Regardless of what food product you have in mind, obtaining proper training on skills, production, legislation and marketing are invaluable in making your business more viable. A quick look around shows that there's far more help available thank one might think!
As mentioned previously on this blog Teagasc has an upcoming course for any budding food entrepreneurs. It is a one-day Innovation/New Product Development Workshop. This course covers all aspects of the new product development process and is relevant to anyone considering establishing a new food business. The workshop costs €200 and full details and booking can be found here. Teagasc provides many other training courses on all aspects of food production (most are industry accredited). Full details are available here.
The National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) facilitates and runs a wide range of courses from a few hours right up to high level qualifications. A very valuable upcoming course is a 3-day cheese making course in conjunction with the multi-award winning Helen Finnegan of Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese. This is a very comprehensive course and covers everything from the milk stage right through to packaging and presentation. This runs on the 18th, 19th and 25th of November 2016 so prompt action is required if you're interested. Details of this and all other courses provided by NOTS are available here. Helen also runs shorter courses as an introduction to cheese making. You can find out further details here.
The National Organic Training Skillnet (NOTS) facilitates and runs a wide range of courses from a few hours right up to high level qualifications. A very valuable upcoming course is a 3-day cheese making course in conjunction with the multi-award winning Helen Finnegan of Knockdrinna Farmhouse Cheese. This is a very comprehensive course and covers everything from the milk stage right through to packaging and presentation. This runs on the 18th, 19th and 25th of November 2016 so prompt action is required if you're interested. Details of this and all other courses provided by NOTS are available here. Helen also runs shorter courses as an introduction to cheese making. You can find out further details here.
Finally, actually coming face to face with the consumer and selling your product (along with image, ethos etc.) is a big challenge and a new experience for most. Bord Bia recently launched a number of workshops providing skills training for selling at farmers markets. These will be a great learning experience and excellent opportunity to meet other direct-selling producers. These courses are very reasonably priced but places are limited so book soon to avoid disappointment. Full details are available here.
