Hudson Valley Food & Beverage Alliance

The Hudson Valley Food & Beverage Alliance was created to nurture local food and beverage businesses, to network these individual businesses and entities together to form a support network and to grow an already burgeoning industry in the Hudson Valley. Real growth in the marketplace has been the outcome of this initiative. The number of people employed by the one-time untapped sector in the regional economy grew by nearly 20 percent from 2010 to 2014, with more than 57,000 people employed by over 5,000 businesses. And, food and beverage employee wages in the Hudson Valley grew by more than 7.5 percent.

The Hudson Valley region boasts many well-known industry names like PepsiCo, Dannon and Heineken alongside dozens of other successful and growing industry players like Best Mexican, Gillette Creamery, Harney & Son’s Tea, Sabra Dipping, Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., Satin Fine Foods and Manhattan Beer Distributors. The Alliance provides access to economic guidance and marketing resources to businesses throughout the region and provides industry events for education and collaboration.

As a result of feedback from members in the Alliance and in order to extend the organization’s reach into the craft beverage industry, HVEDC held its first Beer, Wine, Spirits & Cider Summit in October 2013. The annual program is an educational forum and networking opportunity for craft beverage entrepreneurs in the Hudson Valley region. The event is now the largest event of its kind in New York State, drawing a crowd of over 500. It is a collaborative effort among HVEDC, The Culinary Institute of America and the state – through its Taste NY initiative. In 2016, the Beer, Wine, Spirits & Cider Summit was selected by the International Economic Development Council as a Bronze Award Recipient in the category of Entrepreneurship for Population Centers Greater than 500,000.

The Hudson Valley Food & Beverage Alliance is also the host of the Nibbles educational series as well as the Bet on my Business Academy, a unique educational program for regional entrepreneurs within the industry.

Taste NY highlights the quality, diversity and economic potential of New York's food and beverage industry at events, tourism destinations and retail stores throughout the state. Complete and return this application to the attention of Taste NY, to be notified of such opportunities. Taste NY stores are independently operated under a licensing agreement with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. See their Directory for the contact information of the buyers (page 5 lists Mid-Hudson stores). Please keep in mind - some of these locations have limited retail space, but most stores rotate products on a regular basis. If you have any questions, please contact Emily Cook at emily.cook@agriculture.ny.gov or at (518) 457-7229.

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Click the map for a larger interactive version featuring lists of members.