by Bob Benenson, FamilyFarmed

The entrepreneurs who participated as Fellows in the first year of FamilyFarmed‘s Good Food Business Accelerator have enjoyed significant gains, according to metrics released by the Chicago-based nonprofit organization.

FamilyFarmed reports that the nine businesses averaged a 62 percent increase in sales, a 107 percent increase in the number of customers, and a 68 percent increase in the number of employees.

Those businesses, accepted into the Accelerator program through a competitive selection process, are:

• dailyServing, which packages functional foods together with cold-pressed juices to provide busy people with healthy nutritious snacks on the go.

• FoodTrace, a Chicago firm that provides a technology platform to connect buyers and sellers in the Good Food market.

• Jakobs Bros. Farms, a livestock and farming operation in Sterling, Illinois.

• Kishr Superfruit Brew, a Chicago-based company that produces a traditional tea-like beverage of Yemeni origin.

• Living Water Farms, which grows greens and micro-greens in greenhouses, using sustainable methods, for the Chicago market in downstate Strawn.

• Mint Creek Farm, which produces meat from pasture-raised livestock in Stelle, Illinois.

• Phoenix Bean Tofu, in Chicago, which produces delicious fresh tofu, salads and noodles from sustainably produced Illinois soybeans.

• Spark of the Heart, in Chicago, which produces wholesome, healthy and easy-to-prepare soup and bean salad mixes.

• The Urban Canopy, an urban farming and composting company based on Chicago’s South Side.

These entrepreneurs were selected into the program because they offered excellent products and have significant growth potential.

The Accelerator is designed to help food businesses such as these to scale up faster by providing an intensive six-month curriculum; weekly in-person instructional sessions at the program’s home base at 1871, the dynamic business incubator located in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart; mentoring by leading industry experts; networking opportunities; and connection to the big and broadening community of Good Food investors and lenders who are associated with FamilyFarmed through the Accelerator and the annual event from which it spun off last year, the Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference.

And graduates from the first cohort in the Accelerator, which ended in May, testify that the program has had dramatic benefit for their businesses.

“At one point, when I was meeting a lender from one of the regional banks in our area, he looked up at me and said, ‘Do you have an MBA?'” said Mark Schneider, CEO of Living Water Farms, at a Sept. 8 event at 1871 that promoted applications for the second group of Fellows that will convene in November. [The deadline for applications passed on Sept. 18 and they are being reviewed by a selection committee.]

He continued, “The reason we were so polished and we knew our story and our expansion and our plans so well was almost 100 percent thanks to the Accelerator program.”

Rowida Assalimy of Kishr said one thing that stood out to her was the accessibility of FamilyFarmed President Jim Slama, as well as Accelerator program managers Kim Bartko and Conor Butkus. “You can really call them anytime. Any time I reached out to them for anything, their response was immediate,” Assalimy said.

She also noted that the relationship with FamilyFarmed is ongoing, even though the first-year Accelerator program in which she participated ended last spring. She recounted how Slama connected her with Mark Thomann, an investor in food projects such as FarmedHere, an indoor vertical farm with a long association with FamilyFarmed.

“About a month after it was over, I was talking to Jim about considering a very difficult funding decision, and I asked him, ‘What do you think I should do?’ He said, ‘Hold on,’ and he connected me with Mark Thomann. We sat down and figured out a plan and strategized about how we’re going to take this business to the next level. Not only that, he ended up being an investor.”

She concluded, “After bootstrapping it for so long, we’re finally funded as a direct result of the Accelerator, and I’m incredibly grateful.”

Kishr is not the only success story when it comes to financing. Overall, the Fellows have raised more $1.2 million in debt and equity financing since the program began. Over the coming months, Fellows will use this funding to further develop and build their businesses, including branding, retail estate and equipment purchases.

This figure adds to the impressive $17 million raised by local food businesses as a direct result of FamilyFarmed’s work connecting local food businesses with new resources and funding.

The second Accelerator cohort will get under way in November and run into next April. Fellows are required to be located in and serve the Chicago foodshed; subscribe to Good Food principles defined by FamilyFarmed as food produced as locally as possible using sustainable, humane and fair practices; and dedicate themselves to attending weekly sessions at 1871 and complete the program.

The Accelerator was launched with seed funding from Food:Land: Opportunity, an initiative of The Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust; works in partnership with Whole Foods Market, the nation’s largest chain of supermarkets featuring natural and organic products, and UNFI, North America’s leading distributor of natural, organic and specialty products. The Accelerator has also benefited from the support and financial backing of JP Morgan Chase & Co, 1^st Farm Credit Services, Whole Foods Market, UNFI, the U.S. Small Business Administration, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

FamilyFarmed has produced a video that provides additional information about the Good Food Business Accelerator, located on the program’s home page, which can be accessed by clicking here.

Photographs by Bob Benenson except where noted.