{"product_id":"so-you-wanna-start-a-food-or-beverage-businessisbn-9781953295668","title":"So You Wanna: Start a Food or Beverage Business","description":"\u003cb\u003eA pick-your-own-path guide to launching and sustaining a successful food or beverage business\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe specialty food and beverage business is a thriving industry, and the barriers to entry are low: all you need is a recipe idea and a place to make it. It sounds simple, but launching a food or beverage company is a maze of choices and consequences. Douglas Raggio has been there, both as a food business founder and as a consultant to other successful start-ups, and he’s come to learn that every choice a food founder makes has a fairly predictable outcome.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eSo You Wanna: Start a Food or Beverage Business\u003c\/i\u003e, he helps you think through the many decisions you’ll make along the road from idea to success—whether you see yourself building a following at your farmer’s market, partnering with a local restaurant, or launching the next Pepsi. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eThis innovative guide follows four archetypal food start-ups that cover a range of business ideas and founders. Every few pages, you’ll make crucial decisions about the next step to take in growing a hypothetical business. You’ll have a chance to see how each choice is likely to play out before you try out anything in the real world, where the stakes are higher.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn this book, you’ll see the maze of choices and outcomes that go into:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cli\u003e Coming up with an exciting, profitable new product\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e Funding your start-up\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e Conducting market research\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e Pricing and producing to scale\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e Establishing partnerships, promotions, and branding\u003c\/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e Deciding when to keep going—and when to fold\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cbr\u003eBy understanding the perils and pleasures of this fast-growing industry, you will be able to approach your own business with confidence, make the decisions that feel right to you, and avoid the most common pitfalls along the way.\"Mandatory reading before starting a CPG company. It will save you hundreds of thousands of dollars in mistakes. It is real and researched through the eyes of people that have been there and done that.\"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Nick Saltarelli, Co-founder, Mid-Day Squares\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"This is far from your typical business book and will undoubtedly keep readers engaged and inspired as they choose their own unique path to starting a business. Like life itself, nothing is linear, and Douglas does a fantastic job at giving readers a tangible road map of how to find success and persevere as an entrepreneur.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Sara Brooks, Founder, Covet PR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Douglas Raggio has written a book that is uniquely packed with practical and no-nonsense advice for aspiring entrepreneurs . . . \u003ci\u003eSo You Wanna: Start a Food or Beverage Business\u003c\/i\u003e is not only instructive but highly entertaining.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Chris L. Shimojima, Founder and President, C5 Advisory\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I can’t think of anyone better to lay out a path for food and beverage start-up success . . . Absorb the lessons in this book, apply them, and watch your business succeed!”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e—Robert U. Craven, Managing Partner, Findaway Adventures\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “A lot of folks wonder about starting a food or beverage company. While it can be incredibly rewarding, it can also be a treacherous, circuitous path fraught with peril. Douglas Raggio shares hard-won lessons and practical nuts-and-bolts advice that improve your odds and can help make your dream a reality.” \u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eBob Burke, 25-Year Consultant, Natural Products Consulting, LLC\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Read this book if you want an exhilarating, adrenaline rush, filled with decisions that only you can make. Adventures await!\" \u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eJessica Ann, author of \u003ci\u003eHumanize your Brand\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Douglas knows what he's talking about. He's been through the ups and downs of the industry and seen all the major consumer shifts.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eMatt Matros, Founder of Protein Bar, Limitless, and Shopflix Studios\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"Douglas speaks the truth, like it or not. The consumer packaged goods industry is a seven-days-a-week business. It is where the tough get knocked down and the tougher never get up. Success in this game is part luck, part timing, and part ride or die. Douglas captures this like the pirates before him.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eThad Benshoof , CPG Investor and Cofounder of Homegrown Meats\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \"If you’ve ever thought about launching your own food or beverage business, this book’s for you. It offers readers an interactive journey through the unforgiving trenches of the start-up world.\"\u003cbr\u003e —\u003cb\u003eBrittany Callahan, food and beverage start-up curious\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eDouglas Raggio\u003c\/b\u003e is experienced in nearly every aspect of the $150 billion specialty food industry. He is the founder of a thriving food company, \u003ci\u003ePass the Honey\u003c\/i\u003e. He also founded the slow-cooked meal company, \u003ci\u003eStews \u0026amp; Such\u003c\/i\u003e, cultivating a network of manufacturers, vendors, distributors, co-packers and retailers in\/around the packaged food space.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eConcurrently, he was the founder and managing director of early-stage venture capital fund Gastronome Ventures, one of the first fully-dedicated VCs in the healthier-for-you-food\/beverage industry. He is founder of private equity fund Bias \u0026amp; Blinds Spots, also focused on emerging healthy food and beverage branded companies, with transactions currently totaling more than $150M. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eHe’s been an advisor to more than a hundred startups and is a sought-after speaker at North America’s largest specialty food trade shows. His tenure in the space has given him the opportunity to vet 12,000+ investment opportunities spanning more than a decade, including companies going from zero to multi-millions and those going in reverse to bankruptcy. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003ePrevious to his work in the food and beverage industry, he managed $100M+ marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies including Nike, Motorola, DirecTV, and Discovery Channel. Douglas received a BS in Organizational Communication from Cal Poly Pomona.\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Matt Holt","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304859947237,"sku":"NP9781953295668","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781953295668_c9d0ee00-775d-4ad9-97b2-863759112fa6.jpg?v=1730758665","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/so-you-wanna-start-a-food-or-beverage-businessisbn-9781953295668","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}