Cornell Food Venture Center

How do you take a big idea and a delicious bench sample and figure out how to replicate the product tens of thousands of times (millions of times eventually!) in a manufacturing facility?

If you are an innovative food and beverage startup in New York State, there is only one game in town when it comes to new product development - Cornell University’s Food Venture Center in Geneva, NY.  Set up through Cornell’s Extension program, CFVC works with small and big food companies alike to bring products to market through R&D, process development and testing.  Over the course of many months and countless hours in the Center’s Pilot Plant in the heart of the Finger Lakes we worked alongside Dr. Bruno Xavier and Dr. Olga Padilla-Zakour and their team of food scientists and technicians to transform this novel idea of a carbonated whey-based beverage into a viable, reproducible commercial product.

Through our work with the Cornell Food Venture Center we were also introduced to Cathy Young and Ed Maguire at Cornell’s Center of Excellence in Food and Agriculture. Cathy and Ed’s deep roots in all facets of the New York State food industry was  invaluable to the development of Spare Tonic. The mandate at the Center is simple and clear - support and promote New York food and beverage innovation.

The access to world-class resources and expertise combined with genuine enthusiasm for The Spare Food Co.'s mission and for Spare Tonic, made Cornell’s Food Venture Center and the Center of Excellence an crucial resource and partner in helping us achieve our goal for Spare Tonic to be proudly brewed in New York.