On Monday, March 19, I attended Montclair Entrepreneur’s Taste of Entrepreneurship event. Montclair Entrepreneurs is MSU's Feliciano School of Business’s meet up group for entrepreneurs. The event, which hit its maximum capacity at almost 200 attendees, was split into two parts. The first part, which ran from 5:30-6:45 p.m, was a chance for attendees to mingle and taste food from local businesses. The second part of the event, which ran from 6:45-8:30 p.m, consisted of a keynote speaker and a discussion with a panel of five entrepreneurs with food-related startups.

During the first part of the event, attendees were sent to a small room where local business had set up tables around the perimeter of the room. Each table was a different New Jersey based food business which was giving out samples of their food (except for one flower company which was giving out cupcakes because they offer a bouquet of cupcakes). Some of the foods the business were offering samples of were meatballs, chocolates, jams and jellies, hot sauce, muffins made of vegetables, pasta sauce, cheese crisps, coffee, and more.

Bouquet of flowers made of strawberry and vanilla flavored cupcakes pictured above

When the second part of the event began, the attendees moved to a larger room with lecture hall style seating. A member of Montclair State University’s Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship welcomed all the attendees and introduced Floyd Cardoz who was the keynote speaker. Floyd Cardoz is a world-renown chef, restauranteur, and winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. Cardoz spoke about his upbringing in India and how he came to be a restaurateur. He spoke to some of the challenges he faced along the way, as well as what he’s learned through his journey. Currently, Cardoz has several restaurants in the New York City and Bombay areas. After Cardoz’s keynote address, the panelists took their seats in the front of the room.

The panelists were introduced by Nancy Painter who is the publisher and founder of Edible Jersey. On the heels of Edible Jersey’s success, the Edible brand has spread into several nearby cities as well. The five panelists were Montclair Culinary Academy founder and executive chef Karan Fischer, Nu Products Seasoning Company president and CEO Henry Goldstein, Chef and CEO of The Flying Meatballs and chef of Il Capriccio Restaurant Natale Grande, founder, and CEO of Hudson Kitchen Djenaba Johnson, and chief marketing officer of AeroFarms Marc Oshima.

The panelists all took a few minutes each to talk about their journey in the culinary world and how they ended up working on their current business venture. Some had ended up in the culinary business due to a genuine interest while others ended up in this field because it is where their family was, and some of them even accidentally ended up in this space.

Overall, it was quite interesting to hear from a seasoned chef and restauranteur followed by culinary entrepreneurs who are at earlier stages in their businesses. The comparison gave a good understanding of the challenges of getting started in the business, but the rewards that come from all the hard work and dedication. It was a quite enjoyable and informative event.

For future Montclair Entrepreneurs events, join their Meetup group here or at the following URL https://www.meetup.com/Montclair-Entrepreneurs/