Marketing Heritage Foods

This month's event features a panel of local business owners discussing how using heritage ingredients set their businesses apart and helped them differentiate themselves in the market to reach success. Our panel includes Björgvin Benediktsson of Arizona Baking Company, Chef Gary Hickey of Charro Steak and additional entrepreneurs representing producers and restauranteurs.

Björgvin Benediktsson is an Icelandic-American author, entrepreneur, and educator. He helps creative people transform their skills into income, and systemize their marketing to free up their time. He’s been a marketing strategist and mentor to multiple businesses, and serves as a venture advisor at the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Arizona. He is the owner of Arizona Baking Company Premium baking mixes for the home chef using regional, heritage ingredients native to the Sonoran Desert and Baja Arizona. Arizona Baking is best known for its Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix is made from locally wild-harvested mesquite flour native to the Sonoran desert.

Gary Hickey is Chef/Partner for Flores Concepts & Sí Charro Restaurants. He likes to use ingredients native to Tucson and the Sonoran Desert, and prides himself on knowing who is providing each ingredient. He is also a member of GUT (Gastronomic Union of Tucson) and helps organize Knife Fight, a local chef competition.

Sponsored by University of Arizona FORGE, the Tucson City of Gastronomy (TCoG) presents a monthly presentation, every second Thursday, on the business of heritage foods. Drawing on a community-wide network of resources, TCoG speakers will provide information on how to leverage Tucson's global designation as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network to grow food-based businesses in Southern Arizona.