Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream to Host Small Business Speed Coaching and Pitch Room Competition in Denver

DENVER, Aug. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Samuel Adams today announced it will host small business speed coaching and its national "Pitch Room" Competition in Denver on Monday, August 19^th. The events are part of Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream, a program designed to help food, beverage, craft brewing and hospitality small business owners through microlending and mentoring. 

Speed coaching provides personalized coaching for small business owners, to address a variety of business issues. The speed coaching event on August 19^th will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. MST at Mi Casa (360 Acoma Street). Registered attendees can participate in up to six 20-minute coaching sessions with experts from Sam Adams, microlender Accion, and local businesses. For example, a small business owner with a social media question may meet with a digital marketing specialist who can provide specific ideas and tools to help engage customers digitally. In addition and of interest to Denver's craft brewing community, Sam Adams' brewer Jennifer Glanville will be on hand to coach at the event. Registration is available at http://samueladamsbtadden.eventbrite.com/.

Speed coaching immediately follows the Denver debut of the Brewing the American Dream "Pitch Room," a competition that ultimately helps participants perfect the art of the sales pitch. Food and beverage small business owners – including craft brewers – who apply and are selected to participate, will work with Sam Adams employees and local experts to present and improve their sales pitches.  The judging panel will include Diane Kinney, JVP at Outback Steakhouse, Marcie Everett, Sr. Marketing Manager of Social & Digital Media for Red Robin International, Ken Smith, Director of Training for Samuel Adams, Jennifer Glanville, Samuel Adams Boston Brewery Manager, among others. The business owner that makes the best pitch will receive a trip for two to advance to the final competition in Boston. There, they'll compete to win a $10,000 business grant and extended mentoring from Sam Adams, as well as for the chance to pitch their product to a panel of retailers and buyers. To learn more visit http://bit.ly/pitchroom.

Brewing Dreams in Denver
In addition to speed coaching and sales pitch advice, Brewing the American Dream is also impacting Denver-area businesses through its microlending. In partnership with Accion, the nation's largest non-profit microlender, in just two years, it has provided loans to 10 small businesses in Colorado, including three craft breweries. The growing list of recipients includes Chris Dutton and Will Boggs of Front Range Brewing Company and James Howe of Jamaica Me Hungry:

• Front Range Brewing Company – Friends Chris Dutton and Will Boggs were homebrewers working in the software industry when they decided to pursue their passion for craft beer full-time. They received a traditional loan, but it still fell short of the necessary capital to open their first brewery. Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream provided Dutton and Boggs an additional $18,000 in microfinancing to help them successfully launch Front Range Brewing Company, which is fast becoming a favorite spot for Coloradans seeking full flavored beer made from local ingredients.
  
  
• Jamaica Me Hungry – James Howe, founder of Jamaica Me Hungry, ran into multiple obstacles when trying to launch his Caribbean food service company. Traditional lenders referred Howe to Accion not only due to his limited credit history, but also because he wanted a modest sum of money, a request that can be difficult for traditional lenders to accommodate. Howe was able to turn to Brewing the American Dream for a $10,000 loan to cover event registration fees to setup his booth and sell his island fare.  In the near future, he plans to open his first brick and mortar restaurant.

"Brewing the American Dream advances our local small businesses by providing access to essential resources: mentorship, training and financing; three key ingredients to promote growth and success," Accion New Mexico - Arizona - Colorado President and CEO Anne Haines Yatskowitz said.

Inspiration and Impact
Samuel Adams founder Jim Koch created the Brewing the American Dream program to help other small business owners in food, beverage and hospitality overcome the same obstacles he faced when he wanted to go from brewing Sam Adams in his kitchen nearly 30 years ago to turning his passion into a business – that is, access to financing and nuts-and-bolts business advice.

"I didn't know how to make a sales call and secure any customers," Koch said. "By offering speed coaching events in Denver and around the country, we provide fellow entrepreneurs with the real-world business advice that's critical for success and often hard to find."

Since its creation in 2008, the Brewing the American Dream program, in partnership with nonprofit microlender Accion, has provided nearly $2.5 million in microloans to more than 280 small businesses nationwide, coached 3,000-plus professionals, and created or saved more than 1,800 jobs.

For more information about the Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream 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 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 50 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 in the past five years has won more awards in international beer competitions than any other brewery in the world. 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 seeking a partner for Samuel Adams' Brewing the American Dream, The Boston Beer Company turned to Accion to facilitate lending to hardworking business owners seeking to grow. As the largest nationwide micro- and small business lending network in the United States, we connect small business owners with the accessible financing and advice it takes to create or grow healthy businesses. Accion New Mexico - Arizona - Colorado offers business loans between $200 and $300,000 along with training, networking and other support services to hardworking entrepreneurs. In the last 20 years, New Mexico - Arizona - Colorado has disbursed over 6,180 loans.

Since 1991, the five members of the Accion U.S. Network have collectively made over 46,000 loans, totaling over $360 million. Additionally, over 400,000 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