Source: NCDA&CS, 9/17/20
 
Sept. 21 from 11 a.m. – 3:15

AGENDA

11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Building Community with Intention

Jill Willett, food entrepreneur, and Director of Adams Apprenticeship at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School and Maggie Kane, Executive Director of A Place at the Table in Downtown Raleigh will be kicking off the conversation to talk about how to intentionally build a community in your business. 

Specialty Foods Track
12 - 1 p.m. Positioning and Branding on the Shelf 
Join Sherry Barefoot and Cathy Ma of Got to Be NC to discuss branding, product positioning, and exporting your food based product. There are many resources to help you navigate the specialty foods world in a successful way to get your products on the shelf. This session will help you understand how to best position your product for purchase on the shelf.
Speakers: Sherry Barefoot, NCDA & Got to Be NC; Cathy Ma, NCDA

1 - 2:15 p.m. Pricing, Scaling & Investors 
Understanding how to scale a specialty foods business is vital to long-term sustainability. Getting on the shelf is often the easy part and many businesses don’t structure themselves for staying on the shelf. Mike Hockenberry, food entrepreneur and investor and Neal McTighe, food entrepreneur, founder of Nellino’s Sauce, and SBTDC Director will talk through best practices for scaling, pricing, and what to do to get and stay on the shelf.
Speakers: Neal McTighe, SBTDC; Mike Hockenberry, CEO of Disruptive Enterprises, KetoLogic, FBOMB, & trumacro; Moderated by Sue Ellsworth of Piedmonth Food & Agricultural Processing Center (PFAP)

Restaurants/Food Cart & Food Trucks Track
12 - 1 p.m. Branding & Storytelling 
Kristen Baughman of Tabletop Media Group and Amie Thompson of Creative Allies will be sharing important best practices for how restaurants, food trucks, food stalls, and food carts can connect with their customers and communities to tell the story of who they are and what their food means to them. This session will help you understand the heart of telling your restaurant food story and why it’s so important.
Speakers: Amie Thompson, Creative Allies; Kristen Baughman, Tabletop Media Group; Moderated by: Margo Metzger, NC Restaurant and Lodging Association

1 - 2:15 p.m. Pricing, Sales, and Understanding What Makes my Restaurant Profitable
The profit margin in the restaurant world is small and keeping a restaurant profitable can be tough. Join Dani Black of Bigger Tables for an important training on how to price and understand what makes your restaurant profitable. Dani works with many food based businesses and restaurants in working through common profitability challenges. Walk away with a better understanding of how to evaluate your current profitability and plan for the future.
Speaker: Dani Black, Bigger Tables


Closing Session
2:15- 3:15 p.m. Grit, How I Made it Happen
When the going gets tough, the tough keep going. Or is it the persistent? Our ending session is going to highlight a few local rockstar food entrepreneurs who keep it going. They are smart, resilient, and rise to the challenge of food. They will share their stories and what tools they’ve used to build their businesses.
Speakers: Preeti Waas, Cheeni Raleigh; Alex Brandwein, Brandwein's Bagels; Mike De Los Santos, Mike D's BBQ

Register Here