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 ordinary (but perhaps visionary) folks who came together to fund their startup and growth. I would recommend this book to any food entrepreneur who wants to learn how other small food ventures have survived startup and struggled through growth.
The subtitle of the book is. “Growing Local Food with Slow Money” and the book chronicles the investments of Slow Money NC. But even if you are unfamiliar with Slow Money or don’t particularly care about it, the book is more about how a community can come together and make a real difference for local food entrepreneurs. Unlike other approaches to Slow Money, North Carolina didn’t try to assemble angel investors or create some sort of alternate fund. They just figured out how to connect people and let simple, person-to-person loans get money to where it was needed.
If you are interested in Slow Money, this is a great companion to Woody Tasch’s Inquires into the Nature of Slow Money (which I have previously reviewed). Where Woody’s book is theoretical and philosophical, Financing Our Foodshed is the nuts and bolts of getting it done in your town. If you are thinking about starting a Slow Money network (as I am) then this book is mandatory reading.
It provides at least one very practical method for supporting local food ventures that doesn’t require lawyers, accredited investors, or government intervention—the tried and true promissory note. You give me money for my food business, I promise to repay it over a certain period with a specified interest and payment schedule. It carries risk if my business fails, but the connection is personal and you can be sure most entrepreneurs will do everything in their power to make good.
The book includes stories of bakers, restaurants, farmers, cheese makers, and a food co-op. There are great pictures of real people running real businesses throughout the book. These aren’t one-in-a-million businesses or superstar whiz kids backed by venture capital. They are people who are at once ordinary and exceptional, just like you and me. These are people who have taken the leap to start a great food business and found individuals in their community willing to support them by writing a check. When you are starting out, a few thousand dollars can seem an insurmountable barrier. But Financing our Food Shed makes it clear that it isn’t crazy to ask.
Pick up Financing Our Foodshed at Amazon, through the author’s website, or talk to your local bookstore about getting you a copy.
