Food entrepreneurship presentation at 2011 Wisconsin Local Foods Summit

Want to start next year off learning about becoming a food entrepreneur?

I've been offered several good opportunities in January to talk about food entrepreneurship and the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

The first of these is the Wisconsin Local Foods Summit in Elkhart Lake. The conference is January 13 and 14, 2011.

My presentation is on Thursday Jan. 13 at 10:15 AM. An experiment in local foods processing: The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen, Mineral Point, WI.

Another good chance to share this idea will come on with the Midwest Value Added Conference, January 27 and 28, 2011 in Madison. Details to follow.

C'mon you aspiring food entrepreneurs. This is a chance for growers and their food friends to take some positive steps in the new year to build or grow an artisan food enterprise that matches your goals.

Merry Christmas 2010 to one and all!

Download 2011 Wisconsin Local Food Summit brochure. PDF format

Grants for farm entrepreneurs starting food businesses through the Innovation Kitchen

Good news from our Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) this week.

We were able to enroll the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen onto a list of approved consultants who are eligible to be paid for training and supporting Wisconsin farm entrepreneurs.

Eligible Applicants:
"Wisconsin food producers who are selling to the local food market sector are eligible to apply. Preference will be given to applicants selling at least 75 percent of their products to be consumed within 300 miles of the farm. Value-added products must include at least 50 percent Wisconsin-grown ingredients, of which at least 50 percent must be grown by the applicant."

Consulting services available from the Innovation Kitchen through this grant:
• Commercial recipe development, testing, and production services. Packaging and labeling services.
• Small food business counseling, startup and development services

If you grow food in Wisconsin you are eligible for an amazing opportunity to experiment in value added processing. You can create small, inexpensive batches of artisan recipes to sell under your own brand and label through the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

This grant program, Producers First, is open to applications through the end of 2010. I'm not sure about the future of this specific program but hopefully this and others like it can continue to help our Wisconsin food entrepreneurs create jobs, grow businesses, and build a more sustainable farm and food economy.

The Producers First grant is a nice opportunity to get your new or emerging farm and food enterprise acquainted with the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen and vice versa.

The grant will pay up to $3,000 per successful applicant, which largely covers recipe development and testing, as well as mentoring in artisan food business planning and execution.

The Hodan Center is sharing this amazing resource with Wisconsin and the world.

The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen is a platform of knowledge, networks and valuable tools. What seems possible with this kind of platform is that these new and emerging food enterprises will become platforms themselves for creating jobs and economies that will be valuable and sustainable.

Julie Miller's article in Agri-View last week caught a quote about leveraging the physical platform this kitchen represents into many new business and community platforms for new and emerging food entrepreneurs:

“I want to start these new smaller businesses as sustainable work platforms,” says Terrien, referring to food entrepreneurs that begin at the Innovation Kitchen. “They feed families, communities, and a larger purpose. It’s these production platforms that are needed and no more so than in food.”


Download information for applicants. PDF format.

Agri-View article: Innovation Kitchen stirs economy with local produce & ready workers

The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen

The Hodan Center

Iowa County WI economic development

"Innovation Kitchen stirs economy with local produce & ready workers"

One of our premier regional publications celebrating agriculture and rural life is Agri-View, "The Number one Ag Newspaper in Wisconsin"

Julie Martin with Agri-View did a great interview and story in their current issue, dated Dec. 9, 2010. What a great opening to the story...

"At the Innovation Kitchen in Mineral Point, their cookbook is filled with signature recipes of family-crafted specialties.

Among them is their own recipe for success, calling for a heaping tablespoon of leadership, a few cups of community support, and a dash of entrepreneurial spirit.

And don’t forget the key ingredient: a few truck loads of Wisconsin grown produce."

This is a well written story that accurately highlights many of the opportunities available through the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

I thought the article did a great job summarizing what's possible: "The Innovation Kitchen helps bridge the gap between locally-produced foods and the grocery store shelf, while also creating Wisconsin jobs. A hub for new entrepreneurs to grow their ideas, this commercial kitchen has a promising outlook."

I especially love the closing quote from Annette Pierce, our Food Service Director (and Master of the Universe):

“They keep telling me that we need to expand already,” says Pierce, with a smile to the center’s success. “We want to be sustainable and to keep our local farmers in business. We’re accomplishing that, and I think this is going to help everybody.”

Amen!


Agri-View article: "Innovation Kitchen stirs economy with local produce & ready workers"

Photo credit: Julie Martin and Agri-View.

Writing your own patents / holiday greetings

People ask if they can write their own patents. The answer is that you can but you really have to put a lot of time and thought into the process. You will also most likely not be anywhere as thorough as a patent attorney would be.

The photo is of our a suction skimmer removing oil from a manufacturing fluid. This elegant, simple, powerful skimmer was our first patent.

We made the holiday post card from the photo to send as a 'thank you' greeting for our very earliest customers.

The first patent my previous business partner Dave and I received was filed on Jan. 6, 1999. The 12th anniversary of our first intellectual property application is less than a month away. Our most recent patent was awarded in 2008.

I wrote the text and did the drawings for our first patent. Then our wonderful patent attorney Dr. Jaen Andrews thankfully took charge.

I've written for all kinds of applications in my life but I can say without any hesitation that the abstract for our first patent (below) was the single most difficult paragraph I've ever worked on.

The rest of the writing - the claims and the description and the drawing labels had to be just as precise. There is a link to the full text at the end.

There is excellent advice out there for writing patent applications yourself. I believe the best advice comes through Nolo Press. However, people have to understand this intellectual property language is a complex code unto itself. Many terms have been frozen in their meanings for more than a century. There is important, legally relevant meaning to every single word and phrase. Accurate use of punctuation and drawing details are equally important with highly defined legal implications. The abstract language below sounds stilted. However, the legal requirements for defining your innovation as a new creation must work with centuries of law and language. It takes a lot of time to digest these rules and then write to those standards.

Civilians can do it, but thank goodness for patent attorneys!

Here is the abstract I wrote for our first patent:

Abstract. U.S. patent # 6,183,654. Filed Jan 6, 1999. Issued Feb. 6, 2001.

"A suction skimmer with a vertically adjustable inlet for removing preferred upper portions of a liquid from a fluid body under substantially laminar flow conditions and which is self leveling in response to level changes in a fluid body. Suction skimming device includes a skimming sleeve elongated body member having a fluid flow passageway disposed proximally contiguous and slidably movable along the vertical axis of an elongated body sleeve guide member having a fluid flow passageway. The fluid flow passageway of the skimming sleeve member is in open communication with the fluid flow passageway of the sleeve