Training Workshops & Speaking Engagements

The exciting changes in America’s food preferences are attracting new local food businesses all along the value chain from farms to distributors to processors to retail and foodservice outlets. This market disruption by innovative new entrants is leaving existing businesses to grapple with how to respond and stay relevant to a consumer increasingly oriented to Good Food.

Our team has a unique combination of skills and experiences to help both new entrants and incumbents who are seeking a role in the Good Food movement. Many of us bring our own entrepreneurial experience to the table, combined with business acumen honed from working with Fortune 100 companies and earning MBAs from the world’s top business schools. Others have urban planning, nonprofit and policy backgrounds, helping us understand the needs of planning organization clients and the systems in which they work.

As we do this work we recognize that our professional experiences are somewhat unique in the Good Food space, and our classical training in strategy, marketing, operations and finance are highly valued and widely needed expertise areas in this nascent but fast-growing industry. Conversely, our knowledge of the motivations and needs driving food system change at the community level are valuable insights to the industrial and institutional organizations from which we hail.

Training

In addition to our rigorous food business consulting projects, we also share our unique expertise and perspective through specialized consulting, training workshops, speaking engagements and open office hours offered regularly for food business entrepreneurs.

We also develop and teach business curricula for The Good Food Accelerator in Chicago, a project of FamilyFarmed, and the Food Hub Management Program, a professional certificate offered by the University of Vermont.

This training is available to our clients in multiple forms including LEAP Workshops focused on strengthening a single aspect of the business, and Immersive Roadmapping with more intensive support and coaching across a broader set of strategic issues.

Speaking

We have shared our insights with more than 80 live audiences. Topics are customized to the needs of our clients, and have included:

  • Public/Private Planning Frameworks
  • Consumer Trends & Insights
  • Social Entrepreneurship
  • Food & Health in the Good Food Space
  • Community Organization
  • Food Systems Planning Best Practices
  • Business Planning Frameworks
  • Growth Strategy
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Sales Planning and Measurement
  • Financial Management
  • Operations Analysis
  • Financing Sources & Strategy

We explore these and many more dimensions of the Good Food space on our blog. To find our posts and white papers, and to see where we’ll be speaking next, visit our blog.

About Us

New Venture Advisors is a team of business consultants specializing in local food system planning and new enterprise development.

Meet the team

Contact Us

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 Whatcom County Food System Plan

In 2021, the Whatcom County Food System Committee conducted a community food assessment that pointed to key opportunities to build a more robust and resilient regional food system. New Venture Advisors partnered with Whatcom County staff and the Food System Committee to draft a Whatcom County Food System Plan that builds upon these findings. This Plan focuses on five key goals for building a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system, and was informed by an inclusive community engagement process. The Food System Plan will provide the county with a policy roadmap that will strengthen the local food system for years to come. (2023)

 Whatcom Local Food Campus

The Whatcom Community Foundation invests in activities and organizations that improve the ability of people to help themselves, increase connections among people, and take cooperative approaches to community issues. WCF is exploring the development of a local food campus on a waterfront property that would become a multi-tenant site, anchored by a collaborative production kitchen benefitting food access, school system, and community organizations. The goal is strengthening Whatcom County’s local food system by promoting health equity, forging tangible strategic connections between food production organizations, and helping farmers connect with institutional markets. The facility will also feature an incubation kitchen, demonstration kitchen, event and classroom space, collaborative office and conference facilities, and housing.  New Venture Advisors developed the business case for this ambitious project and continues to support its development through engagement and operational development. (2023)