Part 3: Facility Planning

This session provides a deep dive into what it takes to create a functional, compliant, and efficient food production space. Entrepreneurs will gain an understanding of how food safety principles are built into facility design, including the rulebooks and standards that guide the layout, finishes, and equipment required for approval. The conversation will walk through the Plan Review process and application, offering practical insights on how to collaborate with inspectors, architects, and contractors from the very beginning. Participants will also learn how to assess and select potential buildings or facilities, ensuring that the space they choose supports their concept, meets regulatory requirements, and streamlines operations for long-term success.

Presented by Central Carolina Community College Small Business Centers

PART 4: Rules + Regs For Foodservice: Prepare For Inspectors And Inspections With Confidence

Mark your calendars for Tuesday evenings in January for a 4-part series that will help you get a strong start for your small food business (caterers, bakers, food trucks, restaurants).

This series is for dreamers, planners, culinary students, and business owners in need of a reset or refresher.

Class 1, Class 2 and Class 4 can be taken alone: Class 3 builds on Class 2, so 2 and 3 should be taken together!

Presented by James Sprunt Community College’s Small Business Center

Part 2: Rules + Regs for Foodservice

This session demystifies the complex world of foodservice rules and regulations so entrepreneurs can plan with confidence. Participants will explore food safety as a daily practice, gaining a clear understanding of the risks and liabilities involved in different types of food businesses and how those factors determine who inspects what. Through practical explanations of permitting processes, regulatory requirements, and training options, attendees will learn how to navigate the system effectively. The class will cover where food can be legally produced, the types of approved commercial kitchens, and how to build collaborative relationships with inspectors, positioning them as valuable mentors rather than obstacles.

Presented by Central Carolina Community College Small Business Centers

PART 3: Strength In Numbers: How Food Shows Up In Forecasting

Mark your calendars for Tuesday evenings in January for a 4-part series that will help you get a strong start for your small food business (caterers, bakers, food trucks, restaurants).

This series is for dreamers, planners, culinary students, and business owners in need of a reset or refresher.

Class 1, Class 2 and Class 4 can be taken alone: Class 3 builds on Class 2, so 2 and 3 should be taken together!

Presented by James Sprunt Community College’s Small Business Center

Part 1: Food Is The Product For Sale

Business planning is a practice, not a report with a deadline. You’re probably already great at your food and menu, but that’s not the most important part of this work.

What needs your attention are things like rules and regs, food safety, financial forecasts and other operational realities, and that can feel overwhelming.

Planning for a safe, legal, profitable food business means having good basic knowledge about how these parts work together. This builds a strong foundation, and the planning process will make you a stronger, smarter, entrepreneur, more confident in your business model.

Presented by Central Carolina Community College Small Business Centers

PART 2: Penny Ballgame: Cost, Prices, Profits in Food Business

Mark your calendars for Tuesday evenings in January for a 4-part series that will help you get a strong start for your small food business (caterers, bakers, food trucks, restaurants).

This series is for dreamers, planners, culinary students, and business owners in need of a reset or refresher.

Class 1, Class 2 and Class 4 can be taken alone: Class 3 builds on Class 2, so 2 and 3 should be taken together!

Presented by James Sprunt Community College’s Small Business Center

PART 1: Food Is The Product For Sale: What’s Unique about Business Planning for Food Business?

Mark your calendars for Tuesday evenings in January for a 4-part series that will help you get a strong start for your small food business (caterers, bakers, food trucks, restaurants).

This series is for dreamers, planners, culinary students, and business owners in need of a reset or refresher.

Class 1, Class 2 and Class 4 can be taken alone: Class 3 builds on Class 2, so 2 and 3 should be taken together!

Presented by James Sprunt Community College’s Small Business Center

Who inspects you and your food? What do they expect from you?

Prepare for inspectors and inspections with confidence!

Presented by Piedmont Community College’s Small Business Center

*photo by Jacky Zhao for Unsplash

Anyone can cook, but NOT everyone is cut out for entrepreneurship.

Are you ready to move from notebook or home production to legit business? How do you know if it's for you, and what the next steps should be?

Presented by Piedmont Community College’s Small Business Center

*photo by Alex Perez for Unsplash

Ready to fire up your food truck dreams? Come hungry for knowledge, leave with a plan!

