What’s the biggest limiting factor in any small business? What causes the most failure? Is it access to capital? Small markets or lack of customers? Inability to find the right employees, suppliers, or other resources? These all suck and can certainly be business ending. But they aren’t the root cause of business failure. And this [...]
Book Review There are three great reasons that you should be reading business books about food and beverage startups: They provide great stories and inspiration to remind you that every business starts somewhere Everyone makes mistakes and it is great to learn from someone else rather than having to make the mistake on your own [...]
Book Review Not surprisingly, a serious business book being written as a graphic novel (aka. comic book) got some press. Mission in a Bottle is the story of Honest Tea, as told by founders Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff, illustrated by artist Sungyoon Choi. From a pure book marketing perspective, it’s brilliant. The graphic novel [...]
Book Review Stories have power. As an entrepreneur and food geek, I collect stories about food businesses, their challenges, success, and missteps. So, I loved Financing Our Foodshed by Carol Peppe Hewitt. At its heard it is a collection of stories about small food businesses in North Carolina, the entrepreneurs who founded them and the [...]
Book Review It’s August and back to school time is on everybody’s minds. For food & beverage entrepreneurs, I recommend they brush up on their business know-how with a trip to Beer School. Beer School is the story of the Brooklyn Brewery as told by co-founders Steve Hindy & Tom Potter. It’s not just for [...]
Book Review Most people in the food world have heard of Slow Food. It is the movement started when Carlo Petrini rallied people to protest the opening of the first McDonald’s in Rome in 1986. The big idea behind Slow Food boils down to “good, clean, fair, food for all.” Globalized, commoditized, mass-produced food that is focused more [...]
If you are starting a brewery, read this book. If you are growing a gourmet food or beverage business of any kind, read this book. If you are a small business owner looking to survive and thrive among corporate giants, read this book. If you are at all interested in entrepreneurship and how businesses really start and grow, [...]
Starting Your Own Brewery (Book Review, Part 4, Planning and Funding Your Brewery) The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery Edited by Ray Daniels (with more than 25 beer industry veterans contributing) This is the fourth and final part of my review of The Brewers Association Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery. If [...]
Starting Your Own Brewery (Book Review, Part 3, Marketing and Distribution Programs) The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery Edited by Ray Daniels (with more than 25 beer industry veterans contributing) This is the third part of my review of The Brewers Association Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery. If you are curious [...]
Starting Your Own Brewery (Book Review, Part 2, Facility Planning and Operations) The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery Edited by Ray Daniels (with more than 25 beer industry veterans contributing) This is the second part of my review of The Brewers Association Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery. If you are curious [...]
