The FoodPreneur

Food Entrepreneurs -Free Strategic Planning & Business Makeover with the Business Ventures Program - Fairleigh Dickinson University

2012-01-25T11:17:00.000-05:00

More than a Business Plan Competition & Business Makeover

Hey foodpreneurs... don't spend money on a business adviser. Do you need a business makeover? Do you need a new product launch plan to get your products on the retail shelf? Don’t you want to be a food business success story?

Enter your business into a university MBA program that develops a free business strategy plan for your food business. You know how small business plans can be difficult to develop without some help.

Submit your business to the Business Ventures Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University

Read more details on What is a Strategic Plan and Why do I need a Strategic Plan. Hey it is Free!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food & Beverage News - Sushi at Walgreens? Yikes! A new Food & Beverage Trend?

2012-01-22T18:29:00.001-05:00

Sushi at Walgreens?

Yep! Walgreens is testing perishable foods at select Walgreens stores. From Bananas to Sushi... see this video tour of Walgreens in San Francisco.

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Sushi at Walgreens... popcorn everywhere at the Winter Fancy Food Show... Dominos is Artisan?

Can Dominos Pizza Pull off Artisan?

New Product Launch Dominos Artisan Pizza - Another brand jumping on the Artisan Food Trend.

We think of artisan food products as local food from passionate "foodies" creating wonderful food products... with their hands and not big food processing machines.

Is Dominos credible?

See More About: new product launch food trends to watch social media

Top Food Trends 2012 Spotted at Winter Fancy Food Show

The top five food trends for 2012 have been identified by a panel of trendspotters at the 37th Winter Fancy Food Show, which ends today in San Francisco. It is... Read more

Mobile Marketing Strategies for Food and Beverage Brands

Top 6 Mobile Marketing Techniques to Enhance Your Restaurant Business

My colleague here at About.com Priya the About.com Mobile Device guide had a great piece on Mobile Marketing Strategies for Restaurant Businesses.... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Mobile Marketing Trends Food Beverage and Restaurants

2012-01-18T08:54:00.001-05:00

Top 6 Mobile Marketing Techniques to Enhance Your Restaurant Business

Mobile Shopping, mCommerce, Digital Marketing, whatever you want to call it, mobile it big and you need to know about it to compete in the food & beverage sector and to enhance your brand's new product launch.

Here are 6 tips for restaurant-preneurs.

Still not convinced? Click the pics, Stop & Shop mobile shopping app and Kraft's iPhone Assistant for cutting edge mobile shopping apps in the food & beverage sector.

Stop & Shop iPhone mobile shopping app

Kraft iPhone Assistant

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Mobile Shopping Trends 2011- Consumer Sentiment with Online Holiday Shopping Experience Improves but Retailers Have Long Road Ahead with Mobile and Social

2012-01-13T00:03:00.005-05:00

Mobile Shopping Trends Holiday 2011

Personalization of shopping experience on Facebook, smartphones and tablets lags far behind traditional eCommerce websites. The vast majority of shoppers reported social networks had no influence on their holiday purchase decisions and Email and search delivered shoppers the most relevant product recommendations, outperforming eCommerce sites and in-store sales associates.

Mobile Shopping Trends from 2011 - Mobile Commerce (mCommerce) and Digital Marketing are having an increasing effect on consumer purchase behavior across all sectors.The Food & Beverage sector is not immune ... Read More --->

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food Entrepreneurs -Free Strategic Planning & Business Makeover with the Business Ventures Program - Fairleigh Dickinson University

2012-01-10T11:16:00.000-05:00

More than a Business Plan Competition & Business Makeover

Submit your business to the Business Ventures Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University

Read more details on What is a Strategic Plan and Why do I need a Strategic Plan. Hey it is Free!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

New Product Launches 2012 Artisan food products from Frito-Lay, Pepperidge Fam and Dominos

2012-01-09T06:00:00.001-05:00

We love to visit specialty grocery stores, farmers markets and street fairs for tasty finds of artisan foods. We even get to speak with the artisan! Can you speak with Mr Frito Lay?

I see Artisan “big is bad, backlash of made in China and overall distrust of big business.

The article Artisanal Food Products are Reflective of a Consumers Backlash covers:

Do national brand stand to have credibility in artisan foods?
Why major brands in CPG are embracing artisan?
The nascent trend of Hispanification.
What can food entrepreneurs learn from artisan product launches from the major brands that can easily incorporate into their new product launches?

Boy, that Dominos Artisan Pizza sure looks good!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Gluten Free Foods attracting Venture Capital. Premium Vodkas are Hot. Vitamin Supplements appealing to narrower and more profitable Customer Segments.

2012-01-06T12:16:00.000-05:00

Gluten Free Foods attracting Venture Capital. Premium Vodkas are Hot. Vitamin Supplements appealing to narrower and more profitable Customer Segments.

Gluten Free Continues to be Hot - Gluten free brand are attracting investment capital, a sure sign that the projected growth rates in the Gluten Free category of $5 Billion in 2015 are conservative at best. Beanitos brand bean chips announced a substantial investment by 2x Consumer Products Growth Partners (2x Partners). Beanitos bean chips are made from whole pinto and black beans ... and a 1.25 oz. bag packs a whopping 6 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.

Vitamin Shoppe New Product Launch - Who needs ANOTHER vitamin supplement? Well if you look at the market broadly, you might think all customers who take nutrition supplements are the same and why compete with a thousand other non-differentiated nutrition supplements Great brands listen to what their customers want and Vitamin Shoppe Read more...

Premium Upscale Vodkas - New Product Launches in vodka pay great attention to brand and product positioning and VIVID Vodka is a good example of unique positioning with their claim of "...a personality that is hip, provocative, and playful with a pure taste that comes from being filtered through 12,000 pounds of virgin coconut husks". That certainly would make most premium vodka buyers stop and explore the product further. Their support of PINKTOBER is another example of cause-related marketing in the food & beverage sector.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Analyst: Quick-service segment has recovered | Nation's Restaurant News

2012-01-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

Analyst: Quick-service segment has recovered | Nation's Restaurant News

A good sign for upscale fast casual.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Want to see a Grocerant? Eataly Provides Ready 2 Eat Fabulous Foods.

2012-01-06T01:16:00.000-05:00

Want to see a Grocerant? Eataly Provides Ready 2 Eat Fabulous Foods.

A Grocerant is a retailer that sells ready to eat foods. A fabulous example of a Grocerant is Eataly, located in New York City.

Eataly's ability to bundle fresh ingredients into quality mix and match meal components that complement today's consumer demand for choice places it in an industry leading position and it is clearly one of the best within the grocerant niche.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Restaurant Chain Trends 2012 - Bankrupt Restaurants

2012-01-05T12:16:00.002-05:00

Bankrupt Chain Restaurants - a 2012 Chain Restaurant Trend?

Steve Johnson, Grocerant Guru wrote Restaurant Industry Trends - Zombie restaurants are ignoring history like Kodak and sees lessons learned from Kodak's failures and similarly poor strategy and leadership in the restaurant industry.

