By Jeff Farbman | Project Leader
This summer NGFN turns its resources to giving people solid techniques for making well-educated, strategic decisions. Good Food businesses have a TRIPLE bottom line to answer to, making it even more critical to make the right decisions about fundamental business investments. This summer we look at two top investments (technology and trucks), with an emphasis on food hubs, though the principles apply to any business.
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Byte Sized: Choosing Appropriate Technology to Run Your Good Food Business -Register now!
Thursday, July 24, 3:30-4:45 ET
Good Food Businesses are complicated. There are many types of exchanges that a business must track accurately, including money, food, and many types of information. And there are a large number of constituents that need to have all of the right things - growers, buyers, consumers, drivers, and warehouse personnel to name a few.
In the 21st century, we must use software to ensure all pieces of our business are accurately served. But how do you choose the right technology to help run your business? A solution that does not fit your business well could cost a lot of money, and worse, lost productivity.
The first step in choosing the right solution is a deep understanding of your own business. With the right analysis you can make technology choices with greater speed, and with confidence. This webinar will give you the tools to perform an accurate analysis of your business technology needs. Although the presentation will focus on food hubs (arguably one of the more complicated Good Food businesses, as a "middle man" interacting with all pieces of the food system), the same theories apply to ALL businesses.
Your donations keep these Free! Register now!
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Ins-TRUCK-tion Manual: Lease, Buy, or Other? - Register Now!
Thursday, August 21, 2014 3:30 PM - 4:45 PM EDT
How do you decide whether to lease, own or outsource your trucking?
As we talk to food hubs across the country this question comes up over and over again. Farm Credit of the Virginias and Farm Credit Council have created a new tool that will give you a definitive financial answer to that question.
Moreover, this same type of analysis can be used for any food operation that involves equipment, from farming to processing and beyond.
This webinar will take you through theory and practice of making the right decision for your business.
Your donations keep these Free! Register now!
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Community-Based Food Business Financing
In Austin, Texas a group of folks hungry for local food have cracked the code to access capital – looking to the community. Using a cooperative model they are continuing to innovate. Starting with the knowledge gained from such ventures as a co-op grocer, their success led them to experiment with opening a co-op brew pub. This venture has been another striking success, and are now working to open a cooperative food hub.
This webinar starts with the basics of what a co-op is, how it works, and then discusses accessing community-based capital through what is called a Member Investor Share Offering (MISO, also known as a Direct Public Offering or DPO). By leveraging the dollars from the community, they have been able to finance the start-up and beginning operations of innovative co-ops. Hear what the organizers of these businesses believe to be the secrets to their success, and some suggestions on how you might consider financing your planned operation in this way.
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Net Value: An Innovative Approach to the Seafood Supply Chain
As a fisherman, business as usual means heading out to sea, battling the elements, catching as much as you can, and heading back inland to sell what you caught on auction. You do not know what will sell, and you do not know what price it will fetch.
As an institutional, retail or other mid-scale buyer you are also at the mercy of the auction. Budgeting is difficult, and there is generally no means to assure that the fish you are buying has the attributes you value, such as being sustainably caught, allowable bycatch, etc.
Open Ocean Trading created an innovative online marketplace, called FYSH-X, that allows buyers and sellers to trade commercially harvested and farmed seafood products in forward time. This value chain approach means that fishermen can leave the docks secure in the profitability of their trips by locking into a price and selling all or a portion of a catch in advance. And buyers are empowered by having prices they can budget for, and by being able to negotiate directly with vessels for any attributes that are important to them.
In this webinar hear the history and context of the fish trading business, and how the Open Ocean Trading marketplace works. A seller (a fisherman) and an institutional buyer speak from their perspectives about how FYSH-X has changed their businesses. And as always, we end with questions and answers.
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