Connect
Cureate Connect is the local procurement team for our Buyer partners. We purchase from local small businesses to cureate and enhance overall product offerings to meet changing consumer demand, all while saving our Buyer and Vendor partners valuable time and money.
We’re also local business champions, empowering Vendors to strengthen their business operations by providing real-time feedback throughout each engagement.
Who Do We Work With?
Buyers of all sizes, including:
Anchor institutions - large institutions (education, healthcare) and/or their food service providers
Hospitality, travel and tourism operators - hotels, convention centers, entertainment & sports arenas, airports
Offices and workspaces - from large corporate offices to co-working spaces (supplying cafeterias and kitchens; providing catering for meetings and staff/employee meals)
General retail - any size retailer, including grocery stores, cafes, corner stores, and gift shops
Real estate - commercial and residential real estate developers, brokers and architects
Vendors - small local food & beverage businesses at various stages of growth, including:
Consumer packaged goods (CPG), including value-added products
Beverage-makers
Farmers
Bakers
Caterers
Restaurateurs
Why Work With Us?
Changing consumer preferences are creating exciting opportunities for Buyers and Vendors to generate new revenue streams and other benefits. We help you seize them.
1. We Purchase Based On Your Unique Customer Needs
If you’re a Buyer looking to capture unmet consumer demand, we work with you to optimize your product mix in order to maximize local impact while also assessing sales data and consumer trends to generate more revenue for your operations. Maybe you’re looking to demonstrate your commitment to the community you serve by sourcing from local vendors. Or, maybe you understand that a diverse supplier base promotes greater agility and resilience during times of uncertainty. You also know that finding, vetting, and sourcing from multiple small business Vendors takes a lot of time and resources — unless you have the right procurement partner!
2. We Specialize in B2B and B2G Sales Channels
Perhaps you’re a small business owner looking for larger-scale and/or recurring business opportunities, but you don’t currently have the access or bandwidth to go door-to-door to potential Buyers, and you need some help meeting the logistical requirements of larger Buyers (including insurance minimums and longer payment terms).
3. We Create Diverse Supplier Pipelines
We bring more than 20 years of experience in the food & beverage industry, successfully matching Buyers and Vendors to achieve their mutually-beneficial goals. We’re also a certified woman-owned business through WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council), and a CBE (Certified Business Enterprise) through the DC Government. And, through Cureate Connect, we represent more than 350 small businesses, of which 35% are BIPOC and more than 50% are woman-owned.
How Does It Happen?
You’re a Buyer.
You tell us your goals, and we get to work mining our network of local Vendors to match you with products that help you realize that vision.
Specifically, we serve as:
Local boots-on-the-ground for business and institutional Buyers looking to discover new, pre-vetted Vendors
The prime, centralized supplier, handling all Buyer-Vendor communications and transactions. This means you get ONE invoice, not many.
Success tracker, monitoring how your dollars have increased jobs in your city or region, enabling you to report to key internal and external stakeholders and establish valuable goodwill
Strategic marketing/merchandising partner. We frequently pair our Connect services with our Consult offering, working with you to create an innovative, 360-degree retail experience.
You’re a Vendor.
Think of us as match.com, but for new business. You fill out a FREE online business profile, add product information, and Cureate Connect matches you with sales opportunities. Just like that, you’re in the pipeline to access opportunities from our Buyer network.
Specifically, we serve as:
A megaphone for small business Vendors searching for new opportunities and a way to efficiently market themselves
A critical intermediary, negotiating payment terms that work for both parties, and holding the insurance coverage necessary for small businesses to work with large Buyers
Innovation Driver encouraging competitive, creative proposals from our Vendor network through our RFP program.
Strategic partner that believes in holistic business practices, providing opportunities for feedback, and growth-minded conversations. We offer access to affordable 1:1 consulting sessions, as you need them
Case Studies
Anchor Institutions
University of Maryland Medical Center
Challenge
University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) tapped Cureate to help them design and implement a Buy Local Initiative for their on-site cafe. They wanted to provide visitors, staff, and patients needing nourishment with higher-quality, healthier offerings from the very community the hospital serves. Unsure where to begin, and working tirelessly at their day jobs, UMMC brought on Cureate to purchase Vendor products meeting the specific dietary and pricing requirements of cafe customers, and the hospital’s flexible delivery needs — all, of course, sourced locally.
