District Ventures announced an innovative new partnership with Empire Co. and its family of brands, including Sobeys, IGA, Safeway, Farm Boy, Foodland, FreshCo, Thrifty Foods and Rachelle Béry. The national grocer has become title sponsor of District Ventures’ Accelerator program and District Ventures Kitchen.
Through this one-of-a-kind partnership, Canadian food entrepreneurs in the District Ventures Accelerator program will receive valuable 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. The new partnership with District Ventures is a natural extension of Empire’s long-standing commitment to being the national grocer that Canadian families can count on for local food and well-being products that they have come to know and love.
“This exciting new partnership is enormous for entrepreneurs and companies in the food, beverage and health industries,” said Arlene Dickinson, chief executive officer of District Ventures. “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.”
The partnership comes on the heels of District Ventures’ acquisition of commercial kitchen, Food Starter, from the city of Toronto in late 2019. Now operating under the name District Ventures Kitchen, the 20,000-square-foot commercial kitchen provides 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. Both the District Ventures Kitchen and District Ventures Accelerator facilities will proudly don the Sobeys logo.
“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.”
