Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Program Hosts National Pitch Room Competition Finals in New York City

NEW YORK, Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a micro-lending and coaching program for small business owners working in food, beverage, hospitality and craft brewing, announced it will host its Pitch Room Competition finals in New York City on Thursday, December 4^th.  A national competition that helps small business owners perfect the art of the sales pitch, the Pitch Room finals are the culmination of four regional events and a virtual Wild Card competition held throughout 2014.

Starting at 6:00 p.m. ET at the Centre for Social Innovation (601 W 26^th Street, Suite 325), nine food and beverage small business owners from Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Pennsylvania, Indiana and New York will present their best two-minute sales pitch to a panel of expert judges.  After providing constructive and impactful feedback for each of the entrepreneurs, the judges will select the best pitch based on the quality of the presentation, creativity, passion, and product viability. The ultimate winner will then be awarded a $10,000 business grant and extended mentoring from Samuel Adams.  

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

• David Burke, American chef and restaurateur
• Michael Conese, Vice President of Business Process, Fairway Market
• Alice Elliot, CEO and Founder, The Elliot Group
• Tony Giardina, Director of Distribution, Food/Beverage National Accounts, Delaware North Companies
• Ray Hennessey, Editorial Director, Entrepreneur.com

The nine businesses selected from regional Pitch Room and Wild Card competitions include:

• Boston
  • Joos, Newton, MA: http://www.drinkjoos.com/
  • HotPot Coffee, Chatham, NH: http://www.hotpotcoffee.net/
• Chicago
  • CoffeeCake Connection, West Chicago, IL: http://www.coffeecakeconnection.com/
  • Torti Products, Highland, IN: http://maagutie.wix.com/tortiproducts
• Denver
  • Flapjacked, Broomfield, CO: http://www.flapjacked.com/
  • Noble Savage, Wheat Ridge, CO: http://noblesavagefoods.com/
• New York
  • Wandering Bear Coffee, New York, NY: http://www.wanderingbearcoffee.com/
  • Caputo Brothers Creamery, Spring Grove, PA: http://caputobrotherscreamery.com/
• Virtual Wild Card
  • Brewnuts, Cleveland, OH: http://www.brewnutscle.com/

In partnership with Entrepreneur Media, the Wild Card competition invited food and beverage entrepreneurs from across the county to upload a two-minute video of their best sales pitch. After a panel of experts reviewed the videos, the 5 best submissions were posted to Entrepreneur.com and the general public was then asked to vote for their favorite. Because Brewnuts received the most votes they were named the Wild Card winner and invited to compete with the other regional winners at the finals.  

"Our Brewing the American Dream Pitch Room competition is an important extension of the program's coaching and mentoring activities, and being able to give a succinct and compelling product pitch is one of the most important skills that a small business owner can have," said Jim Koch, founder and brewer of Samuel Adams. "We're looking forward to working with all the great businesses that are at the finals to help them hone this skill so they can improve how they communicate with potential buyers and continue to grow and succeed."

Koch noted that  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 early next year, 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.

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.

The Brewing the American Dream program was launched in 2008, in partnership with Accion, the nation's leading nonprofit provider of small business capital and coaching. To date, it has coached more than 4,000 small business owners, provided over $3 million in microloans to nearly 400 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.

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SOURCE Samuel Adams

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