— Susana Bivanco

Thank you. So I get this question a lot because, um, once I did a workshop for a bunch of chefs here in Philadelphia, and the first piece of advice that I'm going to you is that your craft is now a business. It's no longer your hobby, it's your business. So when your neighbor, for example, says, Hey, can you make me a platter of your, um, vegan Mac and no cheese? You have to let them know how much it's going to be, uh, letting them know that you have this business adventure, that you are turning your hobby into a business or turning your food craft into a business. So there are a couple of things and um, I'm gonna try and go in order, but I do wanna say the two most important, important things. One is that, um, you, it's, it's good to take the Serve Safe exam, the food handler's license, because you will need that. Oftentimes if you're going to cook in an incubator kitchen or if your county allows you to cook in your own home, uh, you need to have that certification. It lasts for five years. And the other thing that you need to have is, uh, flip insurance, uh, food Handlers insurance program, a food liability insurance program. Very, very key. If I go to teach someplace the first thing that they wanna see, not my pretty pictures, they wanna know if I have insurance and if I have my safe serve. Uh, because you need to have that, it's very, very important. So, backing before we go into some of the nitty gritty of this is two things. Uh, and Plant Pro, we offer a unit in food photography. And, um, good pictures, uh, are your selling point. You know, like the old adage in picture is worth 8,000 words. With that said, uh, there are lots of courses to take online. I was fortunate enough that when I went back to school a few years ago, I did take a food photography course at an art school. So it was such a wonderful experience to sort of see the other side of food and how you can make it look presentable and appealing and so forth and so on. The other part of it is that there's a wonderful program called Canva, C-A-N-V-A. And Canva is a tool that helps you create beautiful postcards, flyers, brochures, et cetera, et cetera. You sit home on your computer, you can send it off to have it done at Staples, or you can print them on your own computer, but it has all of the information that you need to have to sell your business. So, Susanna, your specialty is your area of expertise is very special. Um, looking at gut and biliary health, there's not a lot of that going on. So it sounds as though that you have researched what needs to be done with that. Um, how will you establish your product line? Um, who's your customer base? Now, one thing I would suggest to do is if you have a relationship with a gastroenterologist, um, making up those Canva brochures and handing them to him to put in his office might be just the thing that one of his patients need to help become, uh, healthier through food as medicine. So I would suggest that, uh, I would also suggest to think of a name, but nothing too kitchy, you know, uh, something that's solid. It could even be your name. Um, and then you know what your specialty is, because I think that that's also, um, very important. And then your, your needs assessment, uh, and your business plan are going to be your two best tools, uh, in the sense that you really wanna have an understanding of who your target audience is, what you're capable of doing, and how are you going to start out. For example, you might go to that gastroenterologist, uh, and let, uh, them know that you have your safe serve and your food liability insurance and say, Hey, I would love to come to your office on an afternoon from one to three, and I would love to do a teaching demo in your office, because that's something that is done in offices these days. And, um, let people see your face and know your food, and then you'll hand out that little Canva card to them and you'll be well on your way. Um, there's a lot of information online on how to make a business from your craft or from your baking business or whatever, but today's the day that you, uh, think about becoming a food entrepreneur. And, uh, it sounds like, um, I mean, I'm thinking of gut and liver health, and they're, it's such a huge gigantic field. And to have somebody who would specialize in that from a culinary perspective would be so wonderful. Uh, even taking, uh, a physician's patients on a tour of a grocery store. And it doesn't have to be a fancy grocery store. It could be your local conventional grocery store. But, uh, these are great, great, great. Uh, this is a great question and one that we probably get the most of.