I call these failing chain restaurants, zombie restaurants. Zombie restaurants are chain restaurants with bad strategies and hire consultants turnaround experts that focus on survival and pay little to no attention to repositioning the brand. The Friendly's restaurant chain is but one of many recent examples during 2011.

The connection with Kodak and failing restaurants is this - things go wrong, companies don't change... and they are gone. Yet Starbucks and McDonalds have the "guts" to reinvent themselves with successful new product launches like McRib and Starbucks Petites.

In Restaurant Industry Trends - Zombie chain restaurants are ignoring history like Kodak see why 'We Can't... We Won't... We Don't'" is recipe for failure in food and beverage brands.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food Trends for 2012 - View the New Normal in CPG

2012-01-02T14:59:00.002-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Food Trends 2012 - CPG Brands Respond to New Normal Through

Wouldn't it be great to have the title of Chief Trendspotter? Well, Ann Mack and I had a great interview. As the Chief Trendspotter for JWT, she gave me a new way to think of new product launches as "entry points" to the consumer.... Small Bites, screened dining and Smaller SKUs JWT is the world's best-known marketing communications brand. Headquartered in New York. JWT's client roster includes major CPG and brands such as Bayer, Cadbury, Diageo, Kellogg's, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft and Nestlé.

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

Food & Beverage Trends For 2012 from Publicis

See how the trends experts at Publicis are predicting 2012 food & beverage trends. Look for Perpetual Dining...

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

What is a Grocerant? Time Starved Consumers Want Meal Components

Want to visit a famous Grocerant? Check out my new video of Eataly in New York City. What is a Grocerant> A Grocerant sells...

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Product Marketing Plan - Start with a Positioning Statement

2012-01-01T09:20:00.000-05:00

You have heard the terms brand positioning but do you now how to create an effective brand positioning? Let me take the complexity out of this and offer you a 5 step process to create a positioning statement to improve your food business marketing strategies.

Clients are amazed at the before and after using the 5 Step Positioning Statement and have gone forward with greater success at new product launch and successfully pitching the retail buyer.

Positioning statements are a way to concisely communicate to web designers, people designing your packaging, your advertising and anyone developing a new product launch plan, what they need to do. Without this, they are flying blind and on your dime! The format is 5 easy to follow steps.

Step 1 - To [the target customer with a problem or need],

Step 2 - [your brand] is the [frame of reference],

Step 3 - -that is the [benefit oriented point of difference]

Step 4 - evidenced by [product features]

Step 5 - The Reason to buy [your brand] is [what?]

This is the construct show let me show you how to do this for a web site in 5 Step Product Positioning.

Read more on http://foodbeverage.about.com/

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Questions About Organic Not Neccessarily Sustainable

2011-12-30T22:27:00.001-05:00

Questions About Organic illustrates that Organic standards do not address either local or sustainable.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food & Beverage Trends For 2012 Plus A Look at Eataly

2011-12-30T14:55:00.000-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Food Trends 2012 - CPG Brands Respond to New Normal Through

Wouldn't it be great to have the title of Chief Trendspotter?

Well, Ann Mack and I had a great interview. As the Chief Trendspotter for JWT, she gave me a new way to think of new product launches as "entry points" to the consumer.... Small Bites, screened dining and Smaller SKUs

JWT is the world's best-known marketing communications brand. Headquartered in New York. JWT's client roster includes major CPG and brands such as Bayer, Cadbury, Diageo, Kellogg's, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft and Nestlé.

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

Food & Beverage Trends For 2012 from Publicis

See how the trends experts at Publicis are predicting 2012 food & beverage trends. Look for Perpetual Dining...

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

What is a Grocerant? Time Starved Consumers Want Meal Components

Want to visit a famous Grocerant? Check out my new video of Eataly in New York City.

What is a Grocerant> A Grocerant sells...

Krispy Kreme Hot Light App and Widget

Fans of Krispy Kreme® Doughnuts know that when the "HOT NOW" sign glows, it's time to rush in for hot Original Glazed® doughnuts. Now, those fans can utilize a new... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

2012 Restaurant Marketing Trends - Social Media, Word of Mouth and Follow the Chef on Twitter

2011-12-20T10:31:00.001-05:00

2012 Restaurant Marketing Trends - Social Media, Word of Mouth and Follow the Chef on Twitter

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Menu Trends for 2012 and Upscale Fast Food Profile

2011-12-18T14:06:00.000-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Top Menu Trends for 2012 That Can Create Successful Food & Beverage New Product Launches

Chefs Predict Top Menu Trends for 2012

Nations Restaurant News does an annual chef's survey of food & beverage trends to watch for 2012. Many were foodservice centric and I did... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

Upscale Fast Food - Pret A Manger

What is a sandwich shop? Technically it is fast food... Quiznos, Subway, Schlotzky's and the plethora of "burgers and" concepts flourishing recently.

Pret A Manger is a "sandwich shop" from the UK in Manhattan, Washington DC and Chicago that looks like fast casual but is as fast... Read moreSee More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

Kraft Fudge Covered Ritz Crackers for Christmas

See Kraft Fudge Covered Ritz Crackers for Christmas and other fun holiday special products Kraft makes for the worldwide market... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news

Mobile Commerce - A Recipe that Kraft's iPhone Assistant Delivers to Time Starved Consumers

There's an app for that! We hear this every day. Download the free app for... you can fill in the blank here. Apps for iPhone and Android smartphones are proliferating... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Dollar General , Generation Z Marketing and Hot Performance at McDonalds

2011-12-11T15:47:00.000-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Generation Z, Millenials, iPad. New Recipe?

The video in the article illustrates in a humorous way that change is occurring super fast. The current Generation Z born in the late 1990's or sometimes referred to as the M Generation, Internet Generation, is what is portrayed in the video... it is too early to forecast how these new consumers will behave. The current millennial generation. Read more

See More About: food & beverage news

McDonalds Grows 7.4% in November... stealing Share of Stomac

Where did McDonald's Serve Up Hot Performance?

United States - It came from McDonald's breakfast day-part, everyday value addressing the affordability factor pervasive in the food & beverage segment, adding new beverages to the McCafé line-up and a Chicken McNuggets promotion.

Where are they gaining share of stomach?Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business

Dollar General Market Competing with Walmart Express in Small Format Retail

Would you buy fresh foods at a dollar store? You might react to this question as "no way... I'd never step foot into a dollar store. Dollar stores can't sell... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

Food & Beverage Nutrition Facts ? How to Design a Nutrition Information Label

New product development - showing you the Before and After transformation of a cupcake - it's amazing!

