TEDx Utica speaker Marty Butts presents The ABC’s of Starting a Food Business
No-cost Entrepreneur Workshop for Food Production Businesses

America’s SBDC New Jersey at Brookdale Community College invites small foodservice business owners of Monmouth and Ocean Counties to attend a no-cost foodservice workshop The ABC’s of Starting a Food Business at Ocean County College in Toms River, NJ. The workshop is geared towards people looking to launch a new food enterprise, farmers looking to make new value added products, and any food producer already selling food at farmers markets, wholesale, or through other marketplaces. This no-cost workshop will take place on Monday, June 27, 2016 9:00 am 12:30 pm discussing the business side of food production. In the afternoon registered individuals can elect to receive no-cost, one-on-one, confidential one hour counseling sessions. (This is limited and on a first come, first served basis).

Do your friends and family tell you they’ve never tasted cookies as good as yours? Do your neighbors come knocking on your door asking you about your secret family recipe? Ever go to the farmers market and think to yourself, “I wonder if I could sell my homemade spice rub here?”

In the last 5 years in the United States, thousands of food microenterprises have launched. Some are farmers trying to extend their season by selling value added products, others from home kitchens or shared use facilities. Food hubs are being developed around the country, and more and more people are jumping into the soup. And because of the multiplier effect of local food, local food economies across the country are catalyzing measurable growth in their respective communities through their burgeoning food systems.

This workshop will give a potential entrepreneur an overview of the process of turning their home recipe into a commercial food product business. This is an intensive workshop for entrepreneurs looking to start a food product business, for entrepreneurs looking to grow from a home based business to a commercial business, or for entrepreneurs looking to start a commercial scale food business. The workshop will cover commercialization, packaging, labeling, pricing strategies, production, distribution, and more.

Seating is limited for this for this no-cost, highly valuable workshop and spots will go fast.
To register visit http://bit.ly/FoodBizOCC

Speaker:
Martin Butts, owner of Small Potatoes, is a local food advocate, entrepreneur, writer, speaker, and the owner of Small Potatoes, a boutique consulting firm that specializes in working with food businesses of all kinds. He has previously served as the Director of Syracuse University’s Community Test Kitchen, working with aspiring foodpreneurs to help them turn their product ideas into businesses, and as the Community Education and Outreach Coordinator for Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. He has spoken at conferences and summits around the country, including at TEDxUtica in October 2013. His work focuses on developing fair and sustainable food systems that support independent businesses and healthier communities. In 2010, he was chosen as one of Central New York’s 40 Under Forty, recognizing individuals who have excelled in both the workplace and in the community, and Small Potatoes was awarded a 2013 Snail of Approval Award by Slow Food CNY.