The rapidly changing cannabis industry continues to intersect with food and beverage innovation. This seminar session will focus in on entrepreneurs and cannabis experts starting a cannabis food business and cover the basics to developing a culinary cannabis focused brand.
About presenters:
Amy Nathan, founder and Executive Director, Gromentum Lab
Amy Nathan is the founder and Executive Director of Gromentum Lab, a cannabis business accelerator focused on launching cannabis and hemp-related businesses owned by social equity entrepreneurs in Illinois. Amy sat on Mayor Lightfoot’s Cannabis Task Force advising on matters related to Social Equity and Economic Development in Chicago. Prior to the cannabis industry, Amy spent decades consulting for companies in highly regulated industries like Financial Services and Health Care, including CVS/Caremark, Blue Cross Blue Shield, BMO Harris, IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She started two small businesses early in her career and worked in a business incubator in the Middle East as a vehicle for community transformation. Since early in her career, she has cultivated a passion for working on breaking barriers for under-resourced populations to overcome challenges to self-sustainment. Amy is on the Board of Directors of Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education.
Megan Klein, founder, Little Saints
Megan Klein is the founder of Little Saints, a 100% female-owned cannabis lifestyle brand on a mission to bring joy, connection and a little mischief to women looking for a luxurious way to get lifted. Launching with hemp silk cocktail masks in December 2020, in the Spring of 2021 Little Saints will continue to launch innovative products such as “plant magic mocktails” infused with CBD and terpenes (everywhere) and microdose THC edibles and beverages (Michigan). Prior to Little Saints, Megan founded the plant-based food + beverage brand Field + Farmer, which is sold in grocery stores throughout the United States. Megan passed two bar exams and suffered through many years at law firms before making the leap into the startup world in 2014. After 7 years in the natural foods industry and one Kellogg MBA, Megan made the leap into the wild west of cannabis and moved to Detroit to create the brand of her dreams.
Megan Coffey, R&D Lab Manager, Cresco Labs
As one of the largest multi-state, vertically integrated cannabis companies, we control our own cultivation, manufacturing, extraction and packaging practices in 10 operational states. From careful cultivation to consistent distribution, we provide a portfolio of brands thoughtfully made for every different consumer sold in dozens of Cresco-owned dispensaries. Innovation and product development is an imperative part of this growth, Cresco utilizes the rented kitchen space at the Hatchery to test the boundaries of potential future edibles. Stephanie Gorecki, VP of Product Development has curated a talented team of food scientists to make ideas come to life with food safety top of mind. Megan Coffey, Certified Food Scientist and R&D Lab Manager at the Hatchery will share best R&D and Product development practices as your cannabis business grows.
*This event is free for residents of the West Side communities (Garfield Park, Austin, North Lawndale, West Humboldt Park). To register, email dani@thehatcherychicago.org or call (312) 283-5732 with your address!*
