Experts

6 Ways to Fund Your Food + Beverage Business

Finding the right source of funding for a food and beverage business is no cake walk. Whether your small business is a startup or an established company looking to expand, securing a traditional bank loan may not be the answer.

So You Want to Write a Cookbook? 5 Tips for Sealing a Deal

Ronna Welsh is the owner of Purple Kale Kitchenworks, a Brooklyn culinary studio that teaches strategies for ingredient-driven, zero-waste improvisational cooking. Last year, Welsh stirred up a feeding frenzy among eight publishers, who bid on her cookbook proposal She signed with Rux Martin Press, an imprint of Harcourt Houghton Mifflin, and is now hard at work cooking up chapters of her still unnamed book, due out in spring 2018. 

How to Find the Best Source of Small Business Funding

Finding the best funding sources for your small business depends upon many factors.  The key to determining the right capital for your small business is which stage of growth your business is in.  As you move from start up to growth stage, your small business financing needs and the funding sources available to you change.  Excelsior Growth Fund calls this “moving up the capital continuum.”  Read more to determine the best options for funding your small business.

An Ounce of Prevention: Intellectual Property and the Food Entrepreneur

You have been making a delicious and unique food or beverage that your friends and family love, and recently quit your day job to focus your energies on commercializing the product and bringing it to market. But have you legally protected your product?

6 Tips for Leveraging LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers a great way for companies to connect with potential customers and influencers. Not only can you join groups and reach out directly to your ideal customer, you can also create a business page and connect by posting engaging content. Remember, content isn’t just about selling your product, but about becoming a trusted resource for information. So make sure your posts relate to your industry, not just the goods and services you may be selling.

Exporting 101: How to Start Selling Oversees

The statistics offer a compelling case for why companies should consider exporting their goods. Ninety-seven percent of the world’s consumers live outside of the United States. Yet, only about 11% of American companies export their products. Brian Shube, founder Brian Shube Consulting, recently shared his insights into what it takes to become an exporter.

How to Win in the Food Industry

Start-ups in the food industry, and the food tech sector in particular, have seen quite a bit of turmoil in the past year. Prominent, well-funded companies like Good Eggs, Kitchensurfing, Dinner Lab, and most recently Farmigo have either shuttered altogether or significantly scaled back their operations. As a food tech entrepreneur and advisor to other growing food companies, I have been asked this question many times: Is the food sector unwinnable?