ASSISTING FOOD BUSINESSES IN A FARM-TO-TABLE WORLD

A Webinar for Small Business Counselors & Cooperative Extension Agents

HOSTED BY THE NC GROWING TOGETHER PROJECT

AT THE CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL FARMING SYSTEMS

AND THE NORTH CAROLINA RURAL CENTER

Presented by:

Dani Black, Bigger Tables Consulting

www.ncgrowingtogether.org | www.localfoodeconomies.org

This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, under award no. 2013-68004-20363. Any opinions, findings,

recommendations, or conclusions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Our Agenda Today

NCGT Introduction to Webinar & Overview of the GoTo Meeting Platform

Presentation from Dani Black, Bigger Tables Consulting

Question & Answer Session

Welcome!

NC GROWING TOGETHER

AT THE CENTER FOR

ENVIRONMENTAL FARMING SYSTEMS

North Carolina Growing Together is a five-year USDA-funded

project aiming to strengthen and

expand local and

regional food supply chains and to model

this work for other geographies in the U.S.

Farmer capacity

•Food safety, market channels, production techniques, buyer connections

Supply chain expansion

•Wholesale and institutional partner connections, infrastructure assessment and business feasibility

Producer & processor capacity

• Resource development for meat, dairy, seafood, produce, and value-added products

Supportive business environments

•Local government integration; small business development and support for food-based entrepreneurs

ABOUT THE PLATFORM

• GoToWebinar Platform

– You will be automatically muted – this helps cut

down on background noise and data overload!

– You can interact with presenters by raising your

hand or submitting questions through the Chat Box.

– If you have trouble during the webinar, send a

private message to Emily by right-clicking on her

name in the sidebar and selecting “Send Private

Message.”

• Your chat box questions will be answered during

the Q&A session at the end.

HAVE A

GOOD IDEA? • After the webinar ends, you will

receive a link to the YouTube

video so that you can re-watch or

share as you like!

• You’ll also receive a PDF version

of the presentation which allows

access to all the links and

resources, and contact

information for the presenters.

Let us know if there are

other topics or

presentations you’d like

to see!

Assisting Restaurantsin a Farm-to-Table World

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Welcome! ….and thank you : )

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Dani Black

Bigger Tables

~

Culinary and Service

Consulting8

“Restaurants are businesses first and foremost,

and food is merely the product for sale.”

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70%of adults nationally say the

availability of healthy

menu options would make

them choose one

restaurant over another.

~ National Restaurant Association’s 2017 Restaurant industry Outlook

46%of national smartphone

users use their phones at

least once a month to order

restaurant takeout or

delivery.

$18.6 billion

projected restaurant sales

In North Carolina.

In 2017.

Seriously.

458,400restaurant and foodservice

jobs in North Carolina in 2017

(10% of employment)

527,000projected by 2027

For the first time, Americans are

spending more money on food

away from home, than they are on

food at home. True story.

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12Why Restaurants Fail by H. G. PARSA, JOHN T. SELF, DAVID NJITE, and TIFFANY KING

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Still… why would anyone in their right mind want to do this?

Or, “How to evaluate (and support) an

entrepreneur and a business plan in a pretty

precarious field.”14

“Every time a newcomer talks about opening a restaurant, I want to show them a picture of me with my hand jammed down a floor sink clogged with potato peels.”

~ Chris Cusack,Downhouse, Houston, TX

Business Planning

For Restaurants

Years One and Two

Years Three and Four

Facility Decisions

Design and Plan Review

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Business Planning, Years One and Two:

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“I have always thought that one man of tolerable abilities may work great changes, and accomplish great affairs among mankind, if he first forms a good plan”

~ Benjamin Franklin

Business Planning: Years Three and Four

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“NO plan survives collision with reality.”

~ Restaurateur and caterer,Durham

Chicago’s Parachute Three Years In

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packing the chute

one year in

parachute!

Where Do You Do What You Do?

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Home processors of low-risk baked goods and packaged foods need the North Carolina Department of Agriculture:

home processor information

home processor application for inspection

High-risk foods (refrigerated or frozen products, low-acid canned foods, meat, dairy, seafood products) must be processed in commercial kitchens. These folks should go to:

non-home-based food processing information

Non-packaged / pre-packaged food intended to be consumed at time of purchase (food vendors) are regulated by the county’s Environmental Health Department. This requires production in a commercial kitchen and inspection and sanitation grade. The best reference here is the North Carolina Food Code:

NC Food Code

Hillsborough’s Piedmont Food and Agricultural Processing Facility (PFAP) has created a roadmap, a great place for people to start:

pfap roadmap (hey! that rhymes!)

