Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship and Business Development

The New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture 

21. Food and Beverage Entrepreneurship: Building a business using biomass/precision fermentation

Food systems around the world are changing. You can be part of the solution. Innovations in fermentation have created the potential to produce delicious, environmentally sustainable food ingredients at a large scale and low price.

During this program, the CoE Summer Scholar will work with experts from the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture (CoE) to develop a food product using mycelium produced through fermentation inside the Fermentation Farming Lab at Cornell AgriTech.

With assistance from Dr. Bruno Xavier, director of the Fermentation Farming Lab, the scholar will develop a product of their choosing that utilizes mycelium as an ingredient. The scholar will then build a business with the goal of bringing the product to market.

In the program, the scholar will learn about entrepreneurship, food and beverage production, general business operations, Cornell food and beverage research and technology, emerging food innovation and trends, regulatory compliance, government economic incentives, capital investments, business-to-business partnerships, supply chain issues, market research and other pertinent topics.

On-site visits to area food and beverage businesses will allow students to witness the operations of food companies firsthand, providing exposure to the complete food system ecosystem. As part of the project, the scholar will pitch their product before an internal panel to showcase the commercial potential of their business.

Mentor: CoE Executive Director Catharine Young, with additional support of CoE staff members.