January is the perfect time to start or refresh your food business. Here are a few happenings and opportunities to kick off a great 2018:
Attend the Winter SF Fancy Food Show (Jan. 21-23) which is the place to be whether you are a buyer or maker. (Here are some of my finds from the 2017 Summer show.)- Discover amazing food at the Good Food Awards and Mercantile (Jan 19-21) — and plan your own future wins.
- Look into the Chobani Incubator, which is currently seeking innovative food startups to help grow into big businesses.
- Make an HR policy to prevent sexual harassment and toxic work environments. You’ll be way ahead of the game. (There are so many cases cropping up daily, that linking to Google search results about sexual harassment in the food world will give you the latest vs. individual articles!)
- Read about issues facing small packaged food producers these days.
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Read key 2018 food trend reports
Here’s a round up of good reads for food industry folks…however, feel no pressure to tie into trends. There’s nothing like that perfect product to keep customers buying no matter the trends.
- CCD 2018 Food Trends (Can you say “gut health?”)
- Hartman Group’s 2017 food and culture year in review
- Supermarket Guru predicts mindfulness and tactile experiences will top 2018 trends
- NewHope (which produces the Natural Products Expo) has a useful article on the importance of making Amazon part of your sales and marketing mix.
- A hilarious round up of trends by Eater showing that pretty much everything is trending.
Lastly, keep up to date with FDA changes to labeling and other changes in food regulation. Always a moving target.
Edible Dreams?
Coming soon…an update on cannabis edibles, an opportunity that is luring some former foodmakers into the medicinal world of healing and profits. If you’re looking to develop cannabis edibles, Rachel Zemser is the food scientist you should talk to.
