By Jeffrey Yoskowitz, Co-Founder and Chief Pickler for The Gefilteria, who received an ROI Micro Grant to establish The Gefileria's branding and design new packaging.

 

If I’ve learned anything from the 2011 ROI Summit, it is that the three most important factors of a successful venture in the 21st century are brand identity, brand identity, brand identity. 

 

A little over a year ago I gave the first pickle workshop at an ROI conference. I recall that its scheduling confused summit participants who had to decide between pickling and how to network more efficiently.

 

Now I have launched a venture to make Old World Jewish foods, pickles included, a part of the hip, new New York (and soon beyond) culinary lexicon. The Gefilteria’s line of products, including our signature gefilte, meet all of the Brooklyn requirements of sustainability, produced locally in small batches with an artisan flair.

 

Thanks to ROI, The Gefilteria received a micro-grant to hire a cutting edge product design consultancy to establish our branding and design our packaging. The Way We See The World is an innovative firm, known for their forthcoming product, Loliware, an edible cup that the team designed and created. The design team was incredibly responsive to our needs and created what we think are perfect expressions of what our business is and will be. The team designed labels for our jarred products, pickles, kraut, kvass (an old-fashioned fermented beet beverage) and horseradish, in addition to an overall design scheme and logo for our website and all other materials. 

 

Next stop is website production. I sat in Edoe Cohen’s class on building a website back in 2011 and I’ll be consulting my notes (and possible Edoe) shortly. 

 

I am grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the ROI network, and hope to be able to continue to be involved in the innovation and the sharing of ideas and inspiration. As a young entrepreneur, the ROI investment in branding my new venture will really make a significant impact.