Peters Tours Cherry Capital Foods as Part of “Startup Week Across America”
TRAVERSE CITY, MI – U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI), a member of the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee, toured Cherry Capital Foods in Traverse City today and met with entrepreneurs as part of “Startup Week Across America.” While there, Peters highlighted the importance of supporting startup small businesses and joined Northern Michigan entrepreneurs for a roundtable discussion on how to best foster innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Startup companies are taking root in communities across the nation, including here in Northern Michigan, and ensuring that innovators have the resources needed to develop their ideas and get them on the market is critical,” said Senator Peters. “I’m glad to be at Cherry Capital Foods as part of ‘Startup Week Across America’ to meet with inventors and entrepreneurs from across the region and discuss ways we can continue fostering entrepreneurship and growth in Michigan.”
Small businesses and startup companies produce an average of three million jobs annually. According to the Kaufmann Foundation, startups - particularly firms younger than three years old - are the driving force behind new jobs in the United States. These startup companies are involved in a variety of industries, including technology, retail, healthcare, entertainment, consulting, and education.
Cherry Capital Foods is a food distributor based in Traverse City that works with farmers, growers, and producers from across the region to provide local food to the marketplace. Cherry Capital Foods, in partnership with the Food Innovation Hub, hosts accelerator suites for local agricultural enterprises that are looking to expand their product’s reach, but may lack the capital needed to invest in facilities for food storage, loading, and delivery. The Michigan Hop Alliance utilizes one of the accelerator suites to store and ship locally grown hops to breweries and home-brewers in Michigan.
“Northern Michigan is the proud home of startups in a variety of fields, including agriculture, and Cherry Capital Foods is glad to assist these entrepreneurs in getting their product on the market, from storage to delivery,” said Evan Smith, CEO, Cherry Capital Foods. “We welcome Senator Peters to Traverse City for Startup Week Across America and thank him for his firm commitment to supporting small businesses across Michigan.”
“We are proud to use local products to produce hops for Michigan breweries in an truly sustainable way,” said Brian Tennis, Owner, Michigan Hop Alliance. “Having access to capital will allow our business to grow and sell our product to more customers, and we applaud Senator Peters’ efforts to support Michigan entrepreneurs.”
“Startup Day Across America” was launched in the summer of 2013 to encourage Members of Congress to visit startup companies during August. Last year, over 30 Members of Congress from both parties and both chambers participated in startup-related events in their states and districts, and this year, the initiative was renamed “Startup Week Across America.” Peters has participated in previous years by meeting with entrepreneurs in Detroit and Grand Rapids.
Peters has long been a champion of Michigan small businesses. Last month, Peters introduced a bipartisan bill that passed the Senate unanimously, which strengthens the SBA’s main lending program, the 7(a) loan program, by increasing the 7(a) lending cap for fiscal year 2015. Additionally, Peters joined Senator Debbie Stabenow (MI) to introduce legislation strengthening and reauthorizing the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), which leverages private capital with targeted federal investments to support small businesses. The program has been a huge success, supporting nearly 9,000 jobs in Michigan and leveraging nearly $450 million in capital for Michigan businesses since 2010.
###
