is facing due to COVID-19 and other challenges. With each conversation Joel and his guests hope to highlight impactful work being done and find solutions and innovations for moving our industry forward.

Upcoming Episodes:

Tuesday, August 25th - Acquisitions in the Food Industry
Tuesday, November 3rd
Tuesday, December 1st

Our August episode features:

Matt Mattros, Founder, LIMITLESS

Matt Matros is one of America’s leading consumer-focused entrepreneurs. Matt is the founder of PROTEIN BAR & KITCHEN®, a wildly popular chain of healthy fast-casual restaurants with locations in Chicagoland, Washington D.C. and Denver. In 2013, Matt sold PROTEIN BAR & KITCHEN® to private equity firm L Catterton.

Matt also founded LIMITLESS®, an innovative beverage company whose caffeinated sparkling water can be found nationwide in Walmart stores as well as thousands of other retailers. He sold LIMITLESS® to Keurig Dr Pepper in early 2020.

After the sale of LIMITLESS®, Matt sought to reconcept LIMITLESS Coffee & Tea®, a high-end coffee shop that showcased LIMITLESS® products. Armed with the desire to transform the concept’s River North location, he turned to fellow Chicago entrepreneur and hospitality veteran Arturo Gomez, who co-founded some of Chicago’s most iconic restaurants and nightclubs — including Sunda, Rockit Bar & Grill, and Underground.

Seeing an opportunity to lead Chicago’s “third space” wave, they created Edie’s All Day Café & Bar, an upscale, fast-casual café and bar located in the Wells corridor of Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Matt and Arturo, along with partner and Chef Chris Dunstatter (formerly of Chicago’s 694 Wine & Spirits), concepted Edie’s to bridge the gap between home, work, coffee bar and restaurant, for professionals and individuals on-the-go.

Ryan Freeman, Managing Director, Harris Williams' Consumer Group

Mr. Freeman has advised private and publicly traded companies on mergers, acquisitions, capital raising, and strategic advisory assignments across a broad range of sectors in the food and beverage and restaurant and retail segments. Prior to joining Harris Williams, Mr. Freeman worked as a vice president in the Food and Agriculture practice at Lazard Middle Market and as an associate in the Debt Capital Markets practice at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital. Previous experience also includes performing various roles in corporate finance, strategic planning, and global marketing at Eli Lilly & Co.

Mr. Freeman received his M.B.A. from the University of Rochester, where he was a Simon Leadership Fellow, and he graduated with a B.A. in economics from Wabash College.

Joel Warady (Series Host), CFBN Chairman, Speaker & Strategic Advisor

Joel Warady recently ended his tenure as General Manager, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of Enjoy Life Foods, a leading brand in the North American Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly food and snack category that experienced 18 consecutive years of growth under his guidance. In 2015, Joel was part of the two-person management team that successfully negotiated an acquisition by Mondelez International.

In the past few years, he has been ranked as one of the Top 50 CMOs on Twitter by Social Media Marketing Magazine, one of the Top 50 Most Influential CMOs on Social Media by Forbes.com, was included in Brand Quarterly magazine’s list of 50 Marketing Thought Leaders Over 50, and most recently recognized as Twitter’s Most Influential Marketers by AgencySpotter. Post-acquisition, Joel was tapped to provide valuable insights to the Mondelez management team in helping them create best practices on how best to merge the culture of emerging brands whose foundations are built on trust and transparency, while taking advantage of the global expertise that a large multinational can bring to the business. He played varying roles in Mondelez’s investments in Hu Kitchen, Perfect Snacks, and Uplift Foods.

Did you miss an episode?

Visit our Virtual Library for FREE access to all previous episodes of the series: CLICK HERE!

Show details

(WEBINAR) MONDAY @11 (Monthly Series)

Start
31 Aug 2020
(CDT)
End
7 Dec 2020
(CST)
Schedule
4 sessions
Location
(VIRTUAL WEBINAR)

CFBN, in partnership with Bader Rutter's Intel Distillery, presents our hit series with its' new monthly format!

Each week, The Intel Distillery keeps you informed on the influential and ever-changing conversations across the food production system. Thank you for joining us over the past few months, as CFBN has tapped this great resource for our weekly Monday @11 series! The series is now moving to a new monthly format and we are excited to continue this great FREE web series to keep the Network informed!

