On Wednesday, October 4^th, Samuel Adams is bringing its popular Brewing the American Dream (BTAD) Speed Coaching event to Portland, ME for the first time. Brewing the American Dream, Sam Adams’ core philanthropic initiative, connects passionate food and beverage entrepreneurs with seasoned industry experts and is designed to provide expert, personalized business advice. The events are hosted in partnership with Accion, the nation’s largest nonprofit small business lending network and the Portland event is in partnership with Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a mission-driven lender and investor specializing in rural economic development as well as the Maine Brewers Guild, Greater Portland Council of Governments, Food Fork Lab and ScaleUp.

During the free Speed Coaching event, food and beverage business owners receive counseling from business experts to generate new ideas and strategies to help their businesses grow and succeed. Each attendee will participate in up to six, 20-minute personalized coaching sessions with local small business specialists, food and beverage veterans and experts from Sam Adams, Accion and CEI. From sales and distribution to packaging, finance, e-commerce and more, no small business subject is off-limits.

Attendees can expect a fun evening of learning, networking and comradery over a pint of Sam Adams OctoberFest. Attendees will also receive a copy of the book Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two by Sam Adams brewer and founder, Jim Koch.  

RSVP:                    The Speed Coaching event in Portland is free to attend and is open to all entrepreneurs in food, beverage and craft brewing. Business owners interested in participating can register on Eventbrite at http://speedcoachportland.eventbrite.com. 

WHEN:                 Wednesday, October 4^th, 2017, 5:30 – 8:30 PM EDT 

WHERE:               O’Maine Studios, 54 Danforth St., Portland, Maine 04101 

WHY:                    Jim Koch started Samuel Adams in his kitchen in 1984, and after 33 years of brewing success, he never forgot how difficult it was to start and run a successful small business. Jim created Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream in 2008 to provide support to business owners in two areas he wishes he had help with when launching Sam Adams: real-world business advice and a loan.

NATIONAL IMPACT: Since the BTAD program began in 2008, Sam Adams has supported Accion in providing more than 1,300 loans totaling $18.9 million to food and beverage businesses across the country who have then created or retained over 5,400 jobs. Just as important, the program has coached or mentored over 8,000 small businesses through events like BTAD Speed Coaching.

NEW ENGLAND IMPACT: In the New England region, Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream has supported Accion in providing over 120 loans totaling nearly $1.4 million and helping some of the most passionate food and beverage entrepreneurs across the region support approximately 495 jobs and counting.

MEDIA RSVP:     If interested in attending, media must RVSP to at samadams@mbooth.com.