Every food entrepreneur I advise asks the question "How do I design... Read more

See More About: food 101 food packaging design

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Dollar General Market - Small Foot Print Grocery Retail competes with Walmart Express

2011-12-07T15:23:00.001-05:00

Dollar General Market rolling out in 2012 to sell fresh produce, refrigerated and frozen foods in addition to shelf stable items. This concept is a small footprint store that will compete head on with Walmart Express.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Social Shopping and Mobile Commerce Dominates Retail News

2011-12-04T18:01:00.000-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Yum Brands Retreats From Lobbying for Food Stamps At Fast Food

Food Stamps at Fast Food restaurants will be rising as a hot topic in the food & beverage sector. It stimulates great discussions on the ethical dilemma in marketing fast... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news

Record Online Thanksgiving Day Shopping accelerated Black Friday Retail Sales

Mobile Devices Including the iPhone and iPad Account for 14.3 Percent Of All Black Friday Online Retail Traffic

New Shopper Segments emerge this Black Friday: The New Mobile Bargain Hunter, The... Read more

Walmart Shopycat - Gift App on Facebook

Walmart Shopycat - One of many Social Shopping Apps Proliferating with the help of @WalmartLabs

Walmart Social Shopping Apps Proliferate

Walmart sees social shopping apps as a way to leverage the Walmart Facebook 800 million users to generate incremental sales and profits. Their new Facebook Shopycat app from @WalmartLabs lets Facebook users find gifts for friends and family. How?... Read more about Shopycat

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

Best 10 Questions for a Food Product Marketing Plan

The best plans start with the best questions. If you ask the right questions you can get from kitchen to market faster.

Do have a marketing plan you want me to review and maybe even write a blog post about? Drop me an email.

See More About: food 101 tips on starting a food business

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Social Shopping Apps and Social Marketing Strategies from@WalmartLAbs

2011-12-01T16:21:00.000-05:00

Walmart Shopycat social shopping apps from @Walmartlabs illustrates how far Walmart has come in embracing digital media, social shopping and tracking and maybe modifying consumer behavior.

Shopycat is but one of several retail marketing strategies and looking at any of these individually does not represent the bigger picture.

If you connect the dots with My Local Walmart, Walmart Shopping Apps for iPhone, the recent Grabble acquisition and now Shopycat's, you see a different picture. For example, buried in the Walmart press release for their shopping app was future functionality of providing the user a map of the store to guide them to their purchases. This could make Paco Underhill a bit jealous. Add proximity technology to the shelves and you map each participating consumers shopping patterns real-time, every time.

These initiatives are will lead to a deep understanding of consumer behavior far better and more intimately than survey’s loyalty programs and traditional methods of consumer segmentation. Maybe we can call it Adaptive Consumer Profiling? Sounding a bit like artificial intelligence?

Combine the above with modern analytics and you begin down the road of individual segmentation. Will traditional segmentation like Prizm and VALS be as valuable and relevant in the future? Probably not.

I wonder what is in the pipeline at Walmart and @WalmartLabs?

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food & Beverage News - Mobile Shoppers and Mini Pies

2011-11-28T23:23:00.002-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Mobile Devices Including the iPhone and iPad Account for 14.3 Percent Of All Black Friday Online Retail Traffic

New Shopper Segments emerge this Black Friday - The New Mobile Bargain Hunter, The Expanding Apple Shopper, The Mobile Surgical Shopper. Are you one of them? Read more

Walmart Want to Know You Better - Through Your SmartPhone.

Walmart's Grocery business continues to be a growth factor for their company's business strategy and they are rapidly embracing social media and developing mobile strategies at a rapid clip...

See More About: social media mobile marketing

Social Media for CPG - Get to Know the Zero Moment of Truth

With all the hype of daily deal sites, mommy bloggers, local search, mobile commerce... my head is starting to hurt!

Social Media press tends to focus on the high profile tech... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

Walmart Want to Know You Better - Through Your SmartPhone.

Walmart's Grocery business continues to be a growth factor for their company's business strategy and they are rapidly embracing social media and developing mobile strategies at a rapid clip...

See More About: social media mobile marketing

Mini Pies - The New Mini-Dessert Trend - Don't Fight the Cupcake War

Food Entrepreneurs have New Product Launch Opportunities Going Beyond the Cupcake

So you think cupcakes are still the hot "mini dessert"? Think the cupcake wars will continue? All good things come... Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

New Shopper Segments emerge this Black Friday

2011-11-27T11:28:00.000-05:00

Mobile Devices Including the iPhone and iPad Account for 14.3 Percent Of All Black Friday Online Retail Traffic

New Shopper Segments emerge this Black Friday: The New Mobile Bargain Hunter, The Expanding Apple Shopper, The Mobile Surgical Shopper

Thanksgiving 2011 set new a new standard... it is now the kickoff for the 2011 holiday season and future holiday seasons. This was a record Online Thanksgiving shopping period that accelerated Black Friday Sales...

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Social Media in Food - The Trends is Growing in New Product Launch

2011-11-21T09:00:00.001-05:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Every week there are more examples of how social media is driving new product launches and creating awareness like never before. When you see major brands like Heinz and McDonalds putting greater emphasis in social media, food entrepreneurs need to see what they can learn from the big guys.

Do have have any great examples of social media in food? Drop me a note and maybe I can feature you and what you found.

All the best! Dom

Heinz and Facebook -Like Ketchup and Fries?

Facebook New Product Launch for Heinz Balsamic Ketchup - Good New for Food Entrepreneurs

Heinz and Facebook - Like ketchup and fries?
Well yes with the new product launch of Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup. So you say "big deal"? Yep!

This is a first time ever Facebook new product launch for the brand... you can only buy it on Facebook for the next 4 weeks or so.

They are rolling out to retailers Read more

See More About: food & beverage news whats hot in the food business social media

McDonalds asks "You Want Fries With That"?

What do you want your fries with? McDonalds wants to know is paying $50,000 to the first prize winner.

Since they have have exhausted their traditional marketing message on fries, they are using a contest, along with Facebook and Twitter to create a buzz... Want Fries with That?

See More About: food & beverage news

Five Tips to Great Food Packaging Design

There is more to great food packaging than a pretty front panel. There is much marketing positioning behind the scenes when packaging is created. Next time you go shopping, stop and think why one package stands out over another... Read more about creating winning packaging from the experts

See More About: food 101 packaging

New Line of Gluten Free Pizza - Grabbing Opportunity

Upwards of 1 in 10 people either suffer from Celiac Disease or have a Gluten Sensitivity issue. The market is growing at a compound annual rate of 30% since 2006!

Thinking of starting a food business? Think Gluten Free as on way to get from Kitchen to Market faster and more profitably.

Gluten Free Pizza misses the mark on Social Media Tactics

See More About: whats hot in the food business

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Heinz New Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup - A first in launching on Facebook

2011-11-18T15:10:00.000-05:00

Heinz uses Faceboo for New Product Launch of Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup

I thinks this is a first for any major food & beverage brand... using Facebook to sell Balsamic Vinegar Ketchup before they launch in grocery retailers.

The products is a product line extension... using balsamic vinegar instead of regular vinegar. Facebook comments and Tweets to @Heinz say consumers love the product.

Another Nail in the Groupon Coffin from Restaurant.com?

2011-11-16T13:47:00.000-05:00

Restaurant.com's new product launch saves money for diners and fills tables for restaurants. Everyone is happy with this! This might be the Daily Deals Bubble expanding and ready to burst...

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Winter Fancy Food Show 2012 Educational Seminars

2011-11-15T13:44:00.000-05:00

Join us at the Winter Fancy Food Show educational program which runs from January 15-17 2012 at the Moscone Center, San Francisco.

