Food entrepreneurs featured at Edmonton Startup Week

Edmonton Startup Week isn't just for tech — food companies will also be on display at multiple events. Among the 10 companies to watch is 7 Summits Snacks, which makes healthy chocolate snacks for performance athletes, developed with the help of NAIT's Centre for Culinary Innovation, and has customers around the world. Co-founder Kristyn Carriere was set to pitch at a sold-out kickoff event on Oct. 5, and 7 Summits Snacks be vying with the other nine startups for the People's Choice award to be announced at Launch Party on Oct. 8.

There are other courses cooking up between that appetizer and entree. In The Loop: Circular Food Economy from the Edmonton Social Impact Innovation Hub runs 9am to 7pm at Brighton Block on Oct. 7. Organized by Michelle Frechette of The Connected Kitchen Project and other ventures, it includes breakout sessions on the basics of foodtrepreneurship, food-and-agriculture technology, and how we define innovation. This reporter will speak as part of a session at 1:30pm. After all that, an after-party runs from 7pm to 10pm. "​Shoes off. Music up. Game On," the event description reads.

Frechette described Oct. 7 at Edmonton Startup Week as a Barbenheimer/Dunesday situation, given that the YEG Food Founders Showcase is happening at nearby Edmonton Unlimited from 4:30pm to 7pm. That event will feature Greg Zeschuk of Blind Enthusiasm, Jacqueline Jacek of JACEK Chocolate Couture, and Peter Keith from Meuwly's, Scale Kitchens, and the eHUB Entrepreneurship Centre. With the right strategy, attendees could make it to most of In The Loop before hitting the YEG Food Founders Showcase and still enjoy the after-party. Three, two, one: Start it up!