With each level of food and beverage business success comes a new stage of growth. At Good to Grow, we refer to these stages as: Seed stage, Sprout stage, Growth stage.
Each stage offers its own unique challenges and opportunities. At Seed stage, business planning and product development, such as shelf-life, are foundational; at Sprout stage, distribution and packaging challenges start to arise; and at Growth stage, scaling operations and seeking investment are pivotal to success.
In between Sprout and Growth stages, business owners often experience make-or-break challenges, as well as loneliness and isolation. Good to Grow has coached, mentored, and educated over 1,000 businesses at all stages of growth and has experienced first-hand that this “in-between” stage is crucial.
The Lunch Room
With those in this make-or-break late Sprout/early Growth stage of business in mind, we created a new business growth opportunity called The Lunch Room, where we invite entrepreneurs to join us for virtual lunch room chats to prepare for the next stage of success. Businesses will gain expert education, pointed one-on-one coaching, and a cohort of peers to network and grow with.
Businesses in the late Sprout and early Growth stage of business are typically defined by one or more of the following features:
- Revenues greater than $300,000
- Distribution in multiple market channels, for example:
- 100+ stores in independent grocery retail
- gaining traction in regional and/or national grocery chains
- an online grocery presence
- starting to sell to or already in institutional food service
- 2 – 10 employees
How It Works
Through an application process (open now!), 12 businesses that are non-competing will be invited to join a 6-month long cohort and meet twice a month. The sessions will be every other Tuesday from September 2023-February 2024 and guided by a curriculum that supports the wants and needs of the participants, exploring finance, research and development, sales, marketing, operations, human resources, and legal. The Lunch Room series includes two 45-minute one-on-one coaching sessions with Good to Grow.
Throughout the program, each participant will create a pitch for a final pitch event that showcases all 12 participants to a panel of retail and institutional buyers, investors, sponsors, and industry supporters. The top 6 pitches will win entry into part two of the program, an exclusive and fully funded advanced cohort: The Podium (valued at $4,500).
Learn more about The Lunch Room + The Podium and apply now!