We are presenting Getting on the Shelf - The Retail Buyer Pitch

Here are the details:

Monday, January 16
9:00 AM-10:00 AM

Speakers: Dom Celentano and Esther Psarakis

Getting on the shelf is challenging - it takes much more than a great tasting product. Convincing the buyer to give you shelf space requires delivering a compelling Retail Buyer Pitch. The consumer’s needs and the buyer’s needs are different; understanding both is the difference between success and failure. How do you do this? This seminar presents Key Success Factors that will reduce the barriers to entry at the store level through aligning your brand with the retailer’s merchandising strategy.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food & Beverage News for Food Entrepreneurs

2011-11-05T14:11:00.001-04:00

From Domenick Celentano, your Guide to Food & Beverage

Walmart Keeps Shrinking

Walmart is testing 2 really small Pop-Up Stores in an effort to continue expanding the Walmart presence to make it more convenient for existing Walmart Shoppers to... well, shop!

The stores are 1,000 and 3,000 sq. each... which is the smallest they have tried yet. Read more Walmart Popping Up Everywhere

The Used vs. New Kitchen Equipment Debate

Thinking of opening a restaurant or a small food factory? Know someone who is? Our guest contributor is an expert in commercial food service equipment and simplifies the debate on Buying Used Vs. New Commercial Kitchen Equipment

See More About: food 101 tips on starting a food business

Brand Evangelists - Your Best Customers help you with Word of Mouth Marketing

Brand Evangelists - Customers Delighted!

Do you own a restaurant or a specialty retail food store? Many new food entrepreneurs struggle to find ways to bring diners into their restaurants and... Read more

See More About: food 101 tips on starting a food business

Food & Beverage News

The journey from kitchen to retail shelf to the consumer is a complex one .

In this article, see how food trucks, social moms and gluten free are trends you need to follow for tasty profits in the food business.

See More About: food & beverage news

Get from Kitchen to Cash with The FoodPreneur

2011-10-18T11:11:00.000-04:00

Learn winning strategies from leading experts on how to be an entrepreneur in the dynamic Food and Beverage business.

Attend From Kitchen to Cash and get a $20 rebate issued upon arrival.

If you are a food entrepreneur who wants to turn your ideas and products into cash…quickly and successfully, this workshop is for you!

Location and Date

The FoodPreneur and Team Nimbus NJ are holding a daylong workshop on October 25, 2011 from 9am-4pm. The workshop will be held at Eno Terra Restaurant, Kingston, NJ.

The Program

Our workshop will cover the 4 steps in starting a food business and new product launch:

Getting out of the Kitchen – the retail landscape, packaging, FDA regulations, food manufacturing, pricing your products, food and beverage terminology.
Getting into Business – vision, structure, business development, financial management, operations, human resources, community/family/self. Whew. There’s more to business than you think. Get started on the right foot.
Getting on the Shelf – new product launch steps, retail ready formats, identifying the right retailers, pitching the retail buyer.
Getting on the Consumers Plate (Cash!) – your message, product positioning for success, advertising & PR, social media tactics for food, start small and build approach

Sign Up!

To sign up for the event, click here! A $20 rebate will be issued upon arrival. We look forward to seeing you there!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Steamy Video Scenes of Pasta!

2011-10-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

Steamy Video Scenes of Pasta!

See how tabletop food cinematography and clever food stylists get you to visit your favorite fast food and fast casual restaurant with steamy scenes of yummy foods!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

There's an App for that! Jello Jiggle-It for iPhone.

2011-10-13T11:00:00.000-04:00

Jello Jiggle-It - Mashable

Jello embraces Social Media in Food

Jello creates new Jello Jiggle-It App to add some motivation for purchasing Jello. The well known brand is not relevant to millennials so an App that allows Jell to jiggle to your favorite iTunes music just might work. Read more -->

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food Network Reality TV Features Food Entrepreneurs

2011-10-12T12:45:00.000-04:00

Food Network Reality TV Series is look for FoodPreneurs to case for a new show. Read more -->

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

comScore and dunnhumbyUSA Research Shows Online Advertising Lifts In-Store CPG Brand Sales - comScore, Inc

2011-10-12T07:57:00.000-04:00

comScore and dunnhumbyUSA Research Shows Online Advertising Lifts In-Store CPG Brand Sales - comScore, Inc

Pillsbury Doughboy Boogies on New Product Launch

2011-10-11T12:52:00.000-04:00

Pillsbury Doughboy Boogies on New Product Launch of Grands Biscuit Sandwiches

They are mixing a social media campaign on YouTube along with Cause Related Marketing with gospel twins Mary Mary. Read more -->

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

New Product Launch - Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Sandwich Bread for Kids

2011-10-10T12:47:00.000-04:00

Pepperidge Farm New Product Launch Goldfish Sandwich Bread for Kids. Goes beyond a product line extension and solves mom's lunch time meal planning dilemma. With no crust and a smiley face, this has to be a big hit in the school lunch room. Read more -->

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Get from Kitchen to Cash -The FoodPreneur Food & Beverage Seminars

2011-10-09T08:13:00.000-04:00

Learn winning strategies from leading experts on how to be an entrepreneur in the dynamic Food and Beverage business.

Attend From Kitchen to Cash and get a $20 rebate issued upon arrival.

If you are a food entrepreneur who wants to turn your ideas and products into cash…quickly and successfully, this workshop is for you!

Location and Date

The FoodPreneur and Team Nimbus NJ are holding a daylong workshop on October 25, 2011 from 9am-4pm. The workshop will be held at Eno Terra Restaurant, Kingston, NJ.

The Program

Our workshop will cover the 4 steps in starting a food business and new product launch:

Getting out of the Kitchen – the retail landscape, packaging, FDA regulations, food manufacturing, pricing your products, food and beverage terminology.
Getting into Business – vision, structure, business development, financial management, operations, human resources, community/family/self. Whew. There’s more to business than you think. Get started on the right foot.
Getting on the Shelf – new product launch steps, retail ready formats, identifying the right retailers, pitching the retail buyer.
Getting on the Consumers Plate (Cash!) – your message, product positioning for success, advertising & PR, social media tactics for food, start small and build approach

Sign Up!

To sign up for the event, click here! A $20 rebate will be issued upon arrival. We look forward to seeing you there!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

C Stores from Tesco Opening in Korea's Subways

2011-10-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

Tesco HomePlus Opens Virtual Stores in Subways of Korea ----> Read more

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Strategy vs Tactics - Chicken or Egg

2011-09-18T08:28:00.000-04:00

Cheryl Smithem of Charleston PR agrees that start with Strategy first, tactics later. Nice picture illustrating the point :)

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Get from Kitchen to Cash -The FoodPreneur Food & Beverage Seminars

2011-09-14T07:42:00.000-04:00

Learn winning strategies from leading experts on how to be an entrepreneur in the dynamic Food and Beverage business.

Foodpreneurs… do you have a great idea for a food product? Considering starting a food business? Know how to get your product out of the kitchen? Having a tough time pitching the retail buyer and getting that shelf space? Not sure how to design a winning package to get on the customers plate? You need tips and techniques from leading food industry experts who know how to get from kitchen to cash!

