Level 1
Not sure where to start with your food business?
Our Level 1: Introduction to Food Business workshops is ideal for those who don't quite know where to start with their food business.
Workshops
Introduction to Food Business
We believe in a hands-on or “learning by doing” approach. You have the opportunity to work on your business or project plans as you progress through the workshop program.
We leverage our vast industry network by bringing in sector specific experts that are leaders in their field. These experts share practical experience and knowledge during workshop sessions, as well as help you with the implementation of your project or business plan.
With our extensive experience with small food businesses, we understand that your businesses have different needs and challenges depending on your planning stage. We consider these differences while developing and delivering our workshop programs. We will ask you specific questions about your business at the onboarding stage that help us identify your specific business needs and challenges. In addition to helping us, this process also helps you, as a business, assess your needs and invest your time and resources on business aspects that are most likely to have the greatest impact on business growth.
Our 360° approach to workshops is HOW we learn, collaborate, and transfer expertise between our teams. This circular approach to business planning involves a sequence of core activities, (i.e., research, planning, marketing) where our learning from (industry) market research project feeds our work with our business planning team, which feeds our creative marketing team as they produce branding, labelling, and campaign projects. Our experience and learning from these three teams, flows in a 360° process and is shared between our small teams to form the foundation of our workshop teachings.
We make full use of the learning outcomes from our research, planning, and creative marketing projects to deliver workshops that are highly collaborative, practical, and relevant to the needs of your small food business.
Our Level 1: Introduction to Food Business workshops is ideal for those who don't quite know where to start with their food business.
Workshops
Introduction to Food Business
This beginner’s level program is designed as an introduction to the agri-food sector and it familiarizes participants with the basics of food business planning as well as career paths in the sector. As an introductory program, it emphasizes on the following:
Our Level 2 workshops are perfect for those who are starting or planning to grow their micro food business.
Workshops
Ag-Food Entrepreneur & Supervisor Program
Food Business Planning
2-day Food Processor Business Planning Workshop
This program is for you if you have chosen the food sector as their career or entrepreneurial path. This includes food or farm business owners, managers, and supervisors who are committed to starting or have already started a business or career in the agri-food sector. Some key feature of this program include:
This workshop is intended for busy and growing small food business owners or managers who struggle to find the time to plan. It is designed for those committed to completing a full draft of their plan, and progressing their plan on a weekly basis, with support. This program offers:
2-days
This 2-day intensive program is for food and farm business owners and managers to develop a fulsome understanding of the different processes involved in setting up and running a small-scale food business.
The program also has 2 virtual mentoring and networking sessions following the workshops. These sessions aim to connect and mentor the participants, as well as serve to drill down on any topics and themes that participants believe would better support the implementation of their business plan. Participants can hope to gain the following benefits from this workshop program:
Our Level 3 workshops are intended for those with established businesses who have significant opportunity or challenge.
Workshops
Food Business Refresh
Food Business Marketing (Market Readiness)
Farm Business Refresh
Seafood Business Accelerator
3-week workshops + business & technical coaching
This program is designed for existing micro and small-scale food businesses looking to grow their business or pivot based on changing market trends and shifts. This largely self-directed program is “lean” in the sense that it allows participants to prioritize the most lucrative business growth opportunity that needs to be pursued, and focus only on that single project. The overall objective of Refresh is to help farm and food businesses develop and implement a “Refresh Plan” or pivot plan, to mitigate the impact of market disruptions or to accelerate growth and seize opportunities stemming from market shifts. Some of the salient features of this program include:
6 week workshops + one-on-one coaching sessions
The series is a set of workshops focused on the marketing and branding of small-scale farm and food businesses with the aim to equip them with the knowledge and tools needed to take the next step in growing their brand.
The fundamental program in the “Grow Your Brand” series, this 3-session marketing program is designed specifically for owners of small food and beverage businesses with BIG dreams. Businesses that are ready to take the next step to elevate their brand and food product marketing. We provide guidance, expertise, and the tools/templates that you can use to not only prepare for the next stage of marketing but to help you decide what you can accomplish on your own and what you need professional help to implement.
This program offers the following benefits:
6 workshop sessions + business & technical coaching sessions
“Farm Business Refresh” focuses exclusively on small farms located across Canada. Materials and topics of instruction are tailored according to the practical realities of small farm marketing and operations. The Refresh process, with its proven structure, would be maintained with a focus on assessment (establishing priorities), planning, and implementation with specialized support. Some of the distinct features of this program include:
An initiative by the Centre for Seafood Innovation (CSI) at Vancouver Island University (VIU), and supported by Farm Food Drink. The Seafood Business Accelerator aims to help seafood entrepreneurs innovate and capture more value for their harvests. The program focuses on the following aspects
Our Specialization workshops are intended for those with established businesses looking for specialized workshops on specific topics.
Workshops
Food Business Marketing Research
Food Business Packaging & Labelling
Food Business Digital Marketing
Lean Marketing Program
2 workshop sessions
This 2-session marketing research workshop is offered as part of the “Food Business Marketing” program as well as a stand-alone workshop for existing small-scale food businesses looking to rebrand, grow, and expand into new markets. The Food Business Marketing Research program focuses on developing marketing research skills in business owners and managers to enable them to independently conduct basic marketing research using some key tools and templates. Small-scale food businesses can expect to have to following benefits from this workshop program:
2 workshop sessions
This workshop program recognizes and highlights the importance of packaging and labelling in branding as well as the marketing mix. Another key component of the Food Business Marketing program that can be offered as a stand-alone workshop, the Food Business Packaging & Labelling workshop offers a comprehensive overview of the essential components of food and beverage packaging and labelling. Following are some key features of this program:
Digital marketing channels are some of most popular and fastest growing marketing channels, and offer opportunity for small-scale food businesses to grow. The 2-session workshop program covers the “what” and “how” of digital marketing for small-scale food businesses and offers the following benefits:
Lean Marketing allows businesses to test their marketing campaign(s) more quickly, with fewer resources, and learn from the results. This workshop program is designed for local food and beverage processors to enhance their competitiveness by streamlining and optimizing their marketing operations through the development of Lean processes. The Lean Marketing program is predominantly focused on the implementation of lean processes to the marketing operations.
Following are the key features of this program:
Farm Food Drink is proud to be a major contributor to the Women’s Enterprise Strategy, both at the National and Provincial levels.
Through the development of curriculum and materials, many or most of our workshops and programs have been influenced greatly by our objective to deliver training and planning support in keeping with the specific needs of women-led businesses. We recognize the fact that 60-65% of our client and workshop base are women-led food businesses. However, no matter the gender identity or cultural background of our clients or participants, our programs follow a process that best supports these leaders. We are proud that programs like Food Business Refresh, Lean Marketing, and Food Business planning support the development and planning needs these leaders are looking for.
Doing good work, with good people, doing good things.