Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Hosts New York Pitch Room Competition and Small Business Speed Coaching Event

NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a micro-lending and coaching program for small business owners working in food, beverage, craft brewing and hospitality, announced it will host its regional Pitch Room competition and small business Speed Coaching event in New York City on Monday, November 17^th.

The Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room, a national competition that helps small business owners perfect the art of the sales pitch, is in New York City for the fourth regional event hosted throughout the U.S. in 2014. Starting at 5:00 p.m. ET at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan (50 West 23rd Street), food and beverage small business owners will present their best sales pitch to a panel of expert judges.  After providing critical, impactful advice to each of the participants, the judges will select a New York City Pitch Room winner based on criteria including quality of pitch, creativity, passion, and product viability. The New York regional winner will then compete at the New York City finals in December where they'll have the opportunity to compete for $10,000 and extended mentoring from Samuel Adams.  

The impressive panel of judges that will join Samuel Adams founder and brewer, Jim Koch, for the NYC Pitch Room include:

• Michael Conese, Vice President of Business Process at Fairway Market
• Steven Schneider, President, Gilt City and Gilt Business Development
• Rob Mitchell,  Vice President of Craft Specialty/Wine/Spirits, Manhattan Beer
• Jennifer Glanville, Samuel Adams Brewer and Director of Brewery Programs
• Chris Stang, Co-Founder of restaurant and food blog The Infatuation

While the Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room competition is only in its second year, it is already having a significant impact on small business owners. For example, since winning the final competition last year and receiving a loan through the program, brother and sister founders Daniel and Rebecca Dengrove of  Brewla Bars – which specializes in ice pops with brewed flavors – expects to be entering 1,200-1,500 stores, and has orders from some of the country's leading supermarket chains. Additionally, their up-and-coming small business has increased sales by 48% a month on average since June, and they attribute the Brewing the American Dream program as a major catalyst for their recent growth opportunities.

"When I look at the success that passionate small business owners like Rebecca and Daniel of Brewla Bars have seen, it's clear that our Brewing the American Dream program is having an impact, and I couldn't be more excited about that," said Jim Koch, founder and brewer of Samuel Adams. "This will be our fourth Speed Coaching event and second pitch room competition in New York, and we're looking forward to connecting more passionate entrepreneurs with industry experts to provide the practical know-how that's so critical to growing a small business."

Small Business Speed Coaching in New York City
The Speed Coaching portion of the evening, held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., is a free event open to any small business owner in the food, beverage, hospitality and craft brewing industries. Attendees will participate in up to six 20-minute, high-impact coaching sessions in areas such as sales and distribution, packaging, and finance with coaches from Samuel Adams, local-area business experts, and Accion, the nation's leading nonprofit provider of small business capital and coaching. Small business owners are encouraged to bring questions regarding specific business challenges they face, as well as samples of packaging, point-of-sale items, and other material on which they seek feedback.

Small business owners can register online for the free event at https://btadnewyork.eventbrite.com.

Year Round Lending Spurs Small Business Success
Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream continues to support New York City small businesses year-round, in partnership with national nonprofit micro-and small business lender Accion, by providing microloans to entrepreneurs who are often shut out of traditional lending institutions. Since entering the New York market, the program has provided nearly $760,000 in microloans to almost 80 small businesses in all five boroughs.  Whether it's lack of credit, the small size of the loan request, or the volatile nature of the food and beverage industry, Brewing the American Dream is able to see beyond these barriers to provide microloans to viable small businesses to help them grow and succeed.

"The Brewing the American Dream partnership between Accion and Samuel Adams is important to food and beverage business owners because it connects them not only to necessary capital, but to valuable real-world mentorship as well. We've had great success in supporting many entrepreneurs who are part of this city's dynamic food and beverage community."

Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Inspiration and Impact
Samuel Adams is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and despite the craft brewery's success, Jim Koch hasn't forgotten how hard it is to start and run a successful small business. That's why he created Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a unique program that provides the two things he wishes he had when starting Sam Adams: financing and real-world business advice. Since its creation in 2008, the program has coached more than 4,000 small business owners, provided over $3 million in microloans to more than 375 small businesses, and helped create or retain more than 2,000 jobs. The program has also seen an unprecedented loan repayment rate of 98.1 percent – well above the national average for small business loans. To learn more about the program, please visit: http://btad.samueladams.com.

Samuel Adams, Sam Adams, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream are registered trademarks of The Boston Beer Company.

About Samuel Adams and The Boston Beer Company
The Boston Beer Company began in 1984 with a generations-old family recipe that Founder and Brewer Jim Koch uncovered in his father's attic. Inspired and unafraid to challenge conventional thinking about beer, Jim brought the recipe to life in his kitchen.  Pleased with the results of his work, Jim decided to sample his beer with bars in Boston in the hopes that drinkers would appreciate the complex, full-flavored beer he brewed fresh in America.  That beer was aptly named Samuel Adams Boston Lager, in recognition of one of our nation's great founding fathers, a man of independent mind and spirit.  Little did Jim know at the time, Samuel Adams Boston Lager soon became a catalyst of the American craft beer revolution.

Today, The Boston Beer Company brews more than 60 styles of beer.  It relentlessly pursues the development of new styles and the perfection of classic beers by searching the world for the finest ingredients.  Using the traditional four vessel brewing process, the Company often takes extra steps like dry-hopping, barrel-aging and a secondary fermentation known as krausening.  The Company has also pioneered another revolution, the 'extreme beer' movement, where it seeks to challenge drinker's perceptions of what beer can be. The Boston Beer Company has been committed to elevating the image of American craft beer by entering festivals and competitions around the globe, and is one of the world's most awarded breweries at international beer competitions. As an independent company, brewing quality beer remains its single focus. Although Samuel Adams beer is America's largest-selling craft beer, it accounts for only one percent of the U.S. beer market.  The Boston Beer Company will continue its independently-minded quest to brew great beer and to advocate for the growth of craft beer across America. For more information, please visit www.samueladams.com.

About Accion in the U.S.
In seeking a partner for Samuel Adams' Brewing the American Dream the company turned to Accion to facilitate lending to hardworking business owners seeking to grow. As the largest nationwide nonprofit micro-and small business lending network in the United States, Accion connects small business owners with the accessible financing and advice it takes to create or grow healthy businesses. Accion East lends in New York and offers business loans between $500 and $50,000 along with training, networking and other support services to hardworking entrepreneurs. Historically, Accion East has lent over $154 million.

Since 1991, the five members of the Accion U.S. Network have collectively made over 51,000 loans, totaling over $430 million. Additionally, over 500,000 business owners across the nation have turned to Accion for financial and business advice via workshops, online tools, and one-on-one consultations. Globally, Accion (www.accion.org) is a pioneer in microfinance, reaching millions of individuals through its international network of partners. For more information visit us.accion.org.

SOURCE Samuel Adams

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