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These articles are written resources that provide insights into building and funding profitable food, beverage and value-added farm businesses. They include editions of our free Edible-Alpha® Insights newsletter, Edible-Alpha’s® twice monthly roundup of the best food and beverage finance news, events and resources from Edible-Alpha® and around the web. These emails will be coming to you as “Edible-Alpha® Insights” from info@edible-alpha.org every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month. These are currently all free. Learn more about our Premium Subscription to unlock everything Edible-Alpha® has to offer.

Grocery-Store-Brands-Graphic

New National Brands Drive CPG Innovation, Inspire M&A

5 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Financing food businesses is getting more complicated, with national brands/CPG producers having to raise millions to support their growth. However, large, established food companies are often slow to innovate and this provides an opportunity for those companies to make a strategic investment in up-and coming brands.

Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Consultant With Tablet

Communicate Your Financials Well to Raise Capital

5 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

As more and more consumers demand healthy, natural and free-from foods and as more capital and technical assistance is made available for new and innovative brands, the brands that survive will be the ones who take their communication about their financial position (and other metrics like store velocities) seriously.

Article about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Business Team

Both The Results and The Process Matter For Your Food Business

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Food businesses need both process and results-oriented people and the healthy tension their (sometimes conflicting) orientations create. Both kinds of people seek to understand the financial reality about their business performance.

Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Customers Are Always Right?

The Customer Is Always Right (Or, At Least They Are The Ones Who Pay...

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Food businesses should align their products and branding with their target consumers and should use market research to understand what the marketplace is asking for. Acquiring and keeping customers is what drives successful businesses and customer preferences must be met in order to have a financially viable business.

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

True “Disruption” of Food Is Difficult

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Consumer tastes, preferences and expectations around food consumption and distribution are changing. People are demanding more healthy food while also sometimes making the foray into purchasing food items online, mostly non-perishable, potentially hollowing out the center of grocery stores.

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

Farmers Building A Brand

Farmers: Let’s Build A Brand!

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Food consumers have been seeking more "premium" experiences from the food they purchase, including better connections with their food and understanding where it comes from. Developing brands for agricultural products can help farmers produce products that earn them a premium and are meeting a real consumer demand.

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

Food Business Reality Check Ahead

Reality Keeps Your Food Business Grounded

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Being a food entrepreneur is in some ways about balancing empirical reality and a belief in something you cannot see clearly, like where your business will be in 3-5 years. Food entrepreneursshould clearly state their assumptions about the future and test their assumptions constantly, asking the advice of people who they can trust to ground-truth their ideas.

Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Packaging Design and Private Label

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

Goal Setting

Focused Prioritization Helps Good Food And Farm Businesses Reach Break-Even

10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®

Food entrepreneurs will always have lots of goals competing for their attention. Good entrepreneurs know how to prioritize goals and optimize their efforts for the goals they are pursuing as priorities. This allows them to build financially successful companies and, over time, pursue many more big, hairy, audacious goals than they would have otherwise.

Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling

Amazon Prime

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