The SKU Spring '24 Track is a who's who of industry leaders in consumer product categories ranging from food to beauty. Matt Hughes, who will mentor for his third cohort this spring, is a beverage industry superstar with more than three decades of experience. Matt currently is an operating partner to Franchise Equity Partners, a mid-size private equity-firm. He leads the firm's beverage platform. We first met Matt when SKU launched the Atlanta Track in '22. Matt was The Coca-Cola Company’s VP of Emerging Brands for New Revenue Streams (NRS) and he was excited about the opportunity to partner with an accelerator focused on scaling CPG startups. In 2007, Matt was a founding member of Coke's Venturing & Emerging Businesses (VEB). Before joining Coke, he launched three entrepreneurial beverage brands. During his time at VEB, Matt was involved in creating multiple notable investments and partnerships for Coke, including fairlife, LLC, BODYARMOR Sports Nutrition Sports Nutrition, TOPO CHICO Mineral Water, Honest Tea, Health-Ade Kombucha and more. As a leader of VEB, Matt led the transition of the business unit to New Revenue Streams where he was the architect of business models deployed by Coke in a highly regulated industry (beverage alcohol) and established the strategic relationship with Molson Coors Beverage Company for recently launched TOPO CHICO Hard Seltzer and Simply Spiked as well as established strategic relationships with Constellation Brands and Brown-Forman for Fresca Mixed and Jack Daniels and Coke ready to drink beverage alcohol offerings. Matt recently retired from Coke after 16 years with the company. In addition to his role at Franchise Equity Partners, Matt actively supports companies as a strategic advisor in support of their growth and pursuit of white-space opportunities. With his keen knowledge and awareness of business opportunity as well as his own entrepreneurial experience, Matt is able to identify emerging markets, develop relevant strategy and implement to success. Michelle Breyer Brooke Wilson Buff Greebe #mentors #mentorshipmatters #mentoring #mentorship #beverageindustry #beverages #beverageinnovation #beverageinvestment #cpg #cpgs #consumerpackagedgoods #consumerproducts #accelerator #cpgaccelerator #cpgstartup #startups #founders #founderstory #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs
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Nice work Joey!
Retired Vice-President of The Coca-Cola Company, Currently Board Member of several Education and other Non-Profit Boards
3moWay to go my friend!