Jim Nellis

Jim Nellis is a good (formerly) southern boy who loves his mama, good food, and friendly competition. A Deadhead in his youth, this Atlanta native somehow wound up on Wall Street, working as an investment banker for Bear Stearns (but don’t hold that against him). A self-described serial entrepreneur, Jim eventually relocated to Rhode Island and became a savvy digital marketer, working for clients like INSERT SOME NOTEWORTHY CLIENTS HERE.

One day in 2011 he found himself trying to gather a dozen small local business owners to pitch them his services and he struck upon an idea: bring together a bunch of local bakeries for a competition based on what was at the time the hottest trend item in the industry, cupcakes. When 375 hungry food lovers showed up, and a dozen bakeries found themselves in front of hundreds of potential new customers, Jim realized that people on both sides of the food industry were hungry for something new. Since then, Jim has grown RHODE ISLAND FOOD FIGHTS into the largest series of culinary competitions in southern New England and begun expanding into other cities. Not bad for a guy whose last job in the food industry was working at Dairy Queen when he was 14.