Have you always harbored a dream of starting your own food business – a niche grain mill, specialty jam or relish, or locally made pasta?   The Sustainable Business Cluster Team, an action item of the Prosperity That Fits Economic Development Plan is sponsoring a Food Entrepreneurs Workshop: Food Biz BootCamp for winter 2010, and are seeking a preliminary sense of community interest.  Come find out what it takes to take your idea to market.

The 40-hour workshop will be held on one Friday and Saturday per month between January and March, 2010 for a total of six sessions.  It will feature speakers from local food product companies as well as from Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community college food and business development programs.  

The intent of the workshop is to create a community of practice – a cohort of food business owners who can support one another through the challenge of establishing a local food business, enriched by mentors from existing food businesses in Western Oregon.  Topics to be covered include market analysis, business planning, understanding shelf-life requirements, selecting a manufacturing site, understanding federal, state, and county regulations and best practices for food safety, liability issues, packaging, marketing and product placement.  The workshop series will also address company and product sustainability, start-up funding, growth and professional networking.

The fee for the 40-hour, three weekend course will be $275.  Limited scholarships will be available for qualified participants.  If you are interested, please contact John Sechrest at the Corvallis-Benton Chamber Coalition  sechrest@corvallisedp.com or Bruce Hecht of the Corvallis Chapter of The Natural Step Network brucehe@peak.org  for further information. 

Register Here

Organizing committee and individual sponsors at this time include the Corvallis-Benton Chamber Coalition, Corvallis Chapter of The Natural Step Network, Oregon State Extension, Linn-Benton Community College, Linn-Benton MicroBusiness - a program of Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services, and Ten Rivers Food Web.