Other Business Activity
Upon leaving Pepsi, Bello formed JoNa Ventures, a family investment vehicle that included among other endeavors investment and active involvement in Firefighter Brands and Soup Kitchen International.
With former NFL associates Bruce Burke and Peter French, Bello formed Firefighter Brands, a social enterprise intended to benefit local firefighting units with revenues generated from the sale of Firefighter Branded coffee, chips, chili's, trail mixes and energy drinks. The project was supported by a group of well to do and high profile community minded investors but ultimately failed due to lack of cohesive co-operation among various firefighting entities.
In 2005, Bello invested in and became chairman of Soup Kitchen International, a company he helped found that markets soups created by Al Yeganeh, the New York-based soup chef made famous as the "Soup Nazi" on the popular Seinfeld TV show, for retail stores, and developed franchised restaurants.
In 2006 Bello became a general partner of Sherbrooke Capital, a venture capital firm that provides growth capital to early stage health and wellness companies that led the $6.35 million equity-financing round for IZZE in early 2005. In the spring of 2006, Bello was appointed Chairman of the Board of the IZZE Beverage Company, a maker of sparkling juices. Izze was subsequently sold to PepsiCo for an undisclosed sum. In addition, he serves on the board of Boathouse Sports, a Sherbrooke portfolio company and as acting CEO and Chairman of Adina for Life, another Sherbrooke portfolio company.
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