2023 FEED Summit

November 13 – 14th, 2023 FEED Summit
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Adding Value to Your Food or Farming Business

About FEED

The Community Food Systems Program’s Food Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (FEED) Initiative is a statewide program that promotes food entrepreneurship training and network development for value-added producers and individuals facing structural barriers to food entrepreneurship.

The FEED Summit

ASPIRING ENTREPRENEURS in the IDEATION Phase

Entrepreneurs in the ideation phase generally have a great idea, have a skill, or have a key resource or property, but haven’t started selling their goods or services yet.

EARLY ENTREPRENEURS in the STARTUP Phase

Entrepreneurs in the startup phase are generally producing goods or services and selling them to customers. They might not be profitable yet, and might be trying to grow their business. This includes many food and farming businesses in their first 5 to 10 years in business.

Why Should You Attend?

Learn Business FUNDAMENTALS

Entrepreneurs will learn how to start or grow their business through sessions focusing on different parts of business model development. Each session will have speakers who are business experts in the food and farming industry and/or Wisconsin food and farming entrepreneurs who will share their business stories.

Build Business CONNECTIONS

Entrepreneurs will connect with business consultants, service organizations, and other entrepreneurs through interactive sessions, networking activities, and through 1-1 conversations throughout the 2-day conference.

MARKET Your Business

Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to promote their business during the Entrepreneur Showcase session, and be able to speak 1-1 with hundreds of other entrepreneurs and business industry experts.

Schedule

Monday, November 13th, 2023

TIMES OF SESSIONS AND ACTIVITIESSESSION AND ACTIVITIES TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS
8:00 AM – 9:30 AMNETWORKING Breakfast (Atrium CC208)
9:30 AM – 10:30 AMWelcome and Keynote (Auditorium)
Welcome: Jessica Jane Spayde, Amanda Chu, Ron Franklin, and Selena Darrow
Keynote: How Passion Helps You Take the Leap of Entrepreneurship! with Christy McKenzie
Do you need inspiration to follow your passion of having a food or farming business? Hear from Christy McKenzie about how she followed her passion to start her company, Pasture & Plenty, in Madison, Wisconsin. 
10:30 AM – 11:00 AMNETWORKING Break (Atrium CC208)
11:00 AM – 12:00 PMBREAKOUT Session 1
✹ Grants Workshop: Creating a Winning Proposal with Margaret Krome (Room CC218)
Facilitated by Diane Mayerfeld. Learn how to scope your business idea into a winning proposal.

✹ Legal Issues for Your Business: Contracts, Legal Structure, and Raising Money with Jeffrey Glazer (Room CC212)
Facilitated by Sophie Eyer. This session describes how to go about important legal decisions you will need to make for your business. What is your legal entity type (LLC, C-Corp, sole proprietor, cooperative)? How are you raising the money you need to launch or grow your business (co-ownership, partnership, investors)? What contracts do you need with partners (co-packing, co-manufacturing, shared-use equipment)?

✹ Sourcing Local Ingredients for Your Food Business with Dale Johnson (Room CC213)
Facilitated by Valerie Dantoin. Learn from local food experts about how to source from local farms. Hear the story of a local food processor who sources his ingredients from local farms.
12:00 PM – 1:45 PMNETWORKING Lunch with EXHIBITORS (Atrium CC208)
1:45 PM – 2:45 PMBREAKOUT Session 2
✹ Grants Workshop: Grant Opportunities for Value-Added Farming in Wisconsin with Andrew Bernhardt (Room CC218)
Facilitated by Diane Mayerfeld. What grant opportunities exist in Wisconsin for food and farming businesses?

✹ Food Safety Requirements in Wisconsin: An Overview (Room CC212)
Facilitated by Michelle Grimm. Speak with the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) licensing specialists about how to navigate the food safety requirements for your food or farming business.

✹ Emerging Markets with Steffen Mirsky (Room CC213)
Facilitated by Jess Guffey Calkins. What resources and tools exist for businesses where a clear market doesn’t exist yet? Learn about the Emerging Crops Program at UW-Madison Extension.

✹ Legal Office Hours with Jeffrey Glazer (Room CC206)
Sign up for Legal Office Hours as you check-in at the FEED Summit! Space is limited, this is first-come, first-serve.
2:45 PM – 3:15 PMNETWORKING Break
✹ Legal Office Hours with Jeffrey Glazer (Room CC206)
Sign up for Legal Office Hours as you check-in at the FEED Summit! Space is limited, this is first-come, first-serve.
3:15 PM – 4:15 PMBREAKOUT Session 3
✹ Grants Workshop: Extra Time with Andrew Bernhardt (Room CC218)
Facilitated by Diane Mayerfeld. What grant opportunities exist in Wisconsin for food and farming businesses?

✹ Business Accounting (Room CC212)
Facilitated by Amanda Chu. What accounting system do you use? Learn from experts a variety of tools and resources to help your business track and achieve financial success.