If you are a food entrepreneur who wants to turn your ideas and products into cash…quickly and successfully, this workshop is for you!

Location and Date

The FoodPreneur and Team Nimbus NJ are holding a daylong workshop on September 27, 2011 from 9am-4pm. The workshop is sponsored by TerraMomo Restaurant Group and will be held at Eno Terra Restaurant, Kingston, NJ.

The Program

Our workshop will cover the 4 steps in starting a food business and new product launch:

Getting out of the Kitchen – the retail landscape, packaging, FDA regulations, food manufacturing, pricing your products, food and beverage terminology.
Getting into Business – vision, structure, business development, financial management, operations, human resources, community/family/self. Whew. There’s more to business than you think. Get started on the right foot.
Getting on the Shelf – new product launch steps, retail ready formats, identifying the right retailers, pitching the retail buyer.
Getting on the Consumers Plate (Cash!) – your message, product positioning for success, advertising & PR, social media tactics for food, start small and build approach

Sign Up!

To sign up for the event, click here! A $20 rebate will be issued upon arrival. We look forward to seeing you there!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food and Beverage News Product Launch FAQ's

2011-09-14T07:38:00.000-04:00

We frequently are asked how we work with "foodpreneurs" to get from Kitchen to Cash faster! So here are questions that you may have. Please feel free to drop us an email with any other questions you may have.

What is the process of working with The FoodPreneur?

· We meet via Skype video conferencing one or two times per week. This emulates a being in person AND is an affordable way for food entrepreneurs to get consulting services AND approximately half of what consultants charge.

Do you assist companies in the New Product Development stage?

· We help food entrepreneurs in New Product Development so their product gets to "Yes". Getting to Yes is achieving the MOST difficult step, which is getting the retailer buyer to give them shelf space. For food technology issues, I also work with Rutgers Center for Advanced Food Technology if a client’s products require food science help.

Could you help develop testing period and feasibility study?

· Yes, Feasibility is one of the early steps to avoid costly mistakes. If you select our New Product Launch Program, at the end of 10 hours, you will know if your food or beverage idea can be a money making business opportunity. This gets you from Kitchen to Cash faster!

How have you helped other companies like mine?

· Yes, 2 examples are Fun to Eat Fruit and Worlds Best Carrot Cake which are featured on our Client Page.

What is your hourly rate?

· The most cost effective is the 10 hour New Product Launch program. You actually get 11 hours since the first hour is free. Longer term engagements are negotiable.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Food & Beverage News - Walmart, Food Trucks now battle on private property, a brownied or suppliment and more

2011-09-11T13:08:00.000-04:00

Food and Beverage highlights:

The real food trucks race may be happening on private property and not on the streets.
The slack economy has Walmart dust off the old layaway plan.
LasyCakes brownie runs afoul FDA regulations on supplements.
Karma Wellness debuts new packaging to protect freshness and efficacy of it's vitamins.

Read More at Food and Beverage on About.com

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

HBR - Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Presenting

2011-09-08T08:36:00.000-04:00

Just read this on Harvard Business Review.

Avoid These 3 Mistakes When Presenting Delivering a successful presentation requires preparation and practice. You need to gain the trust of your audience and convey your message clearly. Here are three mistakes you should avoid next time you're preparing to stand up in front of a crowd:

Not knowing your audience. Long before you walk into the room, determine who your audience is and what they will do with the information you present.

Failing to grab your listeners' attention. Give the audience a reason to care. Hook them by describing the problem you're trying to solve, or use an anecdote or a counter-intuitive fact.

Using unrelated visual aids. Just because a chart looks good doesn't mean you need to include it. Your audience may be annoyed and possibly confused if your visual aids aren't directly related to your message.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Farmers Markets - Your way to convert Kitchen to Cash!

2011-09-05T11:55:00.000-04:00

Check out this video on the Vail Farmers Market and my article on Farmers-Markets New Product Launch-The Easy Way from Kitchen to Cash

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Entrepreneurs - Can You Unplug AND Bring a Laptop On Vacation?

2011-09-01T20:10:00.000-04:00

The NY Times article How I Almost Took a Two Week Vacation pointed to an interesting phenomenon with entrepreneurs - we don't unplug during vacations like our corporate counterparts.

Do you bring a laptop, tablet, smartphone on your vacations to check in and keep in touch? I used to ski when younger and routinely was away for 10 days or more and did not feel comfortable being out of touch for such a long period. The introduction of the laptop and built in modem (a modem? what's a mode?) gave me the ability to check email and keep on top of critical events, like good news on a new product launch!

As an entrepreneur, most of my friends and colleagues in corporate American and don’t understand this need to keep in touch. For the longest time I felt that maybe I was wrong and they were right. However age, wisdom and self confidence lead me to feel I was OK being in the business mode, partially, while away.

Fast forward to today, my profession is different… I teach, consult and write here on About.com so vacations recharge my creative juices.

Who enjoys the airport and being crammed into the plane? You have airport downtime and the predictable delays, so my trusty netbook provides a way to capture all of those great ideas that pop into my mind while waiting at the airport in "stuck" in my undersized seat on the plane.

Entrepreneurs should feel comfortable that they are… well… just different from most people. So, go ahead and feel good about never quite unplugging from the business mode. Most people work and don’t have fun. We entrepreneurs work AND have fun!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Small Business Management: Can a Pet Chauffeur Business Scale Larger? How Big...

2011-08-27T12:30:00.000-04:00

Small Business Management: Can a Pet Chauffeur Business Scale Larger? How Big...: Can Pet Chauffeur Adapt to a Tough Economy ?

A good example of a highly targeted Niche Market. At $ Million in revenue, it may just be a...

All the best!

Dom Celentano

Tips on Running a Small Business

Food and Beverage News – Apps for Pizza and Wine

2011-08-21T11:05:00.000-04:00

Food & Beverage News - iPnoes apps make the news for Pizza Hut and The DailyGrape. Read Apps Make it Easy to order your Pizza and find that special Wine.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

Whole Foods Core Values Support Causes - You Can Too!

2011-08-19T03:20:00.000-04:00

Doing Good... Doing Well... Turns into Cash for All

Many "foodpreneurs" we consult to ask "How can I get on the Grocery Shelf"!

I advise them to that New Product Launch works well for small and local food & beverage brand through Cause Related Marketing and Social Marketing. It is tough Getting on the Shelf and Ultimately Getting on to the Consumers Plate.

The case study, Align Your Food Brand with Whole Foods Core Values illustrates how Whole Foods capitalizes on Cause Related Marketing to support the Social Good of career development efforts at JVS, a nonprofit, community-based health and human service organization.

Read the case study and use your brand to help and cause and put more cash to your bottom line!

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

How To Start a Food Truck Business - Ringling Brothers Food Train Highlighted

2011-08-15T18:46:00.000-04:00

Food Truck on Steroids!

Ringling Bros Circus Food Truck (Train car) Does not Clown Around!

Actually it is the Ringling Brothers Food Train Car serving 350 crew members daily. Starting a Food Truck Business is lots of work and Chef Michael Vaughn has some great tips in this short How to Start a Food Truck video featuring operating a food truck and how to hire.

