LAURINBURG — Food entrepreneurship ranges from owning a restaurant or running a fruit or vegetable stand to supplying restaurants with food from your farm or processing food.

Richmond Community College’s Small Business Center is offering a Food Entrepreneurship Certificate series designed to encourage people to consider this industry as a business choice and to provide information and resources to current or potential food entrepreneurs in Scotland and Richmond counties.

The seminars are free and open to the public. Those who attend three of the free seminars in the series will receive a Food Entrepreneur Certificate.

The first seminar is planned for Tuesday at the Laurinburg-Scotland County Chamber of Commerce.

“Want to Become a Food Entrepreneur?” will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Presenters for all the seminars are Kathy Byron of Good Foods Sandhills and Fenton Wilkinson of Integrity Systems.

Byron and Wilkinson have many years experience in the Sandhills food system. Good Foods Sandhills is responsible for all school gardens in Moore County and the Sustainable Food and Farming System program at Sandhills Community College. Wilkinson initiated and managed Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

“Our goal for this class is for people to understand what the food system is and why it is important, but more to understand the incredible variety of business opportunities it offers. It is not about telling you what you should do but expanding your sense of the vast array of what’s possible beyond just growing and cooking,” Wilkinson said.

This is the first class in the Food Entrepreneurship Certificate Series offered through the Small Business Center at RichmondCC. Funding for this program is from the NC Rural Center as part of its Rural Local Food System Business Assistance Initiative.

“Kathy and I are available outside of class as food system mentors to help you clarify and refine your food system business idea and help you define a plan of action,” Wilkinson said.

Small Business Center Director Deborah Hardison is also available to help people prepare a business plan and provide other small business resources.

The seminar schedule is as follows:

Feb. 28: Mobile Food Business: Is This A Good Fit for You?

March 28: Making Your Small Farm Profitable

April 25: Guerrilla Marketing for Your Food Business

All seminars will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Scotland Chamber of Commerce located in Laurinburg.

To register, go online at tiny.cc/sbcseminars, email [email protected] or contact Small Business Center Director Hardison at (910) 410-1687. Pre-registration is preferred but, walk-ins are welcome.

Female hand cut tomatoes on rustic kitchen table, around lie ingredients, vegetables, fruits, and spices, Healthy foods, cooking and vegetarian concept.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/web1_Food.jpgFemale hand cut tomatoes on rustic kitchen table, around lie ingredients, vegetables, fruits, and spices, Healthy foods, cooking and vegetarian concept.
RCC to offer series on food entrepreneurship

Staff report