How to run a profitable food business

Learn the strategic essentials of breaking into the food market

So you’ve developed a delicious food product? Now begins the hard work of getting it onto the shelves. To do that, you’ll need to build a brand that makes your product attractive, and a strategy than makes your company competitive.

Mixing presentations, discussions and exercises, this highly practical course gives you the skills to workshop your product and tackle common hurdles for startups in this notoriously competitive marketplace. Led by renowned business development consultant Philip Banfield, it’s an unmissable opportunity for entrepreneurs to get advice and feedback and transform their business for the better.

Course content

• Your big idea: what is your product?
• The basics of branding: what makes your product special?
• Finance: is your product commercially viable?
• Getting ready for market: a step-by-step guide
• Manufacturing: from processing to packaging – how do you outsource?
• Costs: what to expect, and how to budget for the unexpected
• Design: what works, and how to commission it
• Communication and customer strategy: getting your message right
• Understanding the market: what is a brand, why is it important and what can go wrong?
• Organisational behaviour: how to make the most of what you’ve got
• Q&A

This course is for you if...

• You’re confident you have a good food product but are new to the branding and business sides of the food industry
• You’ve recently launched a food product and have encountered complications with your business, or simply want expert guidance in handling your business
• You’re a small-scale food entrepreneur seeking clarity about the food market from a business leader with relevant expertise

Tutor profile

Philip Banfield is the founder and managing director of VentureField, a consultancy that specialises in helping startups and established businesses step change their commercial performance. A former executive for companies including M&S and Associated British Foods, over the past seven years Philip has successfully advised the founders, management teams and investors of many food, drink, health and beauty and retail businesses, including CafePod, Burton’s Biscuits and most recently Up&Go.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website