Here is a cool slide show of the chef and rail car.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

CityTarget - Attacking the Food Deserts in Chicago

2011-08-14T15:06:00.000-04:00

CityTarget is the new small-footprint retail format from Target Stores. They have partnered with the British sandwich shop chain, Pret A Manger for a store-within-a -store. Read More >>

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur with new product launch and ideas in how to start a food business.

A Look at Food & Beverage Packaging Basics

2011-08-07T14:22:00.000-04:00

The FoodPreneur gets many inquiries about food and beverage packaging. No doubt it can be confusing and is a large investment for small specialty foods businesses.

Packaging Machinery Company will be a contributing author helping us expanding our food entrepreneur tips for starting a business.

We are expanding our food entrepreneur tips for starting a business with our kickoff article, Packaging 101, The Basics, covering the 4 corner stones of great packaging, namely:

Product Protection

Product Safety
Product Freshness
Brand Identity

Enjoy!

The FoodPreneurFood Entrepreneurship Tips
Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Going beyond the cupcake | Nation's Restaurant News

2011-08-05T13:47:00.000-04:00

Going beyond the cupcake Nation's Restaurant News

Perky Jerky - New Product Launch Goof for Caffeine Infused Foods

2011-08-03T18:45:00.000-04:00

Do you know the difference between Food Additives and Food Ingredients?

Perky Jerky is makes caffeine infused beef jerky.

The caffeine is not from coffee beans but from Guarana, that comes from South America. They jumped on the bandwagon of meteoric growth of energy shots like 5 Hour Energy, but they forgot to do their research on what the FDA allows for the use of Guarana.

Their marketing focusing on edgy pictures and the use of Jerkman fits the brand perfectly since energy drinks and foods are male dominated.

But, they goofed on a major issue... Read More >>

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Food and Beverage Companies - Check out the FDU Business Venture Program

2011-08-02T16:30:00.000-04:00

More than just a business plan competition or entrepreneur competition, check out the Fairleigh Dickinson Business Venture program. enter and if you are selected, you get a FREE business strategy makeover from a team of ...Read More >>

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

The queen of condiments dishes about being a foodpreneur

2011-08-01T21:09:00.000-04:00

When we coined "The FoodPreneur" 5 years ago, we thought it was a great term for referencing food entrepreneurs. Guess people like the term "foodpreneur"? I like it and guess Intuit Small Business Blog does as well with its article The queen of condiments dishes about being a foodpreneur

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Oh Baby Foods - A New Lease on Life with a New Product Launch for Organic Baby Food

2011-08-01T17:48:00.000-04:00

Sometimes free advice works! Every so often someone REALLY needs help so I try to give back to the food entrepreneur community.

I read an article in New York Times last summer about Oh Baby Foods, a company founded by Fran Gunsualus, that makes a line of frozen baby foods. The company needed help since Fran was not selling much and considering putting it to sleep for awhile.

What happened? Well it is good news... Read More >>>

Want some free food business advice? Drop me an email and we can set up a short phone call or video conference.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Walmart Express - First of Walmarts Expansion in Chicago Opens in Chatham

2011-07-31T13:26:00.000-04:00

Walmart Express - First opening in Chicago

Food Deserts, Social Responsibility, Entering the Discount Drug Chain Arena all factor into Walmarts small footprint retail strategy.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Starting a Food Business? – Learn how Zero Water gained shelf space at Target Stores

2011-07-30T13:39:00.000-04:00

Zero Water? is not in the food and beverage sector, so then, why should food entrepreneurs or anyone reading this be interested?

There are some important lessons in how to start a food business and new product launches in the food and beverage sector.

The journey to get on the shelf is similar across all retail sectors and the retail buyer pitch has similar elements. You want to get your product on the shelf and then get the consumer to buy it AND buy it again... it is all the same. so why not look at a startup that got into Target Stores at a very early stage in their business.

Unless you know all there is to know about new product launches and how to start a food business, then Read more at About.com Food and Beverage

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Food & Beverage Market News for Food Entrepreneurs

2011-07-30T11:33:00.000-04:00

Food & Beverage News and Information for Food Entrepreneurs Starting or Running a Food Business

Consumers want smaller portions

Pinch Hitters: Building High-Performance Meal Replacements

Wal-Mart's expansion into Chicago began with the opening

Consumers Prefer Organics; That Spells PL Opportunity

PLBuyer Calls for New Products

New York grocery turns to scent marketing -

Groupon Grocery Stores in Chicago?

Beer, wine and spirits uncork sales growth

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Somebody's watching me! Yep, it's Walmart

2011-07-21T13:31:00.000-04:00

Nielsen Signs an Agreement with Walmart

Someody IS watching you... at least at Walmart.

Walmart is now enlisting the largest consumer retail data provider and analytics "cruncher", the Nielsen Company. You know them from the TV Nielsen Ratings but they are the major provider of data to supermarkets and food brands on how you shop, what you buy, how ofter, at what price and even why! Yes, they are working on the why behind your buy.

Up until recently, Walmart did not provide any data and this is a problem since they are the number one retailer worldwide.

PeachTree vs. Quickbooks

2011-07-20T09:38:00.000-04:00

The following is a guest post from David Matthew. He is an ERP Analyst at Software Advice where he writes about business accounting software.

Accounting software can be tricky to understand, even for accountants. Most small business owners looking for the right accounting software simply don’t have time to do enough research and determine what would be the best accounting software for their needs. With this in mind, here is a handy side-by-side guide to the latest editions of Peachtree and Quickbooks. It not only keys you into the pricing options and number of users, but also shows some of the more important features found in each product."

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

The Surpising Lack of Power of Promotional Products

2011-07-18T14:25:00.000-04:00

I just read The Surprising Power of Promotional Products and frankly see this as a distraction. I always focus on providing tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business, so unless you have some extra cash floating around, you will be best served by putting your money elsewhere.

Summer Fancy Food Show-Specialty Food Market Trends

2011-07-13T16:57:00.000-04:00

Trend-spotters See 5 Top Trends at Fancy Food Show

Did you go to the Summer Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C. There were thousands of Food Entrepreneurs showing and attending. You saw people interested in starting a food business all the way through major distributors and brands. Everyone was in some stage of new product launch.

I attended the event and have my own trends spotted and sampled some very creative new products. See what the Fancy Food Show Trend-spotters saw as the Top 5 Trends in this years Summer Fancy Food Show at

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Cause Marketing Makes Us Feel Good About What We Eat

2011-07-06T18:52:00.000-04:00

Wally Amos is one of the early originators of Cause Marketing. Want to know more tasty marketing tips? Read more at Food and Beverage About.com.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Food 101 - Small Business Marketing. 5 Step Product Positioning.

2011-07-01T12:49:00.000-04:00

Better Strategy and not the Coffee...5 Steps to create a better web site

The phone rings, I pick it up, the voice at the other end says, "We need more sales". Before I get the next word out I then hear, "We're not sure what to do but we think we need a web site because our site does not look great and are not selling enough through our site and if we only had a better site people we come to our site and see our products and buy them and we would make money..."

Blah blah blah. Working with food clients, this is an all too familiar conversation.

