Sales and Marketing | Edible-Alpha® Learning Center

Your Food Brand Belongs Online—But Where?

10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®

If e-commerce wasn’t a priority for food brands before, COVID-19 has certainly made it one. Online food sales are soaring right now, and many shoppers want to buy direct from producers. A big part of your online strategy is deciding which online platforms to pursue. Our latest podcast explores how to figure this out. Also check out our free business tools to guide businesses during this tricky time, and remember to join our Monday virtual huddles for entrepreneurs and consultants.

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling | Pre-Venture | Startups

The Inside Scoop on Selling Online Today

1 hour 33 mins of Free podcast by Edible-Alpha®

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #66, Tera sits down with Matthew Starr, founder of Rally Energy, a caffeinated mint and cough lozenge brand based in Madison,...

Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling | Pre-Venture | Startups

Regenerating a Family Farm for the Future

1 hour 24 mins of Free podcast by Edible-Alpha®

In Edible-Alpha® podcast #64, Tera catches up with Bryce and Jen Riemer of Riemer Family Farm in Brodhead, Wisconsin, which Bryce’s grandfather started in...

Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Huddle Notes from April 6th, 2020

10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®

The huddles this week focused on how the current situation for food and farm businesses is going to go on for a while and coming out of it will be very slow.

Huddle Notes about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling | Startups

Scared to Talk Money? Don’t Be—You Got This

10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®

Many food and farm entrepreneurs know their way around a kitchen or carrot crop, but when it comes to the financial stuff, they feel...

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Disrupting a Category with Innovation, Authenticity and Sustainability

1 hours of Free podcast by Edible-Alpha®

In creating Saffi Foods, Sascha Dhanjal has brought top chefs and foodservice companies authentic oils and vinegars from Chile, Spain and Mexico. Retail has been a somewhat tougher sell, but Sascha embraces the challenge of disrupting the bulk liquids category. Offering a custom dispenser and reusable bottles, Saffi Foods delivers product attributes consumers crave: superior quality, traceability and sustainability. This podcast offers inspiration and advice for entrepreneurs at all stages, whether test-driving a concept or expanding distribution.

Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Franchising Food Businesses With Jason Schleip

1 hour Free podcast by Edible-Alpha®

Franchisers make money through initial franchise fee for setup costs, controlling product sales (by buying product, then selling to the stores after marking it up), and royalties, which come off of top line sales of the franchised business in return for the support and process development of the franchiser. This is often the biggest source of income for franchisers.

Podcast about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Startups | Growing and Scaling

Market Research Might Disprove Your Assumptions

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Sometimes certain products or certain classes of products make more sense in certain markets than others. For example, heavy or perishable food items make less sense to sell online due to the shipping costs and logistics involved. But unconventional markets could make sense if location or customer data suggests it is a good idea.

Article about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Consider That Unconventional Market

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Sometimes certain products or certain classes of products make more sense in certain markets than others. For example, heavy or perishable food items make less sense to sell online due to the shipping costs and logistics involved. But unconventional markets could make sense if location or customer data suggests it is a good idea.

Article about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Your Food Business Needs Multiple Strategies

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Good strategies are ones that reflect current relationships with customers/partners and current market realities, and thus, can shift as those things shift. Without a well-documented strategy, even well-meaning food entrepreneurs can get distracted or fail to execute on their business’ core needs and goals.

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

The Chesterhill Produce Auction: A Catalyst For Produce Producers

1 hour of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

The auction focuses on getting smaller producers in the area to the scale to where they can sell and get attention for their products. Last year the auction grossed over $300,000, with the auction taking a 16% commission for all vegetables sold.

Podcast about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

At Evolve Brands, Strategy is Everything

1 hour & 20 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

Since the snack category is crowded, Evolve Brands has focused their efforts on sales and marketing to build and continually support a strong distribution footprint of around 2,500 independent, natural and co-op grocery stores. From there, they can pursue a larger go-to-market strategy.

Podcast about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Peter Robertson of RP’s Pasta On Managing Growth And Changing With The Consumer

1 hour & 10 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

A trip to Expo West in 2010 validated the demand and uniqueness of RP's gluten-free SKUs, generating demand that spawned rapid growth of the brand on a more national level, which can be challenging to manage the customer relationships and the right equipment setup/space to match production with demand.

Podcast about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Your Relationships With Your Customers Are Your Food Business’ Biggest Asset

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

In a marketplace with rapidly changing food preferences, restrictions, diets and ethical concerns around food production, one of the biggest challenges is figuring out how to deliver a product that solves enough problems for the right customers while building a strong relationship with them.

Article about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups

Where Does My Food Brand Need To “Be”?

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Sometimes the ideal distribution path looks different than the entrepreneur intended when they started the business. The brands that survive today's marketplace will be making decisions about distribution and channels of delivery with customer expectations and preferences at center stage.

Article about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Food Entrepreneurship and Resilience – A Funky Fresh Take With Trueman McGee

1 hour of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®

Funky Fresh Spring Rolls is a company that produces uniquely flavored, hand rolled spring rolls that are baked or grilled (not fried) with fresh and local ingredients. The Funky Fresh team began selling at Farmers Markets, which in addition to providing early cash flow have functioned as market research labs, allowing them to talk directly to consumers.

Podcast about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Building A Defensibly Unique Food Supply Chain

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Building markets and the supply chain relationships necessary to support them requires a long-term vision that aligns consumers, suppliers, funders and their brand. But, if it is properly built and capitalized, it can lead to a defensibly unique business model that allows that food company to be built to last.

Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Food Businesses Need To Pay For Space And Attention, Even on Amazon

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Because the food space is competitive, online and off, emerging food companies have to spend lots of marketing and sales dollars to get consumer attention and trial by paying to have their product in the right place with the right positioning.

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Grow Your Food Brand On Amazon, If You Constantly Optimize

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

The Amazon platform provides a means for small and emerging brands to find an audience and generate sales if they dedicate time and resources to ensure discoverability on the platform by constantly optimizing product pages with the right keywords and features once the user is on the page, in addition to paying for keyword-based advertising.

Podcast about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Why Private Label Might Be A Great Business Decision

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Grocery stores have introduced their own branded "private label" products on their shelves, offering an opportunity for food producers to increase cash flow, maximize production efficiency and diversify revenue streams without having to do all of the brand building and customer relationship management themselves.

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling