It was just seven years ago when the married couple of Sonat Birnecker Hart and Robert Birnecker decided to give up high-level professional careers in the Washington, D.C., area, and start up their Koval Distillery in Chicago. As recent as that seems, they did not join the craft spirits movement within the city of Chicago. They launched it.
To sustain and expand on that growth, though, entrepreneurs and investors must be able to connect and build businesses that expand the supply of Good Food products in local markets. That is the goal of FamilyFarmed’s annual Financing Fair, which is currently accepting applications from entrepreneurs who want to participate.
The Good Food movement is growing rapidly in part because consumers have confidence that the products they buy are what the producers say they are. This also means that those involved across the Good Food sector need to be on guard against any exaggerated or misleading claims that could erode that consumer confidence.
The goal of creating a year-round local food culture in the nation’s northern regions is hindered by relatively short growing seasons. But the increasing number of indoor growing facilities — such as Illinois’ Living Water Farms — is helping to change that.
New Year’s Eve approaches, and the mind turns to bubbly wine. And New Year’s resolutions. And I can tell you from experience that few things stimulate creative thinking about those resolutions than a sparkling wine cocktail spiked with potent distilled spirits.
Paul Fehribach has always been generous about sharing his recipes at his Southern-themed Big Jones restaurant in Chicago. Now he has compiled his tips into The Big Jones Cookbook, coming out this spring.
There is plenty of diversity among the Fellows in FamilyFarmed’s new Good Food Business Accelerator program. But they share a drive to succeed a commitment to expand the Good Food movement.
The National Restaurant Association’s annual predictions of top culinary trends are out — and it looks like 2015 will be another great year for the fast-growing Good Food movement.
Teens around the country have caused a buzz by tweeting photographs of unappetizing school lunches along with a sarcastic message: #ThanksMichelleObama. That hashtag attempts to put a negative spin on the very positive work Mrs. Obama has made her personal cause as first lady of the United States: to improve child nutrition, health, and fitness.
Paul Kahan is executive chef and partner in an empire of acclaimed Chicago restaurants. Yet he is not too busy to pursue a favorite cause: teaching food literacy and healthier eating habits to Chicago schoolchildren.
Opportunity awaits you if you own a food-related business if you’re prepared to compete in the crowded holiday marketplace. If you want to have a successful holiday season, now’s the time to get started! Here are some tips.
Organic farmer Atina Diffley’s trip to provide food safety training to small farmers in West Virginia underscored the fact that water quality and quantity is a difficult challenge.
A mosquito-borne illness picked up during a horseback ride in Haiti turned critical for contributing writer Kora Lazarski. It prompted her to think profoundly about the impact of man on nature, and ultimately led to the career she is pursuing in the natural foods and products industry.
The Local Food Association (LFA) is the only national trade association for those in the business of local food. And it will stage its inaugural event, the LOCAL FOOD BUYERS EXCHANGE – Midwest, on Thursday, Nov. 6 at Hyatt Regency O’Hare in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont.
A column by Tom Philpott of Mother Jones magazine says the current U.S. agricultural system, heavily oriented toward producing massive amounts of commodity crops such as corn and soybeans, is a huge money-loser for farmers… and for American taxpayers.
The Green Chicago Restaurant Coalition is throwing its first annual Green Pumpkin Gala this Thursday. It will be fun with a purpose: to highlight efforts by many people engaged in the restaurant industry to make the nation’s food system more environmentally sustainable.
MobCraft, a start-up craft brewery in Madison, Wisconsin, has gotten some buzz lately because of their efforts at crowdfunding equity investment. But crowdsourcing has been integral to their operations — even their beer recipe development — since the get-go.
Concerns about the routine use of antibiotics in livestock production is rising among consumers, prompting an increase in both market demand and supply of meat labeled as “antibiotic-free.” And efforts to get the attention of policy makers to this issue are increasing.
The launch of FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator program drew a standing-room crowd to the spacious auditorium at 1871, the start-up incubator that is Chicago’s center of innovation.
Craft spirits tasting events are, by their very nature, fun. But the annual Independent Spirits Expo in Chicago, the latest rendition of which was held Tuesday (Sept. 30), also has a highly informative side. A panel of industry experts ended with a roundup of insights on the outlook for the spirits industry in the years ahead.