News

Revamped Catalyst Programme to Sustainably Scale F&B Innovation

New Zealand Food Innovation Network (NZFIN) has launched the Catalyst Programme, an initiative aimed at helping ambitious food and beverage (F&B) businesses turn innovative ideas into commercially viable, scalable ventures. The programme is part of NZFIN’s wider strategy to strengthen capability development alongside product and scale-up support, enabling sustainable growth across New Zealand’s F&B sector.

NZFIN Capability Development Lead, Braden Loveridge – former Business Innovation Advisor at Callaghan Innovation – is leading the programme delivery using his years of experience in coaching innovators and running his own F&B business.

From Concept to Commercial Success

Catalyst is a flexible, facilitated service and one-to-one support designed to guide founders and small teams through the complex journey of commercialising F&B innovations. By providing structured, hands-on support, with proven tools and frameworks, the programme helps participants evaluate, validate, and develop their concepts while building the capabilities needed to succeed in the commercial marketplace.

With a design-led approach, Catalyst streamlines access to technical, commercial, and strategic resources and partners. Participants gain support across every stage of the innovation pathway, from market definition and value proposition development to stakeholder engagement, strategy formulation, and scaling production.

Structured Modules and Bespoke Coaching

Founders begin with a 90-minute Innovation Baseline Assessment to benchmark their current capabilities and identify key areas for support. The programme then unfolds over five structured modules – totalling 25 contact hours plus five hours of personalised coaching – covering essential foundations such as market validation, business model design, innovation roadmapping, pitch preparation, and capital market education.

The tools and frameworks, including Strategyzer, Market Sizing, Playing to Win, 10 Types of Innovation, Design Thinking principles, and F&B-specific costing models. The programme also offers guidance on IP considerations, technical and commercial stakeholder engagement, and scaling strategy.

Building Capability to Scale

Catalyst goes beyond scaling products. This is about scaling sustainable and successful businesses.

Through Catalyst, participants will gain:

Clear insights into their market fit and commercial viability.
Structured frameworks to integrate innovation with strategy and market needs.
Prioritised action plans aligned to growth objectives.
Connections to NZFIN’s ecosystem of partners, facilities, and expertise.

A Pilot Programme with Strategic Impact

This first iteration of Catalyst is being conducted as a pilot programme at an introductory rate, part of NZFIN’s broader revamp of early-stage and capability services. It is targeted at serious, growth-oriented F&B ventures willing to invest the time, effort, and resources necessary to thrive. Catalyst is not a generic business course – it is designed for founders ready to scale, innovate, and engage with the global market.