Solution
Cureate met with the UMMC team to learn more about the cafe’s typical customer — their budget, diet and frequency of visits. We then prepared an RFP on UMMC's behalf and shared it on our Cureate Connect platform to elicit a competitive group of proposals from our Vendor network.
From the Vendor proposals we received, Cureate:
Locally sourced healthy prepared meals (particularly beneficial for staff to keep on-hand to enjoy after cafe hours), packaged snacks that could be kept desk- or bed-side and beverages with holistic benefits
Provided vegan, gluten-free, paleo, keto, vegetarian and diabetic-friendly point-of-purchase snacks
Established a product delivery schedule that fit the customer’s unique needs while providing the freshest food possible
Created seasonal, morale-boosting offerings, such as locally-sourced chocolate bunnies and pecan eggs for Spring/Easter season
Integrated local goods into the cafe kitchen via featured menu items
Results
Cureate’s work has enabled UMMC to support critical hospital staff, as well as meet the needs of patients and their loved ones. Their Made in Baltimore cooler features unique and health-conscious food options from across the city while redirecting over $100,000 (and counting) back into the community they serve.
Hospitality & Tourism
Baltimore Convention Center
Challenge
The Baltimore Convention Center (BCC), a certified ASTM/APEX business, is committed to sustainability. Which is why, when it came to sourcing for their amenities and food service operations, they were hungry to partner with local entrepreneurs. Understanding the significant time and resources required for a large organization to find the right, scalable partnerships for their fast-pace, multi-part business, BCC engaged Cureate to serve as the local procurement team for Centerplate, the Convention Center’s on-site foodservice operator.
Solution
Cureate got to work assembling detailed master product lists pertaining to each area of focus — amenities, retail point-of-purchase and catering — geared toward reaching the Convention Center’s local sourcing goals. We have monthly meetings with the BCC team to discuss initiative progress and present new products. Based on those discussions, our team generates event-specific suggestions, including stall innovation, local engagement for retail sales, amenity package development and more.
Results
Through a partnership with Cureate, BCC has been able to incorporate more than 20 local businesses into their amenities, retail and catering operations, ranging from sauerkraut to fresh cut local flowers to bulk nut brittle. With each event they host, they are able to proudly represent the thriving small business community of Baltimore City.
Corporate Offices
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Challenge
Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) had a vision to support their mission of building stronger communities and ensuring access to opportunity by providing their staff with meals Monday through Friday, bolstering workplace camaraderie while providing recurring revenue streams for Baltimore-based small businesses.
Solution
Through close collaboration with the Foundation’s cafe operations team, Cureate has addressed every aspect of the client’s need, while providing daily, time-sensitive services such as:
Utilizing Cureate Connect’s network of restaurants and caterers, as well as our institutional knowledge, to build a rotating calendar of diverse menu offerings from Baltimore-based Vendors;
Effectively communicate AECF guidelines and needs with Vendors to maintain consistency of experience across each Vendor offering;
Receiving and extending feedback to Vendors as-needed for real-time adjustments to best meet needs;
Working with Vendors to build special client menus to create diversity and excitement around times of celebration for the AECF team; and
Sourcing products for the AECF cafe to help power staff throughout the workday.
Results
By partnering with Cureate to create motivating daily experiences for their staff that stimulate conversations over shared meals, AECF has been able to stimulate creativity and community in the workplace. Simultaneously, the Foundation is furthering its own mission and impact by supporting over 20 local businesses in less than one year, shifting more than $120,000 into the local economy.
Retail
The Village Cafe
Challenge
The Village Cafe, housed in the lobby of EDENS headquarters in the heart of the Union Market District, provides locally-sourced food and beverages from underserved, aspiring and budding entrepreneurs and creatives. More than 50% of the cafe’s product offerings are from local, women-owned businesses. The Cafe’s founders brought on Cureate to help them thoughtfully source their products, in keeping with the business’s role as a platform for underrepresented business owners to showcase their talents and connect with other communities.
Solution
Cureate works with The Village co-owners to source local products for their point-of-purchase retail and local product integration into their menus. We also work with The Village to achieve its vision of establishing a creative space for community-oriented events. We plan to partner with the café owners to host pitch competitions at the space, featuring local entrepreneurs whose products will then be sourced at the cafe during a door-opening trial period.
Results
Sourcing through Cureate has bolstered The Village Cafe’s mission and position in a highly competitive area as a location that is truly of and from the community. The co-owners had the vision of creating this communal cafe experience, and Cureate provided infrastructure through purchasing to aid its development.