Finance Training for Food Business Supporters

Are you a lender, investor, educator, adviser or food business advocate with a background in food? Would you like help understanding the financial requirements of food businesses? Or maybe you feel comfortable in the world of finance but need to better understand the different realistic business model options available to food entrepreneurs. No matter your situation, we can help provide you with high-quality financial technical assistance training.

Led by Eric Deluca, FFI Food Systems Expert in Residence, Finance Training for Food Business Supporters is a paid four-day workshop for lenders, investors, educators, advisers, consultants & all food business supporters. Split into four, seven-hour sessions, the Finance Training for Food Business Supporters is based on FFI's experience helping food companies raise money. Trainings cover the cold, hard numbers of different types of food businesses to help you better understand what does and does not work in the current marketplace.

*Food Finance Training is limited to 15 consultants/business supporters, so we encourage you to register ASAP to secure your spot.

Level 1: Business Model Optimization

Our Level 1 training provides an in-depth look at what food, beverage and value-added farm businesses need to do to optimize their business model and capital structure for profitability. This includes a discussion of current market trends in the sector, the basics of conducting market research, various business models in food and farm (and their accompanying metrics/capital structure) as well as in-depth case studies of business model optimization with one or more of the business models presented.

Level 2: Financial Packaging

Our Level 2 training builds on Level 1 by helping participants navigate the process of raising appropriate debt, strategic investments, and equity  investments in food, beverage and value-added farm businesses. This includes a discussion of the legal, financial and governance prerequisites to and implications of raising equity. Level 2 also outlines a process of putting financial packages together to raise money, including case studies relating to specific funding requests for specific business models. We also help participants act as a “coach” that leverages the strengths of the entrepreneurs they work with, their network and other resources in their community to support the fundraising process.