Mar 18, 2022 | Food Business Planning, Local Food, Marketing, Toolsite
Local Agriculture Market Programs (LAMP) are transformative grants in the good food sector. They provide an influx of money for large-scale projects that support the development, coordination, and expansion of direct producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets and enterprises, and value-added agricultural products. We often recommend these grants for our clients to help them […]
Sep 20, 2021 | Food Business Planning, Food System
Food systems are made up of people engaged in creation, commerce, and community from production to consumption. For any food business, policy, or plan to be viable, it must take into account the influence, needs, roles, and impact of all stakeholders in that ecosystem. Engaging a diverse set of stakeholders to assess the internal and […]
Mar 17, 2021 | Food System, Good Food Glossary
A Food System Plan, as defined by the American Planning Association, is “a set of interconnected, forward-thinking activities that strengthen a community and regional food system through the creation and implementation of plans and policies.” The overall goal is to improve the well-being of people and their communities by building more sustainable, just, equitable, self-reliant, […]
Dec 18, 2020 | Food Access, Local Food, Rural Grocery
Food co-ops are rooted in social justice movements, but they have experienced the most growth during periods of economic crisis. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a need for equitable access to food, but the pandemic has sparked a new level of interest in local food for a variety of reasons, including more reliable […]
Dec 16, 2020 | Food Access, Good Food Glossary, Rural Grocery
“A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise” (Neighboring Food Co-ops) A co-operative can be used to accomplish a number of different purposes: to fulfill a need, to obtain a product or service, or to produce […]
Aug 31, 2020 | Food Business Planning, Food System, Leadership, Local Food
Food has never been a bigger story than since the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. The news has been heartbreaking and at the same time awe-inspiring to see the scale of response and sheer ingenuity in many corners of the food system. One good thing in the midst of this ongoing pandemic is that it […]
Jun 19, 2020 | Entrepreneurship, Food Hubs, Food System, Kitchen Incubators, Local Food
Sometimes the perfect storm for innovation is a crisis (or global pandemic) that pushes organizations further into their mission. Or it creates an opportunity to try something that under normal conditions would seem outrageous, but suddenly seems like the only option to meet the real-time needs of the community. We have been catching up with […]
Mar 18, 2020 | Community Food Centers, Food System, Forces For Good Food
Large food system changes need innovative thinkers, like the Whatcom Community Foundation in Washington State, that galvanizes the larger community to build a viable local food system that feeds people and sustains the land. Their vision is to develop a local food campus that will engage every stakeholder and sector of the local food system. […]
Dec 19, 2019 | Forces For Good Food, Kitchen Incubators
We are excited to spotlight CommonWealth Kitchen in our Forces for Good Food series. CommonWealth Kitchen is Greater Boston’s only food business incubator / accelerator and integrated “small batch” food manufacturer, providing shared-use kitchens, wrap-around technical support, coordinated access to markets, and outsourced manufacturing to over 55 food companies. They are focused on creating an […]
Dec 11, 2019 | Good Food Glossary, Kitchen Incubators
A simple definition of ghost kitchen is “commercial cooking space with no dine-in option” (QSR Magazine). The concept derived from restaurants that wanted to increase their meal delivery capacity to meet demand without having to increase the size of their storefronts. According to the National Restaurant Association, 60% of restaurant meals are consumed off-premise due […]