✹ Food Safety for Mobile Food Businesses (Room CC213)
Facilitated by Jess Guffey Calkins. Speak with the Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) licensing specialists about how to navigate the food safety requirements for your mobile food business.

✹ Legal Office Hours with Jeffrey Glazer (Room CC206)
Sign up for Legal Office Hours as you check-in at the FEED Summit! Space is limited, this is first-come, first-serve.
4:15 PM – 5:30 PMTravel time – Continue networking and learning at the Local Food Tour & Networking Dinner!
5:30 PM – 6:00 PMNetworking Tour at the New Cannery Market in Downtown Green Bay
Be one of the first tours of the new local public market, opening in Fall 2023! Meet local Green Bay food entrepreneurs enrolled in the PROOF Incubator and Startup Hub. Learn about downtowns and farmers markets and what they have to offer on this walking tour of On Broadway!
6:00 PM – 7:30 PMDinner on Your Own
Have dinner at Hagemeister Park (just across the Fox River from the Cannery) in your own time while you connect with fellow entrepreneurs.
All Events Unless Otherwise Specified are at Our Venue, NWTC

Tuesday, November 14th, 2023

TIMES OF SESSIONS AND ACTIVITIESSESSION AND ACTIVITIES TITLES AND DESCRIPTIONS
8:00 AM – 9:30 AM NETWORKING Breakfast (Atrium CC208)
9:30 AM – 10:30 AMWelcome and Keynote (Auditorium)
Welcome: Jessica Jane Spayde and Amanda Chu
Keynote: Claire Thompson from Clario Farmstead Pasta 
10:30 AM – 11:00 AMNETWORKING Break (Atrium CC208)
11:00 AM – 12:00 PMBREAKOUT Session 4

✹ Cooperatives 101 with Kelly Maynard (Room CC218)
What is a cooperative? How do you start a coop? What resources are there to help me start a cooperative, or figure out if starting a cooperative is right for me?

✹ The Recipe for Marketing Success: Channel Selection and Partnerships with Mallaidh Mleziva, Selena Darrow and Corey Van Dyke (Room CC212)
Facilitated by Hannah Altimus. How do you market your food or farming product? Hear Mallaidah Mlezva, marketing expert, about which marketing channels are available to entrepreneurs and the importance of integrating your brand in your marketing approaches. Hear from Selena Darrow, culinary marketing expert, about how to add value by providing creative recipe content for your customers. Hear Corey Van Dyke/Mister Burns, local food entrepreneur, about how working with marketing experts has helped his business grow and succeed.

✹ Strategic Thinking: Adding Value to Your Food or Farming Business with Steph Plaster (Room CC213)
Strategic thinking is the intuitive, visual, and creative process you use to make decisions about your farm business. Business owners make dozens of decisions every day that impact the bottom line and future success. This session offers a handful of management tools you can use to make stronger decisions when determining how to add value to the current food or farm business model and how to set your farm up for the future.
12:00 PM – 1:45 PMNETWORKING Lunch with EXHIBITORS (Atrium CC208)
1:45 PM – 2:45 PMBREAKOUT Session 5

✹ Local Food and Economic Development with Brian Johnson (Room CC218)
Facilitated by Amanda Chu. Learn how to communicate the value of your foods-based business in the context of broader economical development and resiliency in your community from Brian Johnson, the Executive Director of On Broadway, Inc. Hear about the impact of this messaging on his organization’s Public Market development in downtown Green Bay.

✹ Market Research Needs with Patrick Nehring (Room CC212)
Facilitated by Steph Plaster. This is a discussion where entrepreneurs can share what their market research needs are, how they’ve gone about conducting market research up to this point, and how they’d like the Small Business Development Center and Extension direct them to resources in this area. Join us for a lively conversation!

✹ Cost Projections with Peter Robertson (Room CC213)
Facilitated by Hannah Altimus. Do you know know the difference between cost and price? How about cost of goods sold (COGS)? Learn more with FFI Expert Peter Robertson.
2:45 PM – 3:15 PMNETWORKING Break (Atrium CC208)
3:15 PM – 4:45 PMBREAKOUT Session 6

✹ Entrepreneur Showcase (NEW LOCATION – Room CC218)
The Food Finance Institute (FFI) is based in the University of Wisconsin System’s Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship and works nationwide. This is the final session of the conference, led by Peter Robertson, FFI Expert. Peter will provide conference participants with the opportunity to learn how to talk about their product or business idea, and it will give entrepreneurs practice showcasing their ideas. 
4:45 PM – 5:30 PMOPTIONAL Conference Evaluation Discussion and Feedback Opportunity (Atrium CC208) – Tell us what you think and how we can improve!
All Events Unless Otherwise Specified are at Our Venue, NWTC

NETWORKING ACTIVITIES

  • Networking Breakfast
  • Networking Lunch
  • Networking Break
  • Networking Tour & Dinner
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