Bridges to Better Business is an annual event that targets entrepreneurs in the Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma Region and is hosted by the Millworks - Centre for Entrepreneurship.

Each year during BDC's Small Business Week, this event brings together businesses in various stages of development for an open exchange of ideas, advice and feedback led by dynamic speakers and mentors. This year's theme is Canada's entrepreneurship celebration.

The Top 2 businesses for this year’s Pitch Competition (announced on September 27th) will have the opportunity to share their business idea with the audience and the judging panel. The audience will then get to vote for their favourite business idea and the winner will receive a Grand Prize valued at up to $15,000.

We're proud to introduce Matt Basile as our Keynote Speaker this year!

Chef Matt Basile spent over a decade disrupting the food industry as the founder of Toronto’s most recognizable food truck brand, Fidel Gastro’s, and popular gastropub, Lisa Marie. Today, as the co-founder of Alchemy Grills, he’s taking on a new frontier —disrupting the barbecue and live-fire cooking landscape. In an industry steeped in tradition, Basile is always striving to do things differently.

In just under four years, Basile transformed the Fidel Gastro’s brand from an underground sandwich pop-up to an internationally recognized food brand. He also ran the Queen West gastropub and brunch hotspot, Lisa Marie, for six phenomenal years. It was featured on various TV series, including You Gotta Eat Here! and Chef in the City, and was also ranked as the ninth best brunch spot in Canada by OpenTable magazine.

Today, Basile has partnered with two seasoned entrepreneurs to launch Alchemy Grills. The Alchemy is the first barbecue to allow home cooks the option to smoke and grill food at the exact same time with one appliance. In addition to developing prototypes, Basile is developing recipes for an accompanying line of rubs and sauces and designing stylish merchandise.

In addition, Basile hosted the reality television show Rebel Without a Kitchen, which aired on Netflix, Travel and Escape Channel, the Cooking Channel, and the Asian Food Channel. As a content creator, he also creates original content, including delicious recipes and grilling tips, on his YouTube channel.

Basile and his partner, Kyla Zanardi, are the bestselling authors of two cookbooks: Street Food Diaries and Brunch Life. He has also contributed to both HuffPost and Vice as a food writer and is a regular guest on programs such as Global Morning and Breakfast Television. In 2015, Basile was nominated for a coveted Canadian Screen Award for Best Host of a Canadian Reality Series.

Agenda

5:00 - 6:00 - Tradeshow & Networking

6:00 - 7:00 - Welcome & Dinner

7 :00 - 7:30 - Top 2 Pitch-Off

7:30 - 8:15 - Keynote Speaker, Matt Basile

8:15 - 8:30 - Winner & Closing

Tickets are $50 + HST/each or $375 + HST for a table of 8 (cash bar available). Tickets will not be available for purchase at the door.

If you wish to be invoiced for payment by cheque or sponsor the event, please contact Jessica Maione at: j.maione@cityssm.on.ca