Calgary-based District Ventures has secured a new partnership with the Empire Company to provide Canadian early stage food and beverage companies with coaching and support from the national grocery chain to grow their businesses.
The national grocer – with brands Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Farm Boy, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Rachelle Béry – has become a title sponsor of District Ventures’ Accelerator program and District Ventures Kitchen.
“This exciting new partnership is enormous for entrepreneurs and companies in the food, beverage and health industries,” said Arlene Dickinson, CEO of District Ventures, in a news release.
“Since 2015, we have been committed to supporting early stage companies in these spaces. Empire’s sponsorship highlights the importance of this work and reinforces the fact that we need to support companies that both feed and nourish our communities and assist them in achieving their fullest potential.”
Canadian food entrepreneurs in the District Ventures Accelerator program will receive support from Empire, including coaching from Local Development Managers and opportunities to bring their products to the grocer’s store shelves within a region or across Canada.
“Empire has a rich history of meaningfully investing in local growers and suppliers across Canada,” said Jana Sobey, Vice President of Merchandising, Thrifty Foods, Community and Field for Sobeys Inc. “Supporting local is at the heart of everything we do, and we are incredibly proud to stand side-by-side with District Ventures as we continue to nurture the countless innovative food entrepreneurs in communities large and small right across our country.”
District Ventures is Canada’s leading ecosystem focused on bringing capital, marketing, programming and commercialization to companies in the food, beverage and health CPG industries.
In late 2019, District Ventures acquired a commercial kitchen, Food Starter, from the City of Toronto and now operates under the name District Ventures Kitchen – a 20,000-square-foot commercial kitchen providing local food and beverage entrepreneurs with access to a broad array of equipment and programming to help build and grow their businesses, including production spaces, packaging facilities, and business advisory services.
District Ventures has supported over 260 companies and helped create close to 1,000 jobs.
Empire, headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, has about $25.6 billion in annualized sales and $13.8 billion in assets.
Mario Toneguzzi is a business reporter in Calgary.
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