Description

PLAN OR IMPROVE YOUR FOOD BUSINESS WEBINAR SERIES
Plan or Improve Your Food Business is 4-part series organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County. This opportunity for new and established farms and food businesses is available for all backgrounds and skill levels.
 
Each webinar focuses on a particular facet of managing a food business. While it's impossible to cover every unique circumstance, these sessions tackle the most common questions Extension fields from entrepreneurs considering value-added production. Sessions are held online 6:00-7:30pm and each includes a presentation, group activity, plus resources to learn more after each session including recorded conversations with other small NYS food entrepreneurs.  
 
The series kicks off on February 13 and finishes March 6. Once registered, participants can attend one or multiple sessions. The topics for the session are Understanding Food Business Types, Estimating Costs of Starting a Food Business, Recipe Approvals, Record Keeping, and Food Safety, and Creating Effective and Legal Product Labels. Plus, all participants are invited to an in-person closing event at the Harvest Kitchen at the Extension Learning Farm in Canton on March 13th to enjoy a meal together, connect with other food entrepreneurs, and experience a mock kitchen inspection.
 
Plan or Improve Your Food Business is led by M. Flip Filippi, who is the Harvest Kitchen Manager and Local Foods Program Leader at Extension. Her focus is offering custom advice to entrepreneurs looking to create value-added products. Flip strives to create a welcoming learning environment while simplifying the multi-layered regulatory and financial planning aspects of food entrepreneurship. She has completed Food Safety Manager's Training, Better Process Control School for Acidified Products, Holistic Financial Planning, FSMA Regulations for Small Food Producers, Produce Safety Alliance Grower Training, and Master Food Preserver trainings.
 
The registration fee is $25 for the entire online course. Once a participant has registered for the course, they may choose to attend any or all of the standalone classes. Payment can be made online or via check mailed to Cornell Cooperative Extension. For additional information or to register for this opportunity, visit the event page at http://stlawrence.cce.cornell.edu/. Contact the Local Food Program Leader with questions at 315-379-9192, ext. 229 or mpf65@cornell.edu.  

TESTIMONIAL
An entrepreneur who took part in last year's program shared, “The course was well-balanced in terms of presentation, group discussion, and shared resources for further work. I loved getting to meet the different producers and hear their plans. Having real life examples made all of the licensing requirements, etc. make more sense. The class was an appropriate amount of time to get everyone going in the right direction. Also, the interviews with the producers and NYS food authorities were such an awesome resource and really brought all the information down to earth in an easy, understandable way.”