From pitch competitions to retailers, success is all about the art of the sale.
Join us on Wednesday, April 16 at 5:00 pm in the Downtown Market Banquet Room for Culinary Conversations: Sales Success Simplified!
At this free-to-attend event, entrepreneurs and coaches will come together to share with you the tools needed to elevate your sales strategies, enhance your customer engagement skills, and deliver winning pitches.
Whether you're a food truck owner, packaged food producer, caterer or aspiring entrepreneur, this event offers something for everyone. Network with other food and beverage entrepreneurs, meet industry experts, gain valuable insights, and leave with the confidence to transform your food marketing approach.
Guest Speakers:
Marissa Fellows, Great Lakes Tinned Fish
Marissa is the founder of Great Lakes Tinned Fish, the first, Midwest-based tinned fish company sourcing exclusively from the Great Lakes region. Her mission to bring people together – through shared space and common ground – is a guiding force behind the startup and all other community initiatives she is part of. The business was built on three principles:
Celebrating Great Lakes flavor and culinary innovation.
Supporting sustainable fishing practices and the region’s commercial fishing industry.
Embody the midwest spirit of hospitality.
Under her leadership, Great Lakes Tinned Fish has won the Sunset Foods Top Innovator Award, Start Garden Demo Day grant and an Elite 8 placement at Midwest House Pitch Competition (an unofficial SXSW event); the product is now available in 60+ retailers across 14 states and DTC online.
Aiye Akhigbe, Sticky Spoons Jam
Prior to founding Sticky Spoons, Aiye was a Third-Class Petty Officer in the United States Navy, where she earned her Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist Pin after six months aboard a warship.
Aiye is known for her ability to pair various Michigan fruits to create unique flavors like Lunar Eclipse, Strawberry Chocolate Mint, Blueberry Lavender and over 100 others. In 2023, Aiye made a significant transition from operating as a Cottage Food producer to establishing a Licensed Kitchen. This pivotal move allows her delightful products to grace the shelves of 24 stores spanning from Michigan to Colorado. Her jams are also readily available for purchase online, for fruit enthusiasts and foodies alike to enjoy. Since 2021, Aiye has participated in over fifteen pitch
competitions, winning eight. Aiye always says, if there’s an opportunity to get funding for her business, she will find it and apply.
Ryan Bolhuis, Grand Rapids Downtown Market
Ryan Bolhuis is an award winning chef and an alumnus of the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan, NY. Ryan has worked in some of the most distinguished restaurants in the culinary world from New York to Paris. Ryan, a Hudsonville native and Korean adoptee, now utilizes his 17+ year culinary experience to mentor food and beverage entrepreneurs as the head of the Incubator Kitchen at the Downtown Market Grand Rapids.
Ryan has been a judge at various local and statewide pitch competitions as well as a pitch coach for many West Michigan food and beverage entrepreneurs.
By registering for Culinary Conversations events, you permit the use of your image (including, but not limited to photographs, audio recordings, or videos), without charge and without reservation—all or a portion of your story, likeness, and voice in future Downtown Market promotion.
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The Culinary Conversations MeetUp group is a partnership between the Grand Rapids Downtown Market Education Foundation, GROW, MSU Extension, and Start Garden.