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food and beverage jurisdiction guidance

Who Inspects What You Do?

wake county's haccp planning resources

Where Do You Do What You Do? Low-Risk Kitchens

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Where Do You Do What You Do? Commercial Kitchens

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Eastern CarolinaFood VenturesIncubator Kitchen

Where Do You Do What You Do?Trucks and Buildings

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Trucks operate under their local county’s Environmental Health Department.

Commissary needs will be determined by the equipment and the menu, by the inspector.

Rules, in addition to the NC Food Code:food truck rules

Plan review application for Orange County (each county has their own, but they all follow the same rules): plan review

If building a new space or significantly upfitting or renovating a current one, clients will go through a plan review process with Department of Environmental Health, Zoning and Building Departments, Fire Marshals, and assorted other people who have opinions and rules.

Here’s a great overview of foodservice design for safety.

I know there are three things that would make my business die:

● killing someone● ABC shutting me down● running out of money

~ Lora Brooker, Soigne Events, Durham

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Things That Could Make My Business

Die

Don’t Kill Anyone: Food

Safety

Permits, Rules and

Contracts

Money In The Bank

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Don’t Kill Anyone: Food Safety

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Permits, Rules and Contracts

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Money In The Bank… Literally

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Money In The Bank: Operating Expenses

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“It’s a penny ballgame, Ms. Black. It’s a penny ballgame.”

What’s new in food?

Or, how people are spending that food money!

Prepped Meals (and

other conveniences)

“Concepts” Are A Thing (but be sure yours will stay ‘a

thing’ before you bet the farm

on it!)

Food Halls

Food Trucks

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Food Halls are a Thing, too

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Food Trucks

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“The only restaurants that should be

worried about food trucks are bad ones.”

~ Andrew Zimmern

What’s new in food?

How are people spending their food money?

Mostly, more and

more over time,

people want and

expect to know

where their food

comes from.

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“It started with my wife asking where to get a

good fish sandwich. Her grandfather was a

fisherman in northern Virginia and they ate

fish all the time.”

~ Ricky Moore, Saltbox Seafood Joint,

Durham35

“Restaurants have the opportunity to be major change agents, if they want to step into that role. But how can they be

supported in doing that?”

~ Erin White, Community Food Lab

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Doing Well And Doing Good

“Farm-to-table offers a model for infrastructure

development.

While a restaurant is attracting customers from all over

the place with varying perspectives on food, it opens the

door to relationships between farms and consumers.”

~ Ann Meletzke,

Healthy Alamance

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Incorporating Local Food

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Incorporating Local Food

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Some of the folks getting North Carolina seafood from water to plate

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Some of the folks getting North Carolina meats into the hands of chefs

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Some North Carolina folks getting our state’s produce from

field to fork

“Call the Midwife!”

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Getting North Carolina produce into institutional supply chains

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Food Safety - “Approved Vendors”

Questions to Ask Local (non-commercial) Vendors

Do you have a recall process?

For Meat: How many animals do you raise per year? Are you under inspection by

NCDA?

For Produce: Are you GAP certified? If no, how do you irrigate your fields? What is

your water source?

If the water source is private: Has your drinking water been tested for potability?

Do you have sanitary restroom facilities for your farm staff?

May I take a tour?45

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Food Safety - “Approved Vendors”

“Here in North Carolina, over 150,000 immigrant farm and food

processing workers harvest nearly all the local food we eat and

export, but their living and working conditions would shock most

Americans.”~ Andrea Reusing,

Lantern, Chapel Hill47

“Help Wanted:

We need the following: the tactical adaptability of a Navy SEAL, the flexibility of a master yogi in regards to scheduling and heat tolerance, an addiction to adrenaline and semi-organized chaos, the ability to work investment banker hours without investment banker pay. Helpful but not required: a sense of humor that is a cross between Tina Fey and Andrew Dice Clay. You should probably like pirates. Required: A desire to succeed in the culinary industry.”

~ Paul Inserra,

American Meltdown, Durham48

“Millenials are $#%heads.”

~ Anonymous Cafe Owner, Chatham County

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staffing realities

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review realities

Supporting entrepreneurs is the best work there is!

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Thank you for all you do for North Carolina

entrepreneurs.

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Dani Black

Contact:

Bigger Tables

Culinary and Service Consulting

Hillsborough, NC

daniblack@biggertables.com

www.biggertables.com

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U P C O M I N G W E B I N A R SOctober 10 November 13

Check out previous webinars in this series on YouTube!https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL35wTOUY04KN_FEvzFv0trW0ZryiIzjvo

www.ncgrowingtogether.org/events