BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of 250 of the food industry's trend-setting entrepreneurs, game-changing technologists and visionary business leaders came together for three days Oct. 17-19 in Austin, TX, for the second-annual Esca Bona event. The interactive gathering, hosted by New Hope Network, provides a space for participants to come together to tackle the toughest challenges facing the good food movement and magnify the positive innovations happening in food. Topics explored included: The Climate-Friendly Food Movement, The Plant Revolution, The Role of Meat, The Future Diet, Funding the Good Food Movement and NourishTech. Video recordings of all sessions have been archived and can be seen here.
"In its second year, Esca Bona gathered another inspiring crowd of participants from across the food supply chain. This engaged group spent three days discussing innovations that can disrupt even the most modern of food inventions and enable companies to unravel much of what has been done to food over the last 75 years," said Carlotta Mast, Executive Director of Content at New Hope Network. "It's undeniable that consumers are waking up to what's in their food and where and how it was made. Asking people to truly care requires a whole new level of consumer engagement and that's what we talked about at Esca Bona – making eating an everyday act of caring."
Throughout the three-day event, participants heard inspiring ideas from natural food industry veterans including Fred Kirschenmann, President of the Board at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, and Mark Tilsen, Co-Founder of Native American Natural Foods; entrepreneurial visionaries including Miyoko Schinner, Founder & CEO of Miyoko's Kitchen, Graison Gill, Owner & Baker at Bellegrade Bakery, and Andrew Pittz, President of Heartland Superfoods; leaders of large brands such as Steve Young, VP of Annie's and the Natural/Organic Growth Team at General Mills, and Walter Robb, Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market; as well as incredible changemakers Ron Finley, Head Trouble Maker at The Ron Finley Project, and Robyn O'Brien, Founder of Do Good and AllergyKids Foundation. Event speakers also included impact-minded investors, policymakers and influencers helping companies reach more consumers and bring their mission to greater heights.
"We created Good Spread to eliminate the leading cause of childhood mortality around the globe. That can only happen when we as an industry move people from passive consumers to awake citizens. Being at Esca Bona enabled us to collaborate with natural food innovators on ways we can make that happen up and down the value chain," said Robbie Vitrano, CEO of Good Spread.
Attendees were also treated to an Entrepreneur's Kitchen and Garage, a modern, high-tech playground for entrepreneurial brands to break in and experiment with new ideas through a live collaboration with industry veterans.
For more information visit escabona.com and follow the latest @EscaBona on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
About New Hope Network
The New Hope Network is at the forefront of the healthy lifestyle products industry. With solutions for the complete supply chain from manufacturers, retailers/distributors, service providers and ingredient suppliers, the network offers a robust portfolio of content, events, data, research and consultative services. Through its mission of growing healthy markets to bring more health to more people, the New Hope Network helps businesses identify the people, products, partnerships and trends that create better opportunities and connections. For more information visit www.newhope.com.
Press Contact
Carrie Kocik
New Hope Network
(617) 694-5971
ckocik@newhope.com
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SOURCE New Hope Network