Focuses on initial steps like market research, business planning, and understanding legal and financial aspects. It's about setting a solid foundation for the business idea.
Covers the practical steps of starting the business, such as obtaining permits, securing funding, and establishing branding and marketing strategies to attract customers.
Concentrates on expanding the business, managing increased demand, exploring new markets, and implementing advanced management and technology strategies for sustainable growth.
Food Business Types
Find your path based on the specific food business type you have.
Food Truck
Map the steps of starting their business, covering everything from licensing to health department compliance, marketing, and networking.
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Restaurant Cafe
Find best practices to identify a location, secure licensing and health department permitting, and plan for great customer service to staff coordination.
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New Product Launches
Walk through the steps of introducing your new food product to the market, from conception to commercialization.
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Catering
Do you throw a great party? Aspiring caterers can find essential resources for successful operation, including client relations, menu creation, and logistical management.
Learn MoreOpen Access is open-source, entirely free platform for community development and small business associations, lenders, cities and counties, and local government agencies to help small business entrepreneurs—particularly BIPOC food entrepreneurs—find the full range of technical assistance and lending opportunities near them. It is designed to be lifted, customized, and housed outside of Food & Society at the Aspen Institute, which built and launched it. This open-source demonstration portal includes generic and cross-cutting information ready for easy customization to your organization, city, or region. Please visit these links for easy guides to adapting it to your own needs and location, and feel free to reach out should you have questions about using this platform at foodandsociety@aspeninstitute.org. Visit our landing page to download the code base and review our user guide to easily implement this portal for your own community.