Category: Good Food business development

Rick Bayless Demo at GFFC

Welcome to Chicago, James Beard Foundation: 10 Delicious Facts About the Windy City

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

by Jim Slama and Bob Benenson, Family Farmed [Note: This article was first published on the Huffington Post news website.] As advocates of the Good Food movement in Chicago, we are honored that the James Beard Foundation Awards are coming to town. The Foundation was created to honor the legacy of chef James Beard. After Read more about Welcome to Chicago, James Beard Foundation: 10 Delicious Facts About the Windy City[…]

SBA visit to Good Food Business Accelerator

U.S. Small Business Administration Partners with Good Food Business Accelerator at 1871 Incubator

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

FamilyFarmed has developed a strong relationship with the federal agency charged with assisting the entrepreneurial sector: the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Its Good Food Business Accelerator was a winner of the SBA’s Growth Accelerator Fund competition last year, earning it $50,000 to help launch the program that is rounding out its first six-month session of mentorship for nine competitively selected entrepreneur Fellows.

Kishr logo

Good Food Accelerator Fellow Hopes Success for Her ‘Superfruit Brew’ is a Kishr Thing

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Differentiation is an important key to success in the expanding sector of artisan food producers. A number of food entrepreneurs have sought their special niche by reaching into their personal experience and background. This is something that Rowida Assalimy did when she launched Kishr, a traditional hot beverage of her parents’ native country of Yemen that she grew up drinking.

Spark of the Heart soup mix

Spark of the Heart Owners’ Rebound from Recession Was a Powerful Mix

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

One of the very few good things you can say about hard times, such as the recent Great Recession, is that they tend to unleash a lot of entrepreneurial energy. That was certainly the case for the owners of Spark of the Heart, a company that produces dry bean-based soup, salad and sides mixes, who will tell their story at the Good Food Business Accelerator’s Demo Day.

Accelerator Fellow Urban Canopy Goes Upstairs and Outside to Promote Farming in Chicago

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

You would be hard-pressed to find a business that is more local, more community-based, and more dedicated to revitalizing economically challenged neighborhoods than Chicago’s Urban Canopy.

Good Food Business Accelerator panel

Good Food Business Accelerator Fellows to Show Their Skills at April 27 Demo Day

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

By Joel Blechman, FamilyFarmed When I tell people I’m the director of the Good Food Business Accelerator, which FamilyFarmed launched last fall, I’m frequently asked, “What does that mean?” Accelerators — which provide mentorship, networking opportunities, and other assistance to promising entrepreneurial businesses — compose a fast-rising sector that is promoting economic development in the Read more about Good Food Business Accelerator Fellows to Show Their Skills at April 27 Demo Day[…]

First Person: Three Organic Reasons To Visit Policy Makers in D.C.

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

The week that organic advocates descend upon Capitol Hill has come to be regarded as Organic Week in D.C., and for good reason. We always have a battalion of organic stakeholders armed with expert knowledge and a passion for the organic community.

Nature's Farm Camp

First Person: Learning About Good Food is Child’s Play at Nature’s Farm Camp

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Tim Magner is a co-founder, with Elena Marre, of Nature’s Farm Camp, a five-day, four-day summer camp that provides children with hands-on experiences about food and nature. Magner has entertained, educated and inspired kids in a variety of capacities for more than two decades, including as a camp counselor, a children’s book author, and operator of Truck Farm Chicago.

Wolfram Alderson

First Person: Cooperating to Build the Good Food Movement and Share Good Examples

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The movement to change the food system is growing stronger every day, and millions of Americans are now demanding a food system that conveys wellness instead of disease, and delivers food that is good for us, good for the people who produce it, and good for the environment.

Farmers Talent Show logo

First Person: Band of Farmers — the Chicagoland CSA Coalition — Debuts

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The Band of Farmers Talent and Fashion Show takes place at The Hideout in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago tomorrow (Saturday, March 28). This show is the most fun a farmer (and a fan of farmers) can have without playing in the dirt.

