This program does not require any specific educational background. Instead, we are looking for people with validated business ideas and the focus and energy to put these ideas into action. You are not required to have a co-founder, but it can be helpful to grow a company in partnership. You can be a full-time entrepreneur or have a side hustle, as long as you are looking to grow your business and have the capacity to participate.

The Food Accelerator program supports small businesses, ranging from proof of concept (or revenue-generating idea) to $250,000 in annual revenues, looking to strengthen their business models and amplify their social or environmental impact. Our goal is to help companies with consumer packaged goods (CPG) or a food service, embed sustainability as they scale and grow towards creating positive impact.

While this program is not industry-specific, we are interested in the following categories:

• Food consumer packaged goods that are already certified or in the process of certification
• Service-based food businesses with a solid business plan and an intention to scale up or scale deep
• Food businesses with an intention towards social or environmental impact 

• Identify & measure your impact
• Identify strategic goals & engagement plan 
• Create a dynamic pitch deck
• Gain experience pitching your business
• Learn the basics of raising money for your venture
• Develop a strategic sales process
• Develop financial projections  
• Develop documents & agreements for employees and vendors
• Receive accountability from your cohort
• Build community with other entrepreneurs
• Access to food & business community
• Access to free legal advice and templates
• Meet and learn from a network of mentors
• PR visibility 
• Opportunity to meet potential angel investors, and observe behind-the-scenes angel investor meetings
• Opportunity to apply for up to $2000 in grant funds for your business

We are looking for ventures that:

• Have generated revenue **Exception: if you have not generated revenue, please demonstrate that you have made efforts to raise funds, such as launching a kickstarter, or have taken significant steps in connecting with potential customers or users.
• Can speak about your business plan. This includes explaining the value of your good or service, initial research on competition, and rough financial projections, at minimum.  
• Are for-profit *Nonprofits are recommended to set up an intake call instead, to learn about other resources and opportunities. 
• Have an Impact focus - You have Identified social or environmental impact; Intention for identifying social or environmental impact and measuring it

Please reach out to kclaudio@resetco.org to discuss these prerequisites so that we can work with you to prepare the best application. While interviews are a requirement of the application process, we also encourage you to schedule a discovery call with our team before applying. 

• 5/19/25 – Applications open Applications due by 11:59pm on Thurs. July 10th, 2025
• 6/13/25 an 6/20/25 - Info Sessions 
• 8/21/2023 - 8/25/2023  – Interviews, due diligence, and final selection
• 8/25/25 – FIRST CLASS, first $150 payment due
• 8/25 to 11/10/25 – Weekly Program Sessions: Mondays and Thursdays 5:30-8p + Workshops intermittent (dates pending)
• 10/1- Second $150 payment due

• 11/15/2023- Final $150 payment due
• 12/4/2023 - Food Entrepreneur Demo Day (subject to change)

Starting Mondays and Thursday 5:30-8pm, Sept 11th- Nov 30th 

Tuesdays are highly encouraged, optional Office Hours

Highly Encouraged Saturday field trip in October

*All dates are subject to adjustment. Additional (optional) workshop dates will be scheduled by early September. 

To help cover the essentials of running this program in 2025, we will charge a nominal fee of $150 per team per month ($450 for the total program) due upon acceptance into the program, October 1, and November 1 for up to 2 members; additional members add $50 per month. 

Participation in the program includes benefits valued at over $25,000, much of which is covered by grants and corporate sponsorships. Participants who have fully paid their tuition are eligible to apply for up to $2000 in grant funds per company with the successful completion of the program.

We encourage food businesses post-program to become members or contribute to the reSET annual fund, to help “pay it forward” to the next cohort of entrepreneurs as your business grows. At this time we are not taking equity in companies.

Unfortunately we are not able to use the end of program grant funds towards your tuition.

Yes! It is important to note, cannabis and alcohol have significant regulations in addition to the standard food, health and safety regulations. While this program will support food businesses in building connections for regulations and certifications, we are not able to provide direct application support and would refer you to one of our community partners. 

The Food Accelerator is not full time, but it does require a significant time commitment. We designed the program to meet on Monday and Thursday evenings, because we know that many of our founders are working other jobs and balancing the business among family and work obligations. If you can commit to being available on Mondays and Thursdays between 5:30-8pm during the months of the program, then you’ll be fine. 

You will be putting this information into action as you go, that said, our program does require time outside of the scheduled sessions + workshops. Expect to spend an additional 5-10 hrs each week.

Absolutely. We know that going it alone can be tough and we’re here to offer the support and network you need to drive your business forward.

Ideally  your startup is past the initial concept stage and onto testing your MVP (minimum viable product) or is already generating revenue to be a good fit for the Food Accelerator. If not, we highly recommend checking out our Food Incubator program. Reach out and we’d be happy to connect with resources and other programs that can help get you started.

Absolutely! We are looking to work with Connecticut businesses, and as a Hartford-based program, we have a soft spot for  businesses that serve the greater Hartford area. That said, we’re not going to turn you away if you’ve got an impactful and promising Connecticut-based food business that really benefits from our Food Accelerator.

You bet. Our program is designed to take your food business to the next level. If you’ve built and tested your MVP (minimal viable product) in a previous accelerator, we can establish your product market fit in our program. There already? Maybe your business could really benefit from considering how it might create a social or environmental impact plan. Looking to expand a product line? Also a good time to consider signing up. Interested? There are plenty of options!

If you have already particpated in our Food Accelerator, please leave room for new companies to apply!

Sure thing. We aim to connect our food businesses with investors only where appropriate. Still, there are plenty of benefits from growing your network of mentors, collaborating with other entrepreneurs  and, at least, preparing to pitch to investors.