Being business-like
Setting up and running a community food project requires similar skills to running a small business. You will need to be business-like when buying or selling food, managing people or dealing with money.
Buying food
The key to buying food stuff is negotiating with suppliers to purchase the goods you want at a good price. As a buyer it is your responsibility to shop around to find the best quality for your customers. This can be a challenge when buying perishable products such as fruit and vegetables. The good news is that buying gets a lot easier when you have built up a list of suppliers which you can switch between.
Selling food
If you are selling food to the public you need to know the ingredients in the food and anything the food might have come into contact with which could be a risk to people with allergies and intolerances.
Catering to the public
If you are catering to the public there are all sorts of things to consider, from registering your food premises to when to charge VAT and traceability of ingredients.
Social enterprise support
Many community food initiatives adopt a social enterprise model. Find out more about advice, training and funding available for social enterprises.
Business skills training
There’s plenty of support out there for starting a business and being business-like.