Upcoming Episodes:

Monday, October 5th
Monday, November 2nd
Monday, December 7th

Joining us for this conversation from the Bader Rutter/Intel Distillery team:

Nick Praznowski, Team Leader - Editorial/Content – with a long background in food marketing, Nick helped start The Intel Distillery in 2011 and serves as the functional lead for strategy and content.
Dennis Ryan, Executive Creative Director – celebrating a successful career advertising and marketing CPG food products, Dennis serves as creative director, copy editor and chief promoter to translate The Intel Distillery’s analysis into actionable insights for subscribers and clients.
Betsy Rado, Team Leader – with an extensive experience in food and ag marketing, Betsy has served as an adviser and content creator to bring clients business driving insights from The Intel Distillery since 2012.
Kyle Church, Content Specialist has been an integral part of The Intel Distillery team since 2014 and heads up the quantitative analysis and technical functions. Kyle researches and writes a good share of The Intel Distillery content.

The team behind Bader Rutter’s The Intel Distillery has partnered with CFBN to host this monthly chat series breaking down the headlines from the previous week impacting the food and beverage industry. Using The Intel Distillery’s Friday by Noon newsletter as a guide.

Since 2012, The Intel Distillery has tracked the top stories from the most influential voices in the business. From farm fields to consumer plates, the Chicago-based team has diligently categorized and catalogued everything important in food, beverage and agriculture to outline a clear picture of what's happening and who's driving the conversations on our industry.

(Subscribe here for Friday by Noon weekly.)

Monday @11 is a monthly FREE, webinar offering produced in partnership with CFBN member company, Bader Rutter!

Missed an episode?

Visit our Virtual Library to catch up with all previous episodes!

Show details

(VIRTUAL EVENT) Retail & Distribution: Future Innovations

When
24 Sep 2020
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (CDT)
Location
(VIRTUAL EVENT)

With retail sampling and the basic retail model of relationships no longer doable, how do you pivot and adjust?

What does the future of distribution look like and how will that impact your business overall?

Join us to look to the future for a conversation exploring what innovations progressive companies are using right now to adjust and tackle retail and distribution challenges we are all facing!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN US VIA ZOOM FOR THIS FREE EVENT!

Joining us for this panel discussion:

Fernando de Buen Lopez, Director of Innovation, Relish Works

Keith Fix, Founder & CEO, Retail Aware
Keith Fix is an award-winning serial entrepreneur having launched, scaled, and sold multi-million dollar ventures in the retail and technology space. He began his career building out the CRM for a Fortune 500 apparel brand, before launching a retail technology integration business serving thousands of locations worldwide.

Currently, Keith is the Founder & CEO of Retail Aware. With offices in Chicago and Omaha, Retail Aware helps brands and retailers drive ROI on insights from real-time consumer engagement and execution data. Since 2018, the company has grown to reach 200 markets, measuring millions of shoppers and over a million product engagements each month.

Audre Kapacinskas, Vice President, S2G Ventures
Audre Kapacinskas is a Vice President at S2G Ventures, where she focuses on unlocking value for S2G, its portfolio companies and strategic partners. Throughout her career, Audre has worked at the intersection of technology, strategy and operations to incubate new ideas and drive growth across organizations. Prior to S2G, Audre was a Director of Sales and Corporate Strategy at a predictive analytics start-up delivering artificial intelligence and IoT solutions to the Industrial sector. She started her career at a boutique strategy consulting firm working with private equity firms and corporate clients with growth acceleration, value assessments and investment diligence. Audre is a Fulbright Scholar, holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto and an MA from Vilnius University.

Alex Marx, Director of Category Management, KeHE Distributors
Alex is a Director on the Category Management team at KeHE Distributors, who has been serving at KeHE for ten years and has held positions in Sales, eCommerce, Space Management, and Growth Solutions. Alex has been specializing in the beverage category for years, although his expertise is all-things natural/specialty. Alex is also a proud sofi™ award judge for the Specialty Food Association. Alex received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Food & Consumer Packaged Goods Marketing from Western Michigan University.

This is a FREE virtual event being offered by CFBN - pre-register now to reserve your spot (CLICK HERE TO JOIN US VIA ZOOM)

This event is being presented in partnership with CFBN member companies, Relish Works and KeHE!

Show details

(VIRTUAL EVENT) Food Safety, Traceability, and Recall in a Post-COVID world

When
1 Oct 2020
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM (CDT)
Location
(VIRTUAL EVENT)

With health and safety being of top concern for many people today, food safety is now more important than ever. Join us as we discuss innovations and technologies that help companies approach food safety in a more efficient and more effective way - especially in a post-covid environment!