I covered a great assortment of resources in an earlier blog, so be sure to check that if you haven’t seen it yet. Since then a few more have crossed my mailbox. These are resources that I know I’ll want to grab hold of again so I’m capturing them here.
Impact Washington: “a nonprofit providing high performance business and technical assistance to Washington’s small to mid-sized manufacturers.” They first came to my attention when OlyKraut got a grant to work with them on LEAN manufacturing. Then Erin Adams of Seattle Good Business Network let me know that they have a range of technical assistance programs directed specifically at food manufacturers. Check it out!
To get more environmentally sound in Washington State, EnviroStars is the program to check out. They offer technial assistance to help you sort through what rebates and programs will be most useful to your business. I’m bookmarking this one to do in advance of the next BCorp certification or re-certification I am part of. Seattle Good Business Network may be able to hook you up with a free 30 minute consultation from them.
The Seattle Office of Economic Development has a page dedicated to the detailed steps of opening various food businesses here.
In Olympia, Enterprise 4 Equity has a long running food/Ag business training program, the Agripreneur program.
When it’s time for fundraising, going where the investors are always helps. I’ve begun to notice there’s a real hub of energy in Colorado. This year I learned about a two-day business bootcamp focused on food businesses called The Hirshberg Institute. It’s accessible for startups and is still probably helpful for early stage. It happens in June.
And then one for the producers – the place to be is Organicology in Portland around February. Seems like lots of folks attend that and it has serious education.