Anne Alonzo, USDA AMS adminstrator

First Person: USDA’s Anne Alonzo and Her Chicago Good Food Homecoming

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Anne Alonzo, administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service, says there is a lot of passion for sharing Good Food by supporting strong local and regional food systems — something she experienced firsthand during her trip last week to Chicago, where she spoke at the Good Food Festival & Conference presented by FamilyFarmed.

Gov. Bruce Rauner visit to Good Food Festival & Conference

Policy Makers Increasingly Recognize That Good Food Is A Movement

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

by Bob Benenson, FamilyFarmed There is ample statistical, financial, and anecdotal support for the contention that the Good Food movement is, indeed, a movement — one that is expanding markets for healthier food, produced more sustainably, more humanely, and with greater fairness to small farmers, entrepreneurs, and farm workers. This Good Food sector is engaging the interest and participation of millions of Read more about Policy Makers Increasingly Recognize That Good Food Is A Movement[…]

Dave Miller of Baker Miller at the Good Food Festival

Baker Miller at the Good Food Festival on Adding Whole Grains to Your Daily Grind

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The rapid growth of the Good Food movement was reflected at FamilyFarmed’s annual Good Food Festival & Conference, which took place last Thursday through Saturday — not only in the big attendance turnout, but in the intensity of interest among the general public in eating better foods and, in many cases, making those better food themselves at home.

Rob Levitt charcuterie workshop at the Good Food Festival

Chicago Butcher Rob Levitt Elevated Charcuterie at the Good Food Festival

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Rob Levitt, who co-owns Chicago’s popular The Butcher & Larder meat shop with his wife Allie, was very generous with his time prior to his charcuterie workshop at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival Saturday. It turns out that Rob is also very generous with recipes.

Illinois Gov. Rauner Voices Support for Goals of Good Food Movement at Conference

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday told attendees of FamilyFarmed’s 11th annual Good Food Festival & Conference that he backs the goals of the Good Food movement for a healthier and more sustainable food system, and pledged to do everything he can to help.

Good Food Success Stories panel

Good Food Business Success Stories Emphasize Doing What Comes Naturally

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

There are plenty of business success stories that emerge in the food world. To be a Good Food success story — like the four featured at FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference in Chicago Thursday — has a special requirement: a commitment to the values of local, sustainable, natural, and healthy food that is the foundation of the fast-growing Good Food movement.

Good Food Festival & Conference Starts Fast With Accelerator Discussion

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Festival & Conference kicked off a packed three-day schedule Thursday with its Good Food Financing & Innovation Conference. The program featured an introduction to the nonprofit organization’s new Good Food Business Accelerator.

Good Food Festival 2015 logo

The Good Food Festival’s E Pluribus Unum: Many Great Programs, One Great Event

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Each of the many individual elements packed into the Good Food Festival & Conference would make a great stand-alone event.

Tell William Cider at Farmhouse Chicago

Farmhouse Tavern’s Good Food Approach Sees Lake Michigan Region as Field of Plenty

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

T.J. Callahan, the founder and owner of the Farmhouse Tavern restaurants in downtown Chicago and suburban Evanston is a bit wary of the “farm to table” label, which some critics say has been overused to the point of becoming a cliche. “Farm to table, it’s such a nebulous kind of concept,” Callahan said in an interview with Good Food on Every Table. “So we’ve called ourself, from day one, a ‘Midwestern craft tavern.'”

Sugar Beet Coop

SLoFIG Investment Group: Helping Put Money Where The Good Food Movement’s Mouth Is

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Finding sourcing for financial capital has been one of the major dilemmas that many startups (and even some better-established players) face in the fast-growing Good Food movement. Fortunately, the money gap is starting to be filled by venture capital groups that see the business potential in the Good Food movement. Chicago’s SLoFIG, an acronym for Sustainable LOcal Food Investment Group, was one of the first to see — and seize — the opportunity.