Then I read What's Wrong with Colorado Mountain Coffee's Web Site and decided to provide 5 Steps to create a better web site. Read more on Food and Beverage About.com.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

The Top 4 Issues and Challenges In Cause Marketing

2011-06-29T13:33:00.000-04:00

What is Cause Marketing?

Cause marketing is a brand raising money for a cause through a donation of money based on the sale of a product. The objective is to raise money for the cause and to increase its own sales. American companies spent an estimated $1.3 billion on cause marketing last year, 20 percent more than the year before.

You see cause marketing every day, Examples are Pepsi Refresh, Starbucks, etc.

I participated in a panel during Internet Week NY "Online Cause Marketing: Promoting Your Brand Through Social Good"

I gave my point of view as a brand strategist along with others on teh panel and you can read more at PSGive.org

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

How to Start a Restaurant? Not by Watching Americas Next Great Restaurant!

2011-06-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

Celebrity Chef Advice - Leave It!

Many foodpreneurs watched the NBC reality TV series "Americas Next Great Restaurant"?

It was fun... I watched the entire series... it featured real restaurantpreneurs with Americas next great fast casual concept.

Fast Casual is not (QSR) such as McDonalds. It is Panera Bread vs. what is called Casual Dining an example being Applebee's.

Sould Daddy, authentic soul food, won and also lost in my opinion. That is too bad for founder Jamawn J. Woods. The investors funded 3 locations and they have already closed 2 of the 3! Yikes! With friends like that....

Runners up were Meltworks, grown-up grilled cheese and Spice Coast, vibrant cuisines from coastal India.

I want to explore why reality tv series are bad advice for foodpreneurs and what you should consider in validating your food concept.

Read more at Food and Beverage About.com

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Walmart shopping formula - Mix Socially Responsible with Small Footprint

2011-06-28T17:18:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is embarking on a Socially Responsible journey to attract minority suppliers in the Chicago area One of their socially responsible categories is food.

Walmart's Social Supply Chain page does not have details of the new program so keep checking if you are in the Chicago area. Also keep checking the page as well as the Walmart Corporate site.

Will customers view Walmart shopping as more convenient with their new small footprint stores? Read more...

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Word of Mouth Influences Consumer Decisions More than Ever

2011-06-25T15:29:00.000-04:00

The Internet and Social Media-Strong Factors in the Word of Mouth process.

There are more than 2.4 billion conversations about brands every day, according to our latest Google Word of Mouth Study with Keller Fay.

Over 50% of consumers are likely to purchase what they talk about. Are these YOUR customers? You bet!

The study shows how media and marketing channels provided content before, during and after consumer conversations by surveying 3,000 adults across 12 categories.

It turns out that while most people still talk about brands face to face,their conversations are informed by the Internet more than any other media source. And, when they’re online, users go to search sites more than any other. This is even more true after conversations, especially those sparked by TV. People follow up by searching for more information and prices more than any other online activity including social media.

More research on Word of Mouth and the Internet and how it relates to marketing in CPG

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Money Saving Moms are Planning Grocery Shopping Lists

2011-06-25T13:15:00.000-04:00

Over 65% of consumers plan their food shopping trips. Grocery shopping lists increasingly influenced by Internet and Social Media.

Read the latest summary of Packaged Facts Food Shopper Insights 2011.

Key findings

31% had recently received, seen, or heard something from the retail store they frequent
65% of shoppers did some form of planning for grocery shopping.
Planning most often was the traditional shopping list

Except... the list is now influenced by Social Media in a stronger way vs. traditional television and radio....

Read more at Food and Beverage About.com

The FoodPreneur

Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping entrepreneur how to start a food business.

Should Every Business Invest in Social Media? How about some Strategy First!

2011-06-21T15:32:00.000-04:00

Should Every Business Invest in Social Media?

The New York Times Your the Boss blogger, MP Mueller wrote Should Every Business Invest in Social Media?

MP was taking the shuttle bus from an off-site airport parking lot this week when she noticed a large poster on the window of the bus... the parking company was on Facebook, Twitter, etc and said to follow them. Follow a parking lot? This got me thinking AGAIN about how small business reaches for the tools without knowing what to do or more importantly, why am I doing this?

Does every business need to invest time and money in Social Media?
The first question is does your business have a marketing strategy? If no, don't spend on social media... it will waste your time and money. Don;t know how to start creating strategy? View The Seven Steps in Strategic Planning.

What is your Strategy?
If your business does have a marketing strategy, then you already know what "problem" you are solving for your customers. If you know the problem, then is there a social media channel that helps you solve the problem and lets your customer know you ARE solving their problem in a very engaging way? If yes, spend! If no, consider email marketing or some other form of marketing tool. Don't know where to begin? View Marketing Plan Building Blocks.

Is this Rocket Science?
Would you go to Home Depot to buy thousands of dollars of tools... only to come home and say "OK, what will I do with these tools?" Of course not. You buy the tools because you have a certain need or desire to do some form of home improvement. You select the right tools to do the right job at the right price.

So why is this so hard for businesses to get?
Far too many of us are seeking the magic bullet to find new customers and generate new revenue. Running a growing a business is hard work and requires a committment to understand the business skills necessary to be a sustainable business that is more than just a paycheck.

Ask Yourself These Questions?
Here is some Marketing 101... you should have the answers to these questions before you spend $1 on social media or for that matter and marketing tactics... unless you want to make someone richer at your expense.

What problem does your product solve for your customer? Do you know this a real problem for the customer... have you asked? Have you spent some time searching blogs and Twitter to see if people are talking about problems that are similar to the problem you beleive you are solving?
What is your Value Proposition for your Customer? The elements you must clearly communicate to your customer is this: " Ms./Mr. customer IF you buy my product here are the following (i) Specific, (ii) Measureable and (iii) Favorable results you will see for investing in my brand"
Clearly you don't articulate to your customer in the exact way I stated above. This is to illustrate that your product must be designed to have Specific, Measureable and Favorable results. If it does not, then why would anyone spend any money on your product.

If you can answer the above and validate that indeed, the answers resonate with your customers, go down the road of selecting a social media platform that supports your brand.

Need Some Help?
Call me... would love to chat.

The FoodPreneur
Food Entrepreneurship Tips

Tips for helping the entrepreneur how to start a food business.

@foodpreneur
info@thefoodpreneur.com

Real Time Farms - new crowd-sourced online #food guide #entrepreneur

2011-06-17T14:46:00.000-04:00

Is this the future? Virtual Food Guides?

This is a great opportunity for food entrepreneurs to get social media exposure in an arena vosuing on natural and wholesome.

Folgers® Jingle Contest. Is this The Best Part of Wakin Up for the brand?

2011-06-17T09:30:00.000-04:00

Folgers® Jingle Contest Grand Prize Winner Announced in Times Square

It will take more than the Folgers Jingle Contest to make The Best Part of Waking Up a cup of Folgers. Jingles are great but with stiff competition from McCafe, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks, JM Smucker, the owner of the brand had better wake up in their marketing department.

Wake up and smell the coffee for more insights at Food and Beverage About.com...

