Naturally Chicago is the community for our Good Food & Natural Product Industry.

Why Naturally Chicago?

  • We Create Connections

    Naturally Chicago hosts regular networking events that provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and explore new business opportunities. These events connect entrepreneurs with investors, start ups with industry experts, retailers and other industry professionals.

  • We Support Our Partners

    Your membership to Naturally Chicago, gets you resources, access and support to help your natural product start-ups and early-stage companies grow and succeed. This includes mentorship, access to funding opportunities, and market-focused workshops and events.

  • We Provide Insights

    Naturally Chicago offers our members valuable industry insights and information through our educational and thought-leadership programs. These programs provide members with the latest trends, insights and best practices in the fast-growing natural products industry, helping them to stay ahead of the curve and make informed business decisions.

NATURALLY CHICAGO JOB OPENING

EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT

LEARN ABOUT THIS KEY ROLE AND CAREER OPPORTUNITY

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Get Mentored

Naturally Chicago Events

  • Early Look: Growth and Disruption in 2025 Trends for Natural Brands and Retailers — 12/17/24

    Our final event of 2024 was a smashing success. Our webinar, "Early Look: Growth and Disruption in 2025 Trends for Natural Brands and Retailers," held on Tuesday, December 17 max out its 500-registrant Zoom limit — and 80 others signed up for the Waitlist to ensure they’d get a first look at the webinar recording.

    All viewers got a real treat. Our panelists from KeHE and SPINS were engaging and brimmed with expertise. If you’re ready for a deep dive on the consumer trends to expect in 2025, click the button below.

    ACCESS THE WEBINAR VIDEO

  • Founders' Gala Blog Post and Locally Made Video

    Naturally Chicago will always remember October 10, 2024 as a red-letter day in the organization’s history, because our Founders’ Gala was a huge success. Click the button below to access our blog post that summarizes the big event, with great insights from honorees Brandon Barnholt, Tony Olson and Bill Weiland; lots of photos… and your first look at a video about our burgeoning Locally Made program, the recipient of the proceeds from the event.

    GET THE BLOG POST AND VIDEO

  • Great Insights and Networking at Our Oct. 22 Raising Equity and Debt Capital Event

    The house was packed for our Raising Equity and Debt Capital live event held on Oct. 22 at the home base of the Cleveland Avenue venture capital firm. Tha attendees were rewarded with insights from Cleveland Avenue founder Don Thompson and two panels of industry experts.

    Click below for our blog post recap with tons of valuable takeaways.

    CLICK TO VIEW BLOG POST

Congratulations to Our 2024 Pitch Slam Winners!

Naturally Chicago Salutes the Winners of Our 2024 Pitch Slam Competions: Emily Groden of Evergreen Waffles (center), selected by judges in the Established Brands group, and Dr. Ruchi Gupta (2nd left) of Yobee Care in the Emerging Brands category. They were joined onstage at the May 21 event by head judges Perteet Spencer (co-founder of Ayo Foods) and Tracey Halama (Vital Proteins CEO emeritus), and Naturally Chicago Managing Director Jim Slama.

Brand Investment Connector Database

Building Business Success and Diversity

Naturally Chicago and Chicago:Blend have joined forces to create the Brand Investment Connector Database, a powerful tool designed to overcome the capital access challenge for natural product startups.

Together, we provide a unique platform where businesses can showcase their potential and investors can discover promising opportunities.

Locally Made

Get on the Shelves with Leading Chicago Retailers Through Naturally Chicago’s Locally Made!

Welcome to Naturally Chicago’s Locally Made Program - a groundbreaking initiative designed to connect Illinois retailers with the region’s emerging and top-performing brands.

Locally Made is a partnership between Naturally Chicago and KeHE Distributors, along with other industry-leading partners who have extensive relationships with retailers and a proven track record of securing shelf presence for early-stage and emerging brands.

We have one mission…
to make Chicago an epicenter for innovative, fast-growing natural products companies.

DIAMOND PARTNERS

PREMIER PARTNERS

PLATINUM PARTNERS

GROWING PARTNERS

EXPANDING PARTNERS

EMERGING PARTNERS

NATURALLY NETWORK PARTNERS

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View fullsize On October 22, Naturally Chicago and Chicago Seed Co. hosted “Raising Equity and Debt Capital.” 2 amazing panels kicked off the event. Thank you to all our speakers. Don Thompson, Founder/CEO of Cleveland Avenue, was the featured speaker
View fullsize Join us for Naturally Chicago's 4th Annual Day of the Dead Celebration tomorrow, October 30, at Uncommon Ground in Lakeview! This year’s event invites you to bring your cherished memories along with you. Our centerpiece, inspired by the Museum
View fullsize Congratulations to Naturally Chicago brand partner, @archpetfood for being in the running for Season 4 Finale @techrisechi Vote for Gabe and Arch here in Block C: https://techrise.co/finale-competition/
View fullsize Our Day of the Dead IV (Dia de los Muertos) celebration will be held on Wednesday, October 30, again with our friends at Uncommon Ground in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. And when an event is so popular that you do it for the fourth year in a row,
View fullsize Huge shoutout to our incredible sponsors for making our recent fundraising event a success! Your generous support and commitment to our cause helped us reach new heights. We couldn’t have done it without you! 🙌❤️ A special thank you to KeHE
View fullsize With an industry all-star lineup, Naturally Chicago's "Becoming a Category King" webinar on Monday, October 1 will provide a roadmap for emerging brands that want to soar to the top in sales for their product category. Differentiation &mda
View fullsize The Naturally Chicago Gala will be an evening to enjoy the company of the Chicago natural products industry. This event is at The Dalcy on 10/10 and will be a beautiful evening! The dress code is Smart Casual. Buy tickets now: https://lnkd.in/gAn
View fullsize Digital Marketing and Promotions with Supernaturals — Free 9/12/24 Webinar Join Naturally Chicago and @presencemarketingllc and an amazing panel of speakers for a can't miss webinar! Register now: https://www.naturallychicago.org/upcomingEv
View fullsize Congratulations @eatgeem which has been chosen as one of 10 brands for Whole Foods' Local and Emerging Accelerator program! The 12-week program offers brands the opportunity to gain placement on store shelves through expert guidance and a tailored
View fullsize Newtopia Now is the new thought leadership and brand expo from Informa and New Hope Network. It takes place in Denver next week, from Sunday through Wednesday. If you are attending, please stop and visit these great Chicago-area brands who are exhib

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