NEW HAVEN – The deadline for food & beverage brands to submit an application for The Big Connecticut Food Event is 11:59pm on Sunday, Jan. 5.
The Big Connecticut Food Event is an annual one-day event that gathers consumer packaged goods/wholesale-focused food and beverage brands and other key stakeholders spanning the Connecticut food entrepreneurship ecosystem to network, share ideas, and showcase products and services.
The event will take place on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at the Yale School of Management in New Haven.
On the agenda is a $50,000 pitch competition for five finalists with emerging Connecticut brands, a sampling and tabling from 30-plus emerging Connecticut brands and solutions providers, one-on-one coaching sessions between brands and industry experts, and panel discussions with industry leaders.
The pitch competition and tabling/sampling are only available for consumer packaged goods/wholesale-focused brands sold in stores.
Submit an application at .
Applications are initially scored by the Connecticut Food Launchpad planning team. The top five scoring brands will be invited to participate in the pitch competition and set up a table at the event. The next 25 highest-scoring brands will also be invited to set up sampling tables at the event.
Judging criteria
The judging criteria is as follows:
Target market: Addressable target market is large and/or growing, or is a high-priced niche. Customer is well-defined.
Solution: Product is differentiated vs. competition: better, faster, cheaper, quality, efficient, convenient, focused.
Team/board/advisors: Evidence of more than just founder-led and -run. Relevant industry knowledge, skills, leadership experience, key relationships, prior successes and/or failures.
Traction: Stated planned milestones, minimal viable product built, market validation, key success metrics, revenue growth, partners.
Impact on the company: Would this company stand to gain significant advancement and opportunities by being featured at our event? Will an award help them move their stated project along and help take the company further?
Women- or BIPOC-owned: Business owners represent one or more systemically disadvantaged identities (race, gender, etc.).
Sustainable or regenerative: Sustainable/regenerative practices are a significant component of product and business (ingredient sourcing, packaging, energy use, etc.).
To submit an application, go to ctfoodevent.com/participate. Connecticut Food Launchpad will respond by Jan. 20, 2025.
