The Kingston Economic Development Corporation has teamed up with the London Small Business Enterprise Centre in Ontario to provide aspiring food entrepreneurs in the area with a workshop series focused on starting and growing food manufacturing and packaging businesses.
This initiative, called the Foodpreneur Advantage Program, includes six virtual workshops designed specifically for the challenges of launching and running a food manufacturing business.
The program is organized by London’s Small Business Enterprise Centre, with participants from Kingston joining sessions that started last week, taking place every Thursday morning until mid-February.
While the Kingston Economic Development Corporation recognizes how local entrepreneurs can gain from this information aimed at their counterparts in London, Rob Tamblyn, the Business Development Manager of Small & Medium Enterprises, points out that it also offers a chance to identify region-specific challenges and opportunities through participant feedback.
He mentioned that creating a more localized program for consumer packaged goods was considered after discussions during COVID but ultimately joining forces with the existing London program seemed like a better option.
“These basically give people a starting point but then we hope that we’re encouraging the Kingston businesses that do take part to then come and see us and we can work together with them on creating a business plan,” Tamblyn said.
“I think that there’s a lot more unique and different types of restaurants in Kingston. So each one of them provides their own unique set of challenges so we’re really looking forward to trying to work with some of these businesses to help them.. our hope is that we can take these six sessions and then evolve them into basically phase two.”
With Kingston having one of the highest numbers of restaurants per capita in Ontario (the provincial data isn’t clear, but it’s been previously claimed as the highest in Canada), Tamblyn believes there’s significant interest locally for diversifying revenue streams.
He noted that while there have always been individuals interested in marketing sauces or other products, there’s recently been an uptick among restaurants showcasing how many food businesses are getting creative about generating income.
“We’ve seen a bit of an uptake recently from existing restaurants who are looking to kind of diversify their product offerings,” Tamblyn said.
“It speaks to a few different challenges that the restaurant sectors are facing right now just in terms of you know, costs are going up and whatnot.. There’s enough appetite and enough demand in Kingston to be able to provide additional training and supports in food.”
Since launching last Thursday on January 15, Tamblyn reported that 17 people or businesses from Kingston signed up for the first workshop.
The following one-hour sessions will continue weekly from this Thursday until February 19, covering topics such as food safety, packaging and labeling, as well as marketing food products.
You can find more information about specific sessions and how to register on the Development Corporation’s website.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Source link
Source link