Rush Limbaugh Conservative Talk Radio Host Announces 'Two If By Tea' Iced Tea

2011-06-16T14:10:00.000-04:00

Listen Rush Limbaugh! Getting into the beverage business requires more than a high profile celebrity political commentator's name.

Let's see, to make ready to drink tea we need water, good tea leaves, mix in some sugar, maybe some fruit flavors, conservative political ingredients... what? Well, no so far from the truth.

Read more about this new product launch at Food and Beverage About.com....

Meet the Yelp for Packaged Goods

2011-06-14T15:22:00.000-04:00

CPG-Focused Site Consmr Pushes Reviews for Everyday Products

Consumer packaged goods may have their own social network.

Check out Consmr.

Zagat's former head of mobile, Ryan Charles, sure thinks so -- and so do a few brands. Even before Mr. Charles has had a chance to wrangle venture funding or a critical mass of users for his new CPG-focused reviews site, Consmr, brands such as Chobani and AriZona have backed it.

I will be writing a longer post in the near future and wanted to get this out so all of you food entrepreneurs see this interest and yet to be proven social media platform for food product reviews. There is also a sponsorship option that I will have to explore which may be a low cost way to increase the visibility of you specialty food brand.

Something intrigues me however. If they can get lots of people to leave reviews and get more brands to participate, could coupons be far behind? That would be a significant revenue generator.

Fancy Food Show Brings Foods of the World to Washington, DC

2011-06-12T12:29:00.000-04:00

Exhibitors from 80 Countries and Regions to Feature International Specialties at the Fancy Food Show - Summer 2011

What are Fancy Foods? Yummy! Have you ever experienced Argan oil from Morocco, twice-roasted seaweed from Korea, chunky papaya jam from Senegal and gluten-free pasta from Italy... all at the same time? You can see these new products launched... Read more at Food and Beverage About.com

Trends in Food - His and Her Grocery Aisle? Is this a 10 Ten Food Trend?

2011-06-12T12:13:00.000-04:00

RetailWire published an interesting discussion topic, His and Her Grocery Aisles.

With men doing more of the food shopping, male-only supermarket shopping aisles that focus on gender-specific products rather than merchandise by category could encourage men to browse longer, trial new items and spend more, according to research coming out of Australia.

"A gender specific aisle would provide a relief to men..." Read More at Food and Beverage About.com

43 Percent of U.S. Businesses Using Social Media, Social Networks to Win New Business

2011-06-11T14:00:00.000-04:00

43 Percent of U.S. Businesses Using Social Media, Social Networks to Win New Business

Will Americans be willing to spend more on healthful eating? Boomers Won't Pay More.

2011-06-10T07:48:00.000-04:00

Will Americans be willing to spend more on healthful eating? Boomers Won't Pay More.

A new study reveals that Baby Boomers want to dine out in restaurants that have healthier menus BUT... they don't really want to pay more. The classic say one thing and do another. If you are a food entrepreneur, read more about this interesting trend at Food and Beverage About.com...

Avitae Caffeinated Water Creates Controversial Marketing Tactic

2011-06-08T14:51:00.000-04:00

Avitae Caffeinated Water Creates Controversial Marketing Tactic

Small Business Management: The Real Reasons a Retailer Can’t Get a Loan

2011-06-08T13:58:00.000-04:00

The Real Reasons a Retailer Can’t Get a Loan: "T he New York Times The Real Reasons a Retailer Cant Get a Loan and their case study on Kopp's Cycle in Princeton, New Jersey, exam..."

All the best!
Dom Celentano
Tips on Running a Small Business

Small Business Management: The Real Reasons a Retailer Can’t Get a Loan

2011-06-08T13:05:00.000-04:00

Small Business Management: The Real Reasons a Retailer Can’t Get a Loan: "T he New York Times The Real Reasons a Retailer Cant Get a Loan and their case study on Kopp's Cycle in Princeton, New Jersey, exam..."

All the best!Dom CelentanoTips on Running a Small Business

Fresh & Easy Buzz: Kissing Cousin Food Icons: The New U.S. 'MyPlate' ...

2011-06-08T12:14:00.000-04:00

Fresh & Easy Buzz: Kissing Cousin Food Icons: The New U.S. 'MyPlate' ...: "Last week on June 2 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack, who prior to heading up the federal agency was Governor of..."

Succeeding with Social Media

2011-06-06T17:40:00.000-04:00

The New York Times Your the Boss Blog had a peice on "Is the Sky Falling... "which was articulating much of the business turmoil we are all dealing with.

SUCCEEDING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA was a section that has implications for small businesses and food entrepreneurs. It is a great compendium of "good stuff" and I surely will be saving these links for my clients and for myself.

According to a survey, almost 70 percent of small businesses are using social media.
Users say they’re more likely to buy if a business answers their questions on Twitter.
Valentine Belonwu lists 200 of the most fearless women online and in social media.
Lisa Barone explains how social media increases her consulting revenue.
Pew reports that 13 percent of online adults use Twitter.
Alexandra Samuel offers 11 social media tools that can help put us on the right strategic path.
Heidi Cohen explains how to have a winning social media personality: “Give people a reason to pay attention. Being honest and open is refreshing; people can spot the difference.”
Forty-six million Americans check social media sites multiple times a day.

From Flip Camera to Grilled Cheese?

2011-06-05T11:17:00.001-04:00

This is an interesting article that caught my eye for 2 reasons:

It illustrates how serial entrepreneurs think and turn their ideas into business opportunities
Looking outside your industry for ideas is a common recommendation for creating new products and companies

Founder of the now defunct Flip Camera, Jonathan Kaplan is starting a grilled cheese chain of restaurants. He does not have food experience. He says it embraces “all the same tenets as the Flip: Simple, nostalgic, memorable, affordable.” But he left us all hanging without telling us what it was.

Read more on Food and Beverage About.com...

A Women Entrepreneur Realizes the need for Shelf Ready Products

2011-05-31T16:17:00.000-04:00

A women entrepreneur realizes Using Public Relations to Drive Demand is the key

Adriana Gardella wrote an article Using Public Relations to Drive Demand featuring Jill Cartwright, an entrepreneur who started Go Gaga, a company selling ergonomically correct tote bags targeted to women. So why is this here on the food and beverage site? Because it is a good example of what I call having a Shelf Ready Product. Product based businesses... Read More on About.com Food and Beveraage...

RetailWire Discussion: The Sky is Not Falling - RetailWire - Retail News and Analysis

2011-05-31T10:53:00.000-04:00

RetailWire Discussion: The Sky is Not Falling - RetailWire - Retail News and Analysis

I advise a bit of reality plus a does of situational awareness...

USDA to Launch New Food Iconto Replace the Food Pyramid

2011-05-28T10:02:00.000-04:00

Goodbye to the Food Pyramid, Hello to the Dinner Plate

USDA to Launch New Food Icon as a Reminder to Help Consumers Make Healthier Food Choices.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will unveil a new food icon that will serve as a reminder to help consumers make healthier food choices.

The 2010 White House Child Obesity Task Force called for simple, actionable advice to equip consumers with information to help them make healthy food choices. As a result, USDA... Read more at Food Beverage About.com--->