Presented by Moore County Chamber of Commerce

In one fast-paced day you'll access the accumulated wisdom of fun successes and heartbreaking failures by many food entrepreneurs who've come before you, and come away with great information to grow your business wisely and well. Lunch is included.

Presented by Sandhills Community College’s Small Business Center

Part 4: Planning With Purpose

Pulling all the pieces together for business planning is as much for you as for anyone else. Build a plan that YOU believe in, and you’ll have the confidence to put it in place. We’ll talk about templates and methods for planning, with tips for working with pros: bookkeepers, accountants, contractors, architects, and inspectors.

Presented by Lenoir Community College’s Small Business Center and the Lenoir Chamber of Commerce

Part 3: Forecasting with Confidence

What will it cost to do what you want to do? Revenue forecasts have to match expense forecasts. Let’s put dollars on the dreams and try to match them up for profit. Understanding your potential startup expenses and operating expenses will help you make smart, realistic plans and decisions.

*photo by jason jerrach for unsplash

Presented by Lenoir Community College’s Small Business Center and the Lenoir Chamber of Commerce

Part 2, Portions, Prices, Profits!

How will you turn food into money? Putting numbers on dreams can be terrifying: how can you possibly know what you’ll make?  Come learn the basics of food business math, including costing and pricing your product for profit, which will help you forecast revenue.

*photo by thermopro for unsplash

Presented by Lenoir Community College’s Small Business Center and the Lenoir Chamber of Commerce

Part 1: How Hard Could It Be, Really?!

Building a business around a dream is so scary that many people skip right over the most important parts of planning and get in over their heads, fast. Why would smart, passionate people do that? Because what's unknown can seem really hard!

Let's say it out loud, test your idea, put business words around what you love and see what happens. Find out who might regulate you, what the rules are, where you can do it, and how you move from a great idea to a solid concept.

*photo by maarten van den heuvel for unsplash

Presented by Lenoir Community College’s Small Business Center and the Lenoir Chamber of Commerce

Most of us didn’t learn this stuff in school, but we’re in business anyway! It’s never too late to learn “your numbers” and some basic definitions to find your way.

Bookkeeping and accounting, profit and loss, income and expenses, forecasts and reports: we’ll find your food in all of them, and show you how this understanding can help build a strong, profitable business.

Presented by Brunswick Community College’s Small Business Center

Food business dreamers are passionate entrepreneurs. That enthusiasm can create a great business that makes everyone happy, or it can lead to frustration and great loss. Revenue does not equal profit, and understanding where the money comes from and where it goes will help you assess the feasibility of your dreams.

Presented by Wake Tech Community College’s Small Business Center

This FREE seminar will cover the following topics:

• The roles of the local health department, N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, N.C. Cooperative Extension and the WCC Small Business Center

• Requirements for processing food in your home, acidified food products and value-added supplements

• Catering, food trucks, fundraisers, and temporary food stands

• Food businesses planning resources and considerations from respected chef and entrepreneur, Dani Black

Presented by Wilkes Community College’s Small Business Center

I’m excited to present this first-thing-in-the-morning dive into food business money. Get a good cup of coffee and settle in to a class that can help you feel much more confident and competent!

Most of us didn’t learn this stuff in school, but we’re in business anyway: it’s never too late to learn “your numbers” and some basic definitions to find your way.

Presented by Wilkes Community College’s Small Business Center

The day’s focus is on customer service and hospitality, and providing local businesses a better idea of the number of visitors coming at different times during the week, when peak periods are expected and how they might prepare to take advantage of these opportunities.

This interactive, lively course will cut through the noise to engage with clear, specific, unique information and support for you and your food truck business. In a confidential, judgment-free space we’ll celebrate the wins, and explore what’s not going the way you thought it would. Your instructor and some Very Special Guests will help you figure out what’s needed to improve the situation with real solutions and tools for real challenges.

With a combination of in-person classes and zoom sessions in between, plan for a FULL SERIES of opportunities to assess and calibrate your food truck business with the support of Wake Technical Community College’s Small Business Center.

Food, beverage and hospitality enterprises are critical drivers of economic and social development in communities. A desire for freedom and flexibility, or financial necessity, can inspire people to start small food businesses.

The intended audience for this event is for those dreaming about, planning or growing small food businesses such as restaurants, bakeries, catering operations, food trucks. Entrepreneurs who want to leverage their passion and enthusiasm to build small food businesses should attend to learn practical skills, tools and resources.