The resources below help entrepreneurs get their food, beverage or value-added farm business profitable and raise the money they need to grow.
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For Entrepreneurs
Is Food Service Right for Your Brand?
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
Have you overlooked a lucrative sales channel? Learn about the boundless opportunities for food and ag entrepreneurs to thrive in the diverse food service sector.
Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Transform Your Farm Products and Boost Revenue with a VAPG
10 minute read of Free article by Edible-Alpha®
All USDA Local Agricultural Marketing Program (LAMP) grants application periods are now open! For those helping to boost sales of local food the FM/LFPP grant is for you and for farmers looking to grow their value-added income stream the VAPG.
Article about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
#2 – Why a VAPG Toolkit Read Through?
1 hour 45 minute read of Free resource by Edible-Alpha®
As part of the USDA Value-Added Producer Grant application, Rural Development provides applicants with a “toolkit” to guide them through the working capital or planning process. This 40+ page toolkit is an excellent way to organize the proposal, but it can be intimidating for first-time writers of federal grants.
Books or Guide about Raising Capital 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
ReGrained, A Business Model For The Long Term And The Planet
1 hour & 10 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®
ReGrained launched their product at scale in January 2018 after multiple iterations of their product (in the crowded bar category) and now are working with other businesses to help them produce/co-brand new products using their production facility and the expertise embedded in their proprietary process.
Podcast about Business Models 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
Shifting Farm Business Models
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
Median on-farm household income has been negative for the past 20 years, with many farms keeping their cash flow positive by increasing their debt load. Finding new business models that allow farmers to be profitable while meeting changing consumer demand will require high-quality technical assistance and coordinated effort from multiple actors.
Article about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Food Companies Grow In Stair Steps, Not Incrementally
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
While established food companies can grow slowly and still be profitable, this is much harder, if not impossible, for emerging food companies. Food companies, because they deal in physical products often produced from a long and complex supply chain, grow in stair steps, not incrementally, in order to reach the right scale to be profitable.
Article about Raising Capital for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups
How This Hard Cider Business Is Learning From “The Struggle”
1 hour & 10 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®
Brix Cider began producing in small batches and self-distributing throughout southern Wisconsin. Their ultimate goal is to open a cider tasting room (increasing margins and cash flow); however, through the struggle to find the right space, they have learned business problem solving skills and financial literacy.
Podcast about Raising Capital for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Shared Financial Management Builds Alignment For Food Businesses
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
Open book management is sharing the company's finances and key financial drivers openly with managers to increase their buy-in and understanding of the company's performance. By sharing company finances and expecting financial literacy of managers, open-book management allows multiple leaders to use the same language and work towards the same goal.
Article about Financial Management for businesses that are Pre-Venture | Startups
Growing A Successful Retail Food Co-op By Meeting Your Member’s Needs
1 hour & 5 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®
The Great Basin Community Food Co-op first opened to the public in downtown Reno with 500 feet of retail space, eventually hitting $1 million in sales in one year. In 2012 they moved to another 3-story location of about 3,000 square feet (on the main floor) even closer to downtown. In 2017, the store had about $4.5 million in sales after rapid growth.
Podcast about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
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
The Farmer Education Continuum In The Colorado Mountains
55 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®
The Old Fort at Hesperus' team sees farming education as a continuum where different people are best served by discreet programs, depending on their interests and stage of development. Their sustainable agriculture program includes an educational garden internship, a farmer-in-training program, and market garden incubator.
Podcast about Business Models 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
How Tribe 9 Foods Balances Economies Of Scale With A Changing Marketplace
55 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®
Tribe 9 Foods secured growth capital to bring manufacturing in-house for the three brands that merged into their portfolio, something that has allowed them to have control over batch timing, batch size and product quality. In addition, in-house production allows them the flexibility to try new things and have a co-packing line of business for their core product types.
Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Should I Manufacture Food In-House Or Use A Co-Packer?
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
The inevitable question food entrepreneurs face when scaling is "should I manufacture food in-house or use a co-packer?" The food entrepreneur's business model, stage of business, financing capacity (i.e. how well they can raise money) and the availability of co-packing capacity for their specific needs all make a difference in deciding how to answer that question.
Article about Operations for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Angela Mavridis Of TRIBALÍ Foods On Resonating With Your Tribe
45 minutes of Free audio by Edible-Alpha®
TRIBALÍ's clean, simple packaging communicates their organic, grass-fed and Paleo certifications, stands out on the freezer shelf and helps communicate their brand's promise to that tribe. Angela Mavridis, TRIBALÍ's founder and CEO reflects that the investor pitch process forces you to learn every single aspect of the business.
Podcast about Business Models for businesses that are Growing and Scaling
Build The Brand, Build The Food Business Ecosystem
10 minute Free read by Edible-Alpha®
Good brand building is built on an understanding of your target customer and what problems you are solving for them. While it is not the only thing that is needed to build a successful business, those consumer relationships are the lifeblood of all food businesses.
Article about Sales and Marketing for businesses that are Growing and Scaling