Podcast

May 5, 2017

Farm Credit and Value-Added Agriculture

Financial Management, Podcast, Raising Capital

The farm credit system includes many lending organizations around the country and is a great source of financing, including for non-traditional farmers like CSAs and value-added on-farm processors. These institutions also sometimes provide educational opportunities around financial literacy, financial statements and what it takes to successfully repay a loan

April 20, 2017

Black Earth Meats Evolves Into Conscious Carnivore

Business Models, Podcast

Conscious Carnivore, a whole animal retail butcher shop in Madison, WI evolved from Black Earth Meats (Black Earth, Wisconsin), a larger scale meat production facility and wholesale brand due to business challenges and some of the advantages of retail.

April 7, 2017

Biological Farming and Human Scale Meat

Business Models, Podcast

To satisfy demand for local/organic meats, Barlett Durand needed consistent throughput and quality. Rather than scaling up to compete with large-scale industrialized meat processors or launching a direct to consumer farm, he began aggregating meat from existing local farms under the brand Black Earth Meats.

March 21, 2017

A Food Business Model Journey with Leanne Cordisco

Business Models, Podcast

Leanne Cordisco started out making a toffee for wholesale via a local distributor. However, she realized that she did not want to raise the capital to cover at least $1 million of upfront costs to support a national brand. She opened Chocolaterian as another revenue stream and more immediate source of cash flow, and now it is her main business model.

March 7, 2017

Working With Credit Unions Like Summit Credit Union To Grow Your Food Business

Podcast, Raising Capital

This podcast outlines what it is like to work with credit unions. Summit helps food entrepreneurs access SBA 7a programs to provide up to $5 million of capital to younger businesses for working capital, inventory, and equipment purchases. The SBA 7a Express program provides a quicker turnaround than the traditional 7a, allowing for loans up to $350,000.

February 18, 2017

Working With Alternative Lenders like WWBIC To Grow Your Food Business

Podcast, Raising Capital

This podcast outlines what it is like to work with alternative lenders and CDFIs like WWBIC. WWBIC offers a combination of relevant business classes, business loans up to $250,000, assistance with personal financial management, and connections to people who can make things happen for business owners and entrepreneurs across the state of Wisconsin.

February 2, 2017

Getting All The Way to a Strategic Investment In Your Food Company

Business Models, Podcast, Raising Capital

Stephen and Chris McDiarmid of Gorilly Goods, a certified organic raw healthy snack maker in Jackson, Wisconsin talk about how their dehydration process and unique flavor profiles make them defensibly unique from other snack brands and how focusing on pitching their business model led to strategic investment in their company.

January 20, 2017

What’s In a Name? Trademark Protection for Your Food or Beverage Brand

Legal, Operations, Podcast, Sales and Marketing

Since selling food or beverages like beer are about selling your brand, protecting that brand and its growth in value through the trademark process is very important. Trademarks should be distinct and evocative as opposed to generic and descriptive, mimizing the likelihood of confusion with other trademarked intellectual property.

January 5, 2017

Running the Gauntlet: Leveraging Legal Rights and Regs in Craft Beer Startups

Legal, Operations, Podcast

Distribution rights matter a great deal for breweries and distilleries. Talking with a lawyer who has training and experience in the matter is the best way to protect the financial future of your beer brand. Whether or not you are a brewery vs. a brewpub matters a great deal to regulators.

December 2, 2016

Formation Documents, Raising Equity, and Protecting Recipes

Legal, Operations, Podcast, Raising Capital, Sales and Marketing

The type of entity you form and the type of legal protections you undertake matters in terms of your strategic path to grow and what kinds of money you are able to raise to support that growth. When raising equity, find legal counsel that understands what you need to do to comply with securities law and its required disclosures to investors or potential investors.