Recapping Naturally Chicago’s 2022 Programming — With So Much More to Come
Our Naturally Chicago community continues to grow bigger and stronger. Together, we accomplished so much in 2022, and we’re so excited about our plans to top it in 2023. Your involvement — whether you are a member, sponsor, Board member or attendee at our many engaging and informative events — is so important to the Naturally Chicago team, and we’re so grateful for your support.
Here's a recap of the events we enjoyed presenting this year (and did you know you can rewatch all of Naturally Chicago’s 2022 webinars at your convenience by clicking here)? https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos
Overcoming Today’s Supply Chain Challenges: The year’s first webinar reflected the crisis in the supply chain powering the Good Food and Natural Products industry, with clogged ports, trucking backlogs, labor shortages, empty shelves, delayed deliveries and inflated prices. Brandon Barnholt, CEO of KeHE Distributors and a Naturally Chicago co-founder, provided an overview and an outlook to set up a discussion with a panel of experts. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/overcoming-todays-supply-chain-challenges
The BIPOC C-Suite: Crushing 2022 from 2021’s Top Startups: The focus of this webinar was learning from success stories of BIPOC-owned brands. The webinar featured founders from four companies that had a great previous year and plans to grow in 2022, with Ryan Pintado-Vertner, founder of the Smoketown consulting firm and Naturally Chicago Board member, moderating. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/the-bipoc-c-suite-tips-for-crushing-2022-from-2021s-top-startups
Photo by Bob Benenson
St. Patrick’s Day Celebration: Our first live event (and first members-only event) was held at SRW Agency’s Pappy’s Bar. Save the date of March 16, 2023 because it was such a blast, we’re going to do it again.
Photo by Bob Benenson
Pathway from Startup to C-Suite: This webinar, part of Naturally Network’s Women in CPG special event, featuring a conversation between two Naturally Chicago Board members: Tracey Halama, CEO of Vital Proteins, and Jennifer Paulson, Director of Retail Marketing and Brand Experience at Wicked Foods. Following the webinar, we enjoyed celebrating women in the Good Food and Natural Products industry with a reception at Chicago’s Time Out Market. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/pathway-from-startup-to-c-suite-part-of-naturally-networks-women-in-cpg-special-event
Crushing It in a Crowded Category: When you bring amazing panelists together for a conversation about why their brands stand out among fierce competition, the result is a spirited conversation. The event was highlighted by a valedictory appearance by Blair Kellison, who was retiring as CEO of Traditional Medicinals after a long run building the company into a powerhouse in the tea category. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/crushing-it-in-a-crowded-category
Regenerative Agriculture and the CPG Companies Embracing It: Regenerative farming practices that build soil health and sequester carbon have gained much support from Good Food advocates, and food companies — including some big producers — are catching on. This webinar, part of Earth Week 2022 hosted by the Naturally Network, tackled questions such as what regenerative means, talked about brand scorecards, and dug into why a CPG company would value regenerative practices. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/regenerative-agriculture-and-the-cpg-companies-embracing-it-part-of-naturally-networks-earth-week-special-event
Photo by Bob Benenson
The Future of Food Data: Our second live event of the year was held at the offices of SPINS, the Naturally Chicago co-founder that is the leading provider of data and insights for the Good Food and Natural Products industry. It featured two SPINS experts discussing the title subject, and provided a fun opportunity to get together and do some in-person networking.
Coping with Economic and Capital Market Volatility: This webinar featured voices from both the brand and investor side at a time of increasing national economic uncertainty. The all-star panel of industry experts included Adnan Durrani, CEO and Founder of American Halal Co./Saffron Road; John Foraker, CEO, Once Upon a Farm, former CEO of Annie’s Homegrown; Jordan Gaspar, Managing Partner, AF Ventures; Jason Mercer, Principal and BIPOC Portfolio Lead, Cleveland Avenue (and Naturally Chicago Board member); Chuck Templeton, Managing Director, S2G Ventures, Founder of Open Table; and Wayne Wu, General Partner, VMG Partners. This timely discussion, held in early June, remains highly relevant as we head into 2023. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/coping-with-economic-and-capital-market-volatility
Pricing Strategies in an Inflationary Era: Inflation still was the big story at mid-year. Naturally Chicago sponsor Wise Athena partnered with us on this webinar featuring a presentation from that company’s Kevin Kirby and conversation with other experts in the field. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/pricing-strategy-in-an-inflationary-era
Photo by Bob Benenson
Summer Solstice Soirée: As Chicago weather warmed up, he headed outdoors for our third live event of 2022. Vital Proteins, a major Naturally Chicago sponsor, hosted us on the beautiful roof deck of their Fulton Market offices, and we celebrated the start of summer in style with great food and beverages and excellent conversations!
Growing Your Relationships With KeHE: KeHE, a leading natural products distributor, was back in our webinar spotlight with this information-packed presentation about its programs that help emerging brands grow and thrive and its values as a B Corp and employee-owned company. Ready to begin your relationships with KeHE? There’s information about how to do that too in the webinar recording. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/growing-your-relationship-with-kehe
Virtual Pitch Slam: Six local brands competed in our 2022 pitch event, held online in August. Congratulations to winner GoNanas and runner-up Globowl; both brands went on to Natural Products Expo East to compete on stage in the Naturally Network Pitch Slam finals. We also had fun celebrating all the brands who took the time to apply and be a part of the Pitch Slam at our the Craft Beer Social at District Brew Yards after the webinar.
Growing Your Sales at Whole Foods Market: There aren’t many emerging brands that wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to gain shelf space with Whole Foods Market (WFM), the biggest grocery chain in the Natural retail channel. Our webinar featured with panelists from a number of backgrounds, capped by a presentation by Rob Browning of Presence Marketing (a Naturally Chicago co-founder) that really dug deep into the way WFM works to build brands. https://www.naturallychicago.org/videos/growing-your-sales-at-whole-foods-market-with-presence-marketing
Finding the Co-Packer Who Is Right for You: If you’ve developed a product that’s drawing major interest from retailers and wholesalers, you have to scale up, and if you have to scale up, you likely will need to contract with a co-packer. This webinar — moderated by Dr. William Madden of Whole Brain Consulting, who chairs the Naturally Chicago Board of Directors — brought together voices in the co-packing space. Read takeaways and access the webinar recording here: https://www.naturallychicago.org/blog-2/takeaways-from-our-finding-the-co-packer-who-is-right-for-you-webinar
Photo by Bob Benenson
Dia de los Muertos Celebration: Our 2021 Day of the Dead party at Uncommon Ground in Lakeview marked our coming out of COVID hibernation for live events. It was such a success that we did it again at the same venue this November. The food was delicious, the margaritas (mixed by Twisted Alchemy, a Naturally Chicago sponsor) were excellent, and the buzz in the place was again amazing.
Boosting Your Business on LinkedIn: LinkedIn is the essential social media platform for businesses, and our final webinar of 2022 featured experts in best practices for utilizing this communications medium. Authenticity was a big factor our panelists discussed, whether you represent your business or personal brand on the platform. Read takeaways from the webinar and access the recording here: https://www.naturallychicago.org/blog-2/takeaways-from-naturally-chicagos-boosting-your-business-with-linkedin-webinar
Photo by Bob Benenson.