U.S. launch highlights new Georgia Tech Food and Beverage Accelerator consulting service.
ATLANTA — A successful collaboration between the food company Celpo US and the Georgia Tech Food and Beverage Accelerator (GT.FBA) is helping introduce a popular Slovakian vegan snack to U.S. consumers for the first time.
In September, Celpo launched its line of protein crisps in the U.S. after months of market prep, customer research, branding work, and commercialization support from GT.FBA. The launch represents not only a success for Celpo but also for the accelerator’s new consulting service that debuted earlier this year to help food companies bring their products to market.
“We found a lot of people wanted to launch products but didn’t have the time,” said Aubrey Lenyard, director of GT.FBA, “so we created a service where we can act as a consultant and assist chefs, farmers, or anyone who is looking to commercialize a product.”
Celpo became one of the first companies to use that service. The company had already developed and sold its healthy snack crisps in Slovakia but wanted to expand its reach to America. Coming in with an established product, it primarily sought help with adapting its packaging, branding, and marketing to a new group of consumers.
The firm’s relationship with GT.FBA began after a Czech delegation visited Georgia Tech. During the visit, Lenyard spoke about the accelerator’s services and was later approached by representatives from Celpo.
According to Ondřej Rolník, project manager for Celpo Snacks and managing director of the Czech Business Incubator Atlanta, the choice to work with GT.FBA was “obvious.” Said Rolník, “We’d brought Czech companies to the U.S. through the Enterprise Innovation Institute Global’s Soft Landing program and saw firsthand that Georgia Tech has expertise and reliability.”
At an estimated $998.8 million, the U.S. veggie chips market is dwarfed by the $10 billion potato chip segment, according to Grand View Research, a California-based market consulting firm. Still, Grand View Research projects the veggie chips segment of U.S. food snacks will grow to $1.56 billion by 2030.
GT.FBA assembled a team of specialists who guided the company through market research, branding development, and business planning.
One of the most important parts of the research process, said Lenyard, was customer discovery, which involved gathering feedback from potential consumers (among them the Georgia Tech Men’s lacrosse team) before finalizing the product’s branding and market positioning.
“Food is very emotional,” he explained. “A maker might think the product they’re working on is delicious, but we need to verify it. We do that through customer discovery. Sometimes you hear, ‘Oh my gosh, I love this,’ or ‘I would pair it with this other food item.’ These are all things that inform your branding.”
Celpo tasters consistently responded to the crisps’ healthy ingredients and convenience, and their input shaped the product’s messaging. “Because we knew exactly who the customer was, we were able to come up with a very specific strategy,” Lenyard said.
In addition to market research, GT.FBA coordinated photography, updates to packaging, and marketing support through a network of experts from Georgia Tech and across the state.
“The most valuable thing GT.FBA brings is their deep knowledge of the food and beverage ecosystem in Georgia and throughout the Southeast,” said Monika Vintrlíková, CEO of Celpo Snacks and honorary consul of the Czech Republic in Atlanta.
Vintrlíková has lived in Atlanta for 14 years, and during that time she has become very well acquainted with the city, its business ecosystem, and Georgia Tech. “For a foreign company entering the U.S. market, it can be difficult to know which issues need immediate attention, and which can wait, so GT.FBA’s local expertise, regulatory knowledge, and network of industry contacts have been invaluable,” she continued. “Without the accelerator, building those relationships and understanding the market would have taken significantly more time and expense.”
From Rolník’s point of view, the biggest eye-opener in the launch process was the complexity of the U.S. regulatory landscape, which encompasses labeling, serving sizes and nutritional claims, as well as import and duty rules. “Coming from the EU, we assumed we already understood food regulation, but the U.S. has its own logic, and there’s a lot of instances where you don’t know what you don’t know,” he said.
The Celpo collaboration demonstrates, first and foremost, how GT.FBA’s new service can assist clients at different stages of development. Although the company arrived with an existing product, future clients may well need access to an even fuller range of support, from product innovation and concept development to commercialization and market launch. As Lenyard put it, “We can help them do it, or we can do the work for them. This new program really shows not only what we do, but what we’re capable of doing.”
Celpo is already referring colleagues to GT.FBA and making plans to collaborate with the group again. “We wholeheartedly recommend Aubrey, his team, and the entire accelerator,” said Vintrlíková. “GT.FBA has really become an extension of our own team, and we hope to continue growing this partnership.”