Does your food business need more focus? Do you need advice on how to grow it?

Carlow County Council has developed an excellent training programme to help you grow your food business.

All successful businesses require careful planning and management. 

To get your business to where it is now, you have gained a general understanding of business management, food production methods, quality control, food safety and route to market. You have demonstrated a customer need for your products and refined your offer – your flavours, pack size, brand story etc.

Now you need to figure out how to get your business to the next level. 

Many businesses plateau after the initial phase of launch and start up.

The next phase can involve scaling up recipes, hiring staff, moving to a larger premises, purchasing equipment, developing a route to market strategy.

All of these steps can be daunting as they require strategic and financial planning, acquiring new skills, creating demand for greater quantities of product, building alliances with industry partners, finding a new premises, coping with increased overheads.  

OUR FOOD MATTERS IS A PROGRAMME DESIGNED

TO HELP MICRO FOOD BUSINESSES GROW. 

There is increasing demand among consumers for locally produced, innovative products. The programme will help you to refine your offer to make sure it meets consumer demands.  

During the 6 weekly masterclasses in business strategy and growth you will:

• Examine your product innovation strategy

Strategic planning is the foundation for new Product Development and Product Management.

During the strategic planning phase, an organisation’s capabilities, relevant technologies and market opportunities are taken into consideration in order to create and deliver value to the customer.

The purpose of new product strategy is to:

• Set new product objectives (sale, profit, contribution, market share….)
• Understand the contribution of new product development within the business’s wider strategy
• Define the technologies, markets and product scope
• Engage in leadership training

Strong leadership is critical for the success of a business. We will help you to develop your own strengths and identify skills gaps. Recognising your skills gap enables you to seek help in those areas and to hire the right people to fill the skills gap.

• Take a fresh look at where sales opportunities exist

We will create a breakthrough plan for your business for the next 24 months. We will study export opportunities and online opportunities as well as local, regional and national opportunities. We will establish growth priorities across your entire business and motivate your team to achieve more with the same resources

• Identify the resources your business needs to grow 

Growth needs a new set of tools – new equipment, staff, vehicle, premises, and skills. You will also need new financial projections to help you plot your journey.

This programme will provide you with a toolkit and the confidence to bring your business to the next level.

• Join a group of likeminded businesses, share knowledge, learn faster

The businesses will become members of the Blackstairs Food Group. Along with the shared knowledge and expertise that will help accelerate growth, members will have professional food photography and marketing materials created for their products.

• Work with your expert Growth mentor

One-to-One mentoring will give an individual opportunity to:

• Identify your growth needs
• Review your business
• Identify its strengths and weaknesses
• Identify your business's barriers to growth
• Establish how to overcome them and grow
• Apply your growth strategy
• Define your business’s growth strategy for the next 2 years
• Write a 2 year business plan
• Complete 12 months cashflow projections that include Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your business
• Hit your growth targets
• Develop you route to market to increase your customer base and hence your sales
• Make you processes leaner to reduce costs
• Know your KPIs; use them as stabilising forces in your business growth 

Field Trip to Dumshanbo Food Hub 

A one-day trip to The Food Hub, Drumshanbo will help you to understand: 

1. the workings of a timeshare kitchen and food incubation units
2. if such a move would be suitable for your business, identify advantages and obstacles.
3. the resources needed to grow your business and how to fund these resources

Membership of The Blackstairs Food Group 

“Cluster Learning” or learning as part of a group speeds up the learning process.

It facilitates the building of partnerships to activate local economic development opportunities.

Activities usually involve areas such as:

1. regional marketing
2. sharing target market information
3. management training
4. research and innovation
5. group sourcing of key components (such as ingredients and packaging)
6. sharing route-to-market knowledge (such as distribution and warehousing)

The Blackstairs Food Group will be launched over the course of the programme. The initiative will continue in 2016 and will help develop partnerships between local retailer, tourism operators and state agencies.

Participation in two showcase events 

In December we will organise two events where food producers will showcase and sell their products:

1. to the general public
2. to potential trade partners

These will be excellent opportunities for food producer to identify new sales channels, to build brand presence, to network with each other and potential customers.

Am I eligible?

To be eligible, your must:

• Have a business based in Co. Wexford or Co. Carlow
• Have products that are currently commercially available (either in shops or at markets)
• Be in product innovation phase with a view to bringing products to market in the      next 12 months
• Be willing to share historic financial information about your business for      the purpose of preparing financial projections
• Be available to attend:

1. 6 weekly masterclasses each Monday from November 9^th till December 14^th2015
2. 2x 2hrs One-to-One mentoring
3. a one-day field study
4. two showcase events in December 2015

How much does it cost?

Cost of participation is FREE

What do I need to do next?

Click here to fill out an application form (takes approx. 5 minutes)