Press release:
The next START-UP Genesee Think and Drink event will take place at the freshLAB restaurant incubator located in Newberry Place on Main Street in the City of Batavia. The FREE event is from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Newberry Place is an historic renovation and conversion of Batavia’s former JJ Newberry store into the freshLAB restaurant incubator as well as seven new upper-floor apartments. It is designed to use locally grown products capitalizing on Genesee County’s agricultural strength.
The hosts for the event include Matt Gray and Jon Mager, who are co-owners of Batavia Brewing Company and the first tenant of freshLAB; and, Julie Pacatte, executive director of the Batavia Development Corporation, which provided various incentives to the redevelopment project.
The event also will feature brief remarks by Gregory Lindberg of the U.S. Small Business Administration and Reid Smalley who is executive director of Workforce Development at Genesee Community College.
“I can’t think of a more appropriate setting for area entrepreneurs to gather and share ideas than freshLAB,” said Chris Suozzi, vice president of the Genesee County Economic Development Center. “This type of innovation is connecting our rural communities with Downtown Batavia.”
START-UP Genesee is intended to assist all types of businesses from early stage planning to site selection, access to capital and product development or diversification.
