• Home
  • Plan
  • Launch
  • Grow
About
Getting Started

With your idea set, get started on building your business.

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Structure your business

Understand the different types of business structures and choose the best one for you.

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Permits and licenses

Get the right permits and licenses based on your location and food business type.

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Operations

Determine how to run the ins and outs of your business from point of sale to hiring.

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Professional services

Determine how to run the ins and outs of your business from legal to marketing.

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Plan

Getting Started

Plan

  • Events and Training Opportunities
  • Start with an idea
  • Write a Business Plan
  • Startup finances
  • Determine the Food Business Type

Launch

  • Getting Started
  • Structure your business
  • Permits and licenses
  • Operations
  • Professional services

Grow

  • Marketing Strategies
  • Form Strategic partnerships
  • Enterprise Contracts and Certifications

Open Access was developed by Food & Society at the Aspen Institute, which aims to help food entrepreneurs navigate the many challenges to financing and business ownership in the food sector. With funding from the Walmart Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (the views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the foundations), the Food & Society team created the open-source web code available at no-cost to cities and other organizations to launch portals to help food entrepreneurs in their communities.

The portal structure was inspired by the business portal projects designed and built by Code for America and Long Beach i-team, and the template content was modeled on and drawn from the Franklin County Food Business Portal, Minneapolis Small Business portal, and the Long Beach i-team portal.