Alexandria Launches New Food And Beverage Entrepreneurship Program

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The Alexandria Economic Development Partnership and the MOVE Business Chamber have launched a program to help entrepreneurs hoping to break into the food and beverage industry.

The F&B Business Readiness Program, announced in July, is intended to help guide aspiring entrepreneurs from concept to funding to permitting, operations and marketing.

According to the program’s website, participants will take part in six sessions covering the spectrum of business creation to execution. Organizers say participants will have direct access to mentorship and advisors and will leave the program with a startup budget and financing plan, a roadmap for the city’s permitting process and a detailed action plan for the next year, among other concrete development tools.

The MOVE Business Chamber was founded in 2022 with a mission of empowering underrepresented business communities “through opportunity creation, advocacy, and leadership development.”

The AEDP says the new program was inspired by the city’s ALX Forward Framework, a strategic outline that identified place-based development, business retention and recruitment, and entrepreneurship and innovation as catalytic initiatives to drive revenue and competitiveness and build on the city’s existing resources.

The program will have a free kickoff session on July 29 and will run from August 5 to September 9.

A portal to apply for the program can be found here.

Applicants must live, own property or run a business in Northern Virginia; have a specific food or beverage concept; and be able to attend all sessions of the program.

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