Becoming a food entrepreneur: take the journey

Is it your dream to start a food business? Learn from others who have taken the journey.

The Food Entrepreneur’s Journey was produced by the Agri-Food Management Institute with funding from Growing Forward 2 (GF2), a federal-provincial-territorial initiative. The Agri-food Management Institute (AMI) promotes new ways of thinking about agribusiness management and aims to increase awareness, understanding and adoption of beneficial business management practices by Ontario agri-food and agri-based producers and processors.

The Food Entrepreneur’s Journey received input from twelve food entrepreneurs, small food business owners and several seasoned professionals working in the areas of product development, education and training, distribution and economic development. The guide can be used not only by prospective food business owners but newly established businesses too. The reader will also find input from new entrepreneurs as well as industry experts.

The research covers instrumental elements of a business process, from the idea and concept to business development to commercial sales. Each phase also includes challenges of a given process and resources to facilitate further research and learning opportunity.

Download the complete report (pdf).