Attention Vermont Specialty Food Businesses

I've blogged about my commercial bakery in the past.  Building it was a highly creative labor of love for me and it couldn't have happened without Vermont Shortbread Company's Chief Operations Officer.  He's the logistical genius and I'm the creative dreamer. My husband, who is in the restaurant equipment business, helped me score a fantastic Imperial commercial baking oven at a great price this small business owner could afford.  We ripped the old cabinets, counters, dishwasher, and sink out of our old kitchen installed it all in the bakery.  We attended restaurant auctions (lots of fun for foodies and restauranteurs - we even came home with a deli slicer once!) and rounded out the bakery with other used equipment we found.  When the Department of Health inspected our facility and gave it the thumbs-up, we did the shortbread dance of joy (don't ask - we dance like dorks) before proudly posting our Vermont state license to operate our bakery on the wall. 

Part of my mission is to help other food entrepreneurs and to learn what I can from them.  It's a co-creative process all the way. My expertise is in: internet marketing, networking, food writing, documenting processes, and basically anything wildly inventive.  I love these parts of being an entrepreneur.  Recently I realized that my shortbread bakery was sitting dormant when my bakers were not baking and that I could offer up rental of this space as a resource to other Vermont specialty food biz owners.

I began to think about opportunities for co-packing, renting my space, and building a business around coaching other small food businesses (you know, in my "spare" time :-).  Renting my space was one idea on which I could take immediate, painless action.  A longer term project around the other pieces is in the works ( you can have a sneak peek at www.wordbaker.com).   As the Wordbaker, I'll be collaborating with the amazing network of professionals (list of amazing professionals is at the bottom of the post) who have helped support my small business growth along the way and to whom I am forever grateful. 

So here's what I'm looking for:

• Small, local, Vermont-based baking businesses in need of commercial, state licensed space to rent for their own food prep.
• Responsible business owners I can trust to handle my beautiful oven and baking facility with the same loving care with which I handle it.
• Vermont-based food businesses who need help with: marketing, blogging, ghost writing, food writing, copywriting, menu design, public relations, networking, and web content.
• People with an idea about a food product they want to turn into a business but have no clue how to start.

Marketing and selling are essentially about building relationships and that's what we do best at Vermont Shortbread Company.  We love our customers and our vendors and only do business with people we'd want to share a meal with.  It's what has kept us in business for nearly a decade.

If you're a Vermonter who fits my description above or know anyone to whom I should talk, please, send them my way.   

Comments

[Cathryn Hrudicka, Chief Imagination Officer]

Hey, Ann--

Why not go a little bit further than Vegas and come visit me in the Bay Area? When are you going?

Are you bringing any of those YUMMY shortbread samples with you? I'm overwhelmed by the many delicious flavors to "test!"

Cheers,

Cathryn Hrudicka
Chief Imagination Officer
Creative Sage™