Written by Eve Tolpa
Brandy Nagel called it “the dream team.”
Nagel, a program manager with EI2 Global, was referring to her collaboration with the Advanced Technology Development Center’s (ATDC) community engagement manager, Aubrey Lenyard, and two members of Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s (GaMEP) food safety team: industry manager Wendy White and project manager Andrea Hines.
The four colleagues at Georgia Tech’s Innovation Enterprise Institute (EI2), the nation’s longest running university-based socioeconomic development organization, have pooled their knowledge — not to mention their enthusiasm — to launch a new program: the Georgia Tech Food and Beverage Accelerator.
The project evolved out of a Food Safety and Entrepreneurship program that White and Nagel had proposed to the USDA in 2022. When Aubrey Lenyard, who joined the group as outreach manager, identified a gap in the market and a need for additional training, he and Nagel decided to fill it.
“We talked to people who have ideas they want to turn into businesses, people who have businesses that are struggling,” Nagel said of the impetus for creating the program. “They just needed a little more information to help them move forward, so we drafted a curriculum for a 4 to 6-month program.”
The food and beverage sector is an important part of the Georgia economy. According to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, as of the first quarter of 2024, there were 1,475 food and beverage companies in the state, employing 78,630 Georgians and generating $1.2 billion in income statewide.
Lenyard and Nagel lead the program as co-directors, with the former’s role leaning more towards operations (including sponsorships and partnerships) and the latter toward curriculum planning and implementation. White and Hines serve as food safety advisors. “With some companies, what’s holding them back is that they don’t know how to create a safe product, and that is a critical part of being a successful food or beverage entrepreneur,” Nagel said.
The program was designed to support people at a range of stages in their entrepreneurial journey: those with an idea for a food product, food entrepreneurs with a ready-to-ship product, business owners aiming to increase food product sales, and those working on AgTech, food tech, and related technologies, including packaging and logistics. (Currently the program does not accommodate businesses focused on alcohol or CBD-related products.)
Food tech encompasses multiple areas — food safety, technology, packaging, and logistics — and in the interest of being comprehensive, the Food and Beverage Accelerator addresses all of them. “I’m not sure that a lot of programs do that,” Nagel said. “All of these people can learn from each other, and Georgia Tech has the capacity to help all of them.”
Lenyard in particular has a wealth of hands-on experience in bringing foods product to market. He founded the premium condiment line AubSauce in 2018, and since then his four flavors of barbecue sauce have been lauded by local and national press, including Food & Wine magazine.
AubSauce has won multiple awards, among them the 2019 People’s Choice Award at the Flavor of Georgia food product contest. It’s also currently in the running for Georgia Business Journal’s “Best of Georgia” accolade. Lenyard’s sauces have even made it into the Williams-Sonoma stores.
His success was no accident and, in fact, had everything to do with ATDC, where he started work in 2015. “I felt like the place was magical,” said Lenyard. “I was surrounded by all these creative people. I had been an entrepreneur before, and I wanted to put some of ATDC’s customer discovery methods into practice.”
Lenyard often brought his barbecue sauce into the office to do exactly that. “I would have any and everybody who wanted to taste it tell me what they liked — if it was too hot, what should the name be, everything down to the packaging.” He ended up funding the company through a Kickstarter campaign that raised $5000 in 24 hours; he promptly doubled that amount and AubSauce was born.
According to Janice Maxwell, Lenyard’s experience is right in line with the mission of the Enterprise Innovation Institute. Maxwell, who is the organization’s director of strategic initiatives and chief of staff, approved the Food and Beverage Accelerator idea when Lenyard and Nagel pitched the concept.
“EI2 fosters a culture dedicated to innovation at every level, providing meaningful work and allowing our employees to pursue their passions. This not only increases our capacity but also makes EI2 a truly wonderful place to work,” Maxwell said.
Nagel’s own expertise is similarly highlighted by the Food and Beverage Accelerator.
“I am a total nerd for curriculum and pedagogy and thinking about how adult learners and business owners absorb information,” she said, noting that the course is designed to engage participants from day one; one idea is to present a Golden Spoon to whoever has made the most progress in any given month.
“We really want it to be a supportive program. If Aubrey and I just showed up and said, ‘Here’s the 12 things you need to know, go for it,’ that would not be enough,” Nagel continued.
“Because food is such a human need, these entrepreneurs are often filled with a passion for doing something important for society. They are also often doing something that’s related to their heritage, so they’re pulling their great-grandmother’s recipe into modern times. Or there’s something that they enjoyed as a child at a festival or a family event that they want to share with the world. You’ve got to respect that part of the person as you’re teaching them about financial literacy or licensing and certification requirements.”
As for Lenyard, he is dedicated to identifying good industry partners for the Food and Beverage Accelerator — not only for branding and sponsorships, but as educational collaborators. “We’re looking for them to come in and be the experts in the field and to provide mentorship,” he said.
The co-directors have big plans for their program. “A lot of my work is international,” said Nagel. “In April of this year we took the food safety and entrepreneurship program to Medellín, Colombia, for a brief 4-hour taster, and it was well received.”
“My vision for this program is to see it scale internationally,” she continued. “We will help Georgia founders succeed and then see how we can take those lessons to other parts of the world.”
There are 20 slots available for the first Georgia cohort, which begins in January 2025. The application period closes November 1, 2024. Click HERE to access the application.
