JetBlue Partners With Three Budding New York Companies For Third Installment of Its BlueBud Business Mentoring Program
October 11 2017 - 1:32PM
Business Wire
Toast Ale, Barber Farm Distillery and Luv
Michael Merge Food and Beverage With Purpose, Budding Brands Will
Learn What It Takes to Potentially Get Their Products Onboard A
Commercial Aircraft
JetBlue (Nasdaq:JBLU), New York’s Hometown Airline®, recently
announced the winners selected to participate in its third annual
BlueBud (buddies + budding new companies) business mentoring
program. In celebration of the third round of the BlueBud program,
JetBlue has selected three food and beverage brands from New
York.
This year’s winners merge food and beverage with social impact.
Toast Ale is a Bronx-based brewery that is reducing food waste by
using surplus bread to make craft beer. Barber Farm Distillery is
family owned, making craft vodka from potatoes grown on their farm.
Luv Michael is a non-profit that produces nut-free gluten free
granola made by workers on the autism spectrum. These budding New
York food and beverage companies will learn what it takes to
potentially get their products onboard a commercial airline,
directly from airline senior leaders.
“The goal of BlueBud is to support food and beverage companies
that deliver social and environmental value through their
products,” said Sophia Mendelsohn, head of sustainability, JetBlue.
“All of these companies support job growth in New York and social
and environmental innovation.”
- Toast Ale - Focused on reducing
wasted food, Toast Ale uses unsold loaves of bread from local
bakeries to brew beer. Since Toast Ale opened, 2,325 gallons of
beer have been brewed using 1,375 pounds of bread that otherwise
would have gone to waste. Originating in London, Toast Ale has been
selling beer in New York since March of 2017. All of the company’s
profits go to Feedback, a non-profit focused on anti-waste
campaigns.
- Barber Farm Distillery - Since
1857, the Barber family has farmed produce and dairy in Schoharie
Valley, New York. Barber Farm Distillery is a recent addition to
this long-standing family business. Built on family and homegrown,
high quality produce, Barber’s Farm Distillery brings a new facet
to an already distinctive brand with its naturally gluten-free,
farm-to-bottle vodka. Barber’s Farm is one of the only distilleries
growing its own potatoes and using its own spring water in
America.
- Luv Michael - Their organic,
gluten-free, and nut-free granola is made without harmful chemicals
or toxic allergens. Luv Michael is focused on providing training
and income to individuals on the autism spectrum. Autism now
impacts one in 68 children. The granola crafted by Luv Michael can
be purchased in more than 30 stores in the New York area including
Wild by Nature, Fresh and Co., and select Starbucks locations.
JetBlue worked with GrowNYC to select the current crop for
BlueBud. Winners were announced at a celebration event at Project
Farmhouse, GrowNYC’s state-of-the-art sustainability and education
center located near Union Square in New York City. Applications
were reviewed by esteemed judges including Liz Neumark, CEO and
Founder of Great Performances; Bret Csencsitz, Managing Partner,
Gotham Bar and Grill; David Johnson, Deputy to the Senior Advisor
to the Brooklyn Borough President; Jeanhee Lee, Assistant Managing
Editor, Crain’s New York Business; Karen Washington, Co-Owner of
Rise & Root Farm, and William Telepan, Executive Chef at
Oceana.
Over the next year, these three companies will participate in
business mentorship including:
- A tour of JetBlue's Long Island City
Support Center headquarters, its largest operation at JFK's
Terminal 5 (T5) and an airline catering facility to better
understand how food (literally) gets onboard JetBlue.
- A speaking and taste-testing event
opportunity for JetBlue's crewmembers to learn more about each
company at the airline's Long Island City Support Center.
- A tasting event for JetBlue customers
at the airline's award-winning JFK T5.
- Intimate access to JetBlue teams
including but not limited to strategic sourcing, purchasing,
corporate social responsibility, sustainability, communications,
marketing, brand and onboard product.
Previous BlueBud participants have included Bronx Greenmarket
Hot Sauce, made from serrano peppers grown in collaboration with
GrowNYC and Bronx Greenup, and Hot Bread Kitchen – a social
enterprise bakery based in Harlem that creates economic opportunity
through careers in food for foreign-born and immigrant women. Bronx
Greenmarket Hot Sauce sources their peppers from more than 40 Bronx
greenmarket farms and community gardens. Each bottle sold directly
supports these gardens and farmers and helps to revitalize the
Bronx’s budding economy, asserting the borough as the next big
culinary destination for local food in New York. Bronx Greenmarket
Hot Sauce is available in JetBlue’s T5 in the New York Minute shop,
a concept store that offers New York-produced products.
Hot Bread Kitchen was the first winner of the BlueBud program.
After a year of mentorship, the bakery learned what it takes to
partner with an airline, and then pitched their product to JetBlue.
Although being part of BlueBud is no guarantee to making it
onboard, JetBlue was impressed by Hot Bread Kitchen’s pitch and
introduced the bakery’s challah rolls onto its Mint brunch menu.
Mint is JetBlue’s unique take on premium service and is available
on select routes.
Food For Thought - BlueBud promotes innovation and helps
JetBlue offer responsible food and beverage options to its
customers and even crewmembers. Airlines haven’t traditionally been
associated with fresh and responsible foods. JetBlue is changing
that as its product development, strategic sourcing and
sustainability team’s work together to ensure nutritious options
are available onboard and in its terminal. Being a successful
supplier to a commercial airline is no easy task -- especially for
small businesses. JetBlue's supplier diversity initiative provides
diverse business partners with equal access to opportunities.
BlueBud is an example of the airline's inclusive mindset --
impacting people, planet and profits. The airline's hope is to
create greater access to JetBlue opportunities one BlueBud at a
time. Visit jetblue.com/green/food for more details.
About JetBlue
JetBlue is New York's Hometown Airline®, and a leading carrier
in Boston, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, Los Angeles (Long Beach),
Orlando, and San Juan. JetBlue carries more than 38 million
customers a year to 101 cities in the U.S., Caribbean, and Latin
America with an average of 1,000 daily flights. For more
information, please visit www.jetblue.com.
About GrowNYC
GrowNYC is the sustainability resource for New Yorkers:
providing free tools and services anyone can use in order to
improve our City and environment. More gardens, Greenmarkets, more
recycling, and education for all. Learn more at
www.grownyc.org.
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