NEW YORK, NY (February 11, 2025) The Specialty Food Association is excited to announce that the first cohort of its Maker Prep Course, a collaborative six-month educational program, graduated at the 2025 Winter Fancy Food Show, the first major expo of the year for the food industry, which took place from January 19-21 in Las Vegas.
Designed to provide foundational knowledge and guidance to up-and-coming specialty food manufacturers in set groups, Maker Prep Course comprised in-person and virtual learning, expert coaching, and peer-to-peer collaboration to provide participants with a thorough understanding of how to launch, market, and distribute their products.
"SFA is fully committed to supporting the early-stage specialty food makers who create so much innovation and excitement, and part of that support comes through demystifying the CPG industry, making it more approachable and navigable," said Phil Robinson, SVP of Member Development at SFA. "Core to our mission is transformative education like Maker Prep Course. The SFA team is thrilled to see this cohort graduate with the tools to succeed in our $207 billion industry."
The graduates in the Winter 2025 Class included:
That’s My Jam, Lisa White
Peepal People(Opens in a new window), Alyzeh Rizvi
La Gringuita,(Opens in a new window) Caroline McGinley
Black Girl Tamales(Opens in a new window), Chef LaToya Larkin
The Daltas Group LLC,(Opens in a new window) Christian Holslin
Girls Can Grill,(Opens in a new window) Christie Vanover
GLOBETROTTER GRANOLA,(Opens in a new window) Dara Rosenfeld
True Treats LLC,(Opens in a new window) Dawn Truesdell & Olivia Truesdell
Big Mama's Foods,(Opens in a new window) Ethan Shapiro
The Bread Box Bakery,(Opens in a new window) Matlhogonolo Ledwaba
Indigenous Delights,(Opens in a new window) Mpho Mogodiri
Beituti,(Opens in a new window) Rawia Abdel Samad
Soronko Kitchen, Samantha Wontumi
Southern Caramel,(Opens in a new window) Sarah Smith
Muria Foods,(Opens in a new window) Shyela Malani
Bake Your Mark, LLC,(Opens in a new window) Stufona D. Latta;
Hoppy Valley Farm,(Opens in a new window) Ann Bush & Jarred Bush
Kinship Milk Tea,(Opens in a new window) Caitlin Cash
Un Chin! Seasoning Co.,(Opens in a new window) Grace Urena
Mr. Joe Foods LLC, Jean Joseph
Elgon Nuts,(Opens in a new window) Gladys Sitati & Joseph W Sitati
Columbia Grain,(Opens in a new window) Karen Matsuoka & Shannon McKinney
CookIt Media,(Opens in a new window) Laurie Buckle
Revvl,(Opens in a new window) Lexx + Livv Mills
Jeepney,(Opens in a new window) Li Joan Baculi
Personal Culinary Solutions LLC,(Opens in a new window) Lori Vannelli
Norrico Naturals, Venus Ramos
Local to Global Foods, Thulani Mlamb
Lettuce Eatz, Melissa G. Monroe
Enrollment in Maker Prep Course included:
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Online course programming from July 2024 to January 2025, including knowledge building through digital educational materials, class discussions in a dedicated group chat platform, personal exploration prompts to apply concepts to participants’ businesses, and live coaching sessions with industry experts once per month.
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Dedicated educational sessions, tours, and other programs at the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show
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One-year Tier 1 membership for non-SFA members
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Badges for the 2024 Summer Fancy Food Show and 2025 Winter Fancy Food Show
The 2025 Winter Fancy Food Show also saw the kick-off of the next Maker Prep Course group: the Class of Summer 2025. For information or to register for the Class of Summer 2025 or future Maker Prep cohorts, click here(Opens in a new window).
About the Specialty Food Association
The Specialty Food Association (SFA) was founded in 1952 and is the not-for-profit trade association of the $207-billion specialty food industry. Representing more than 4,000 businesses worldwide, SFA champions industry participation and success for a diverse community of makers, buyers, importers, distributors, and service providers by developing resources, information, (Opens in a new window)education(Opens in a new window), and events that celebrate innovation and inclusivity. SFA owns and operates the (Opens in a new window)Summer (Opens in a new window)Fancy Food Show(Opens in a new window), Winter FancyFaire*(Opens in a new window), and the (Opens in a new window)sofi™ Awards(Opens in a new window), which have honored excellence in specialty food and beverage annually since 1972. SFA also produces the e-newsletter (Opens in a new window)Specialty Food SmartBrief,(Opens in a new window) the (Opens in a new window)Trendspotter Panel(Opens in a new window) annual predictions and Show reports, the (Opens in a new window)State of the Specialty Food Industry Report(Opens in a new window),(Opens in a new window) and (Opens in a new window)Today's Specialty Food Consumer(Opens in a new window) research. Find out more at (Opens in a new window)Specialtyfood.com(Opens in a new window), and connect with SFA on (Opens in a new window)LinkedIn(Opens in a new window), (Opens in a new window)Instagram(Opens in a new window), (Opens in a new window)TikTok(Opens in a new window), (Opens in a new window)Facebook(Opens in a new window), and (Opens in a new window)X(Opens in a new window).