You've got a great food product. You see the demand for local food. You want to grow your food business.
Make Manitoba Agriculture your first point of contact for help as you build your future in food. The Value Added Branch helps accelerate the growth of the food and agri-product sector with business development and product commercialization expertise and experience in a single window approach.
Our Business Development team is dedicated to supporting the sustainable growth of Manitoba's small, scalable food and agri-product companies. Our knowledgeable and experienced business development specialists provide access to business and marketing consultations, strategic pathfinding, cutting-edge industry training and funding opportunities.
The Food Development Centre (FDC) provides technical and research assistance on a fee-for-service basis, with a focus on plant and animal products and ingredients. In its 45+ year history, the Centre has established itself as an internationally recognized leader in food research and development for domestic and international markets, and has helped companies of all sizes to successfully innovate and grow.
Click here to build your future in food.
Your success is our mission — contact us to elevate your food business at mbagrifood@gov.mb.ca
A business goes through various stages of development and faces different cycles throughout its life. As it grows and develops, its needs, priorities and strategies change. There is a strong network of business and market development service providers available to businesses in Manitoba. Business Pathways provides the connections, tools and resources to provide support every step of the way.
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Down the Right Pathway
Understanding your position in the business life cycle will help you anticipate challenges and opportunities and make optimal business decisions. What you focus on today may not be what is important tomorrow. Your challenges will change, and you will have to use different strategies to be successful.
Who You Are:
Ideation is the process of generating, developing and evaluating ideas for launching viable new business ventures.
Do you have an idea for a new food product? Do you see market demand or a problem that could be solved by a new food product or business?
At this stage, as a food entrepreneur, you will be involved with conducting market research and validation, formulating your recipe, developing your product and exploring the steps required for to commercialize your product. You should be using lean market validation principles to ensure you have a viable business idea. It is important at this stage to ensure you have a clearly defined target customer, a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and a clear vision of how your business or product will solve that problem.
Where You're At:
1
Initial ideas, first recipe formulation
2
Market research & analysis
3
Exploring and taking steps to business start up
4
Market testing and finding a niche
5
Product formulation
6
Developing a Business Plan
7
Evaluate viability/
8
Establishing a customer base
Who You Are:
During the build stage, your business is establishing and improving the systems and processes required to develop and commercialize a food product. Your business will see growth in revenue and cash flow, and profits will be starting to show. You may consider investigating contract manufacturers or co-packers to produce your product. Time management can present a challenge for you as the business owner. Human resource management becomes more important. Globally, there is an increasing focus on sustainability. Food businesses can benefit from building sustainability into the core of their business and cultivate a stronger brand image, differentiating themselves from competitors.
Where You're At:
1
Revenues and customers increasing
2
Profits starting to show
3
Competition is starting to surface
4
Established systems and processes
5
Time management for owner is a challenge and HR becomes more important
6
Build a sustainability vision and strategy
Who You Are:
The growth stage sees revenue increasing steadily and you will start looking for opportunities to grow your business. Scaling up a food business might include automating and implementing new processes, exploring alternative production facilities or hiring staff to meet increased sales requirements. A thorough supply chain analysis will identify opportunities for process improvements and opportunities for new value addition. Marketing is a crucial ingredient for growth as your business expands into new markets and distribution channels. ESG sustainability (Environmental, social, and governance) is rapidly becoming a core pillar of long-term growth and sustainability in the food industry. Sustainability strategies can reduce risk, provide a competitive advantage for food companies, and create new opportunities for growth.
Where You're At:
1
Business is thriving with a place in the market and loyal customers
2
Scale-up and rapid growth
3
Sales growth is on a continued growth trend
4
Profit margins optimized
5
Focus on improvement and productivity
6
Step into new markets and distribution channels
7
Look for business opportunities that complement existing experiences and capabilities
8
Incorporate sustainability into your growth strategy
Who You Are:
A business succession plan is a strategic plan that you will use to transition or sell the business. A comprehensive succession plan includes every aspect of your transition, including wealth management and retirement planning, determining your business valuation for prospective buyers, preparing your company for a transition and evaluating exit strategies. This could entail a transfer of ownership, a sale or an intergenerational transfer.
Where You're At:
1
Evaluate opportunities for exit
2
Determine business valuation
3
IPO
4
Transfer of ownership
5
Sale
6
Intergenerational transfer
7
Exit business
