Combine dairy farmers, meat producers, vegetable growers, and beverage makers, sprinkle in some unique niche food businesses, toss with some packaging companies and distributors so each can find the ingredients it needs to work expeditiously, and you”™ve created a winning recipe for harnessing the power of agri-business in the Hudson Valley.
That”™s the goal of the new Hudson Valley Food and Beverage Alliance, which held its first roundtable at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park on Feb. 2. More than 200 companies, economic leaders and home-grown food and drink purveyors attended the standing-room-only conference.
PepsiCo, Gillette Creamery, Crown Maple Syrup Farm, Tuthilltown Spirits and restaurateur Peter X. Kelly were just a few of the dozens of attendees representing Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester counties.
“People will travel 60 miles to go to a great restaurant,” said Kelly, founder of Xavier”™s Restaurant Group, alluding to upscale Hudson Valley restaurants, which draw city dwellers eager to eat and drink locally fresh food and beverages — and willing to pay a hefty price to do so.
To date, connecting the many facets of the industry, even though they share a common bond, has been difficult. The Hudson Valley Economic Development Corp. and the Westchester County Development Corp. said the roundtable was a first step in helping everyone in the industry connect locally through a regional hub and find what they need — whether it”™s a distributor trying to get a product to market quickly or a restaurant or specialty market searching for a specific food or beverage they”™d like to add to their menu.
Other aspects of the industry have been vexing as well, said Joseph Bonura Jr., whose family owns several restaurants and catering facilities in the Hudson Valley. “There needs to be respect for the art of ”˜front of the house”™ service,” added John Novi, owner of DePuy Canal House.
Bonura and many others in the room recruit employees through Craigslist, but would like to see the Food and Beverage Alliance work with local schools to create a program to train middle-management employees specifically for the food and beverage industry. “Writing skills, phone etiquette, dressing appropriately and the ability to communicate with the public ”“ these are basic skills many who come looking for jobs don”™t have, and they are needed in our business.”
For others, a shortage of workers willing to pack and ship goods is a challenge. Charles North, president of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce, offered a possible solution. “The disabled want to work and be useful. Please consider using organizations that work with them in the community to fill those needs,” he said. “You”™ll find a committed and caring workforce who takes pride in what they do.”
Michael Oates, president of Hudson Valley Economic Development Corporation, said NY Bio-Hud Valley, an alliance of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, was used as a model for the new Food and Beverage Alliance. He said that initiative helped connect 80 companies “that didn”™t know what existed right in their own area. But now they are collaborating and helping grow this area as the ”˜Silicon Valley of the East Coast.”™ ”
According to the HVEDC website, nearly 60 percent of the nation”™s pharmaceutical companies are located in the metro area, and biotechnology companies are growing as a result. HVEDC just received a $4 million grant from Empire State Development to create a biotech incubator at New York Medical College in Valhalla.
Larry Gottlieb, executive director of the Westchester Economic Development Corp., said “Agri-business in the Hudson Valley has been working in ”˜silos”™ ”¦ there is a great disconnect among the multitude of businesses involved ”¦ we need to bring all of the components together to take advantage of the economic bounty the food and beverage industry offers.”
Members of Cornell Cooperative, with an office in every county in the state, encouraged the newly formed group to take advantage of Cornell”™s expertise to help connect the dots.
Mary Kay Vrba, executive director of Hudson Valley Tourism, noted that
“$4.7 billion was spent on food in the Hudson Valley last year. It is the number one reason people travel here from downstate.” To that end, Ralph Erenzo of Tuthilltown Spirits in Ulster County told Oates and Gottlieb there”™s a need to educate towns and villages that “tourism is not an intrusion. It”™s an infusion of money into the community.” He said he”™d like to see the alliance encourage municipalities to be tourism-friendly by creating signage and offering maps to help visitors feel welcome.
Others expressed a desire to see credibility become an essential part of the newly formed Food and Beverage Alliance, keeping out the “bad apples” by setting criteria for membership.
Oates and Gottlieb said they agree that the Hudson Valley”™s proximity to the New York metropolitan area makes it uniquely suited to capitalize on its products, bringing city folk the fresh food, meat and dairy they long for, while hopefully attracting them to visit the region and its restaurants.
