Startup Tucson
Video Library
Join the platform.
Have your brand boosted to local, regional, and national consumers
Startup Tucson is looking for local food entrepreneurs for our new SoAZ made platform! Through funding and support from the USDA, Startup Tucson is able to create a virtual market for local entrepreneurs to showcase their products and/or experiences.
The program is FREE for those accepted and we are spending over $50,000 in direct marketing to the microsite!
We are partnering with Visit Tucson to ensure Tucson tourists and locals can easily take advantage of shopping local and experiencing what our wonderful city has to offer all in one convenient location. We anticipate 80+ local companies to fill the microsite!
For more information email tyler@startuptucson.com
why join SoAz Made?
It's free!
You'll become a Visit Tucson Freemium Member!
As a SoAz Made member you will receive the benefits of a Visit Tucson Freemium Member. These benefits include:
-
One free listing on the SoAz Made microsite located within Visit Tucson's website. Visit Tucson receives over 1.4 million site visitors annually, which means more foot traffic to your site resulting in more customers and sales!
-
Discounted partner rates at Visit Tucson events
-
Support maintaining your profile
You'll become a Startup Tucson member!
Additionally, you will become a Startup Tucson member and gain access to the perk package we have developed specifically for SoAz Made members. These perks include:
-
Access to mentors and subject matter experts
-
Monthly connection service sessions
-
Membership exclusive discounts to professional services and products
-
$45,000 in marketing will also be devoted to increasing site traffic to the microsite page. We will handle marketing to tourists and Tucson locals who are trying to experience the authentic artisan goods that you have to offer!
showcase your products on your profile
Each profile will showcase:
-
Three products or experiences of your choosing.
-
A unique food experience includes wine tasting or beer tours, a u-pick venue, educational experiences, and day trips. We allow you to showcase three of your products to spur interest and direct traffic to your site. The purpose of the microsite is to generate leads to your website, so we will not sell your products for you on the site, but direct the customer to your website instead.
-
-
Customers can filter through tags.
-
Filters make sure that anyone looking for a product like yours will surely find it! The categories are fresh (fruits & vegetables, dairy, eggs, cheese, & ice cream, meat, seafood, & meat products, and more); Pantry (nuts & baking, spices & condiments, grains & pasta, and more); Ready-to-Eat (cookies, snacks, chocolate, & candies, bread & bakery, meals to take home, and more); Beverages (coffee, tea, fresh juice, wine, beer, cocktails & mixers, and more); Heritage*; Food Experiences (U-pick, educational, day trips).
-
*Food heritage is a term that encompasses the origins of plants and animals and their dispersal, the sites where people first cultivated plants and domesticated animals, as well as the earliest locations around the world where people first processed, prepared, sold and ate foods.
REQUIREMENTS FOR LISTING
LOCATION
-
Tucson is one of your target markets
-
You're located in Pima County
-
Headquartered in Arizona
TYPE OF BUSINESS
-
Sell fresh products, value-added agricultural products, food-related experiences, and/or use heritage ingredients (ingredients tied to the history and cultures of southern Arizona and the Sonoran Desert)
-
Locally owned
-
Privately Held (not traded on the stock market)
-
Not a franchise
Ideal for: anyone selling something food-related through eCommerce (e.g. growers, value-added and beverage producers, food experiences, etc.)
Ideal for: anyone selling something food-related (e.g. growers, value-added and beverage producers, food experiences, etc.)
OUr Partners
University of Arizona Department of Agricultural Education, Technology and Innovation
If you would like to contact the project team,
please email Tyler Thorp at Tyler@startuptucson.com
Funding for this project was made possible by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service through grant GRANT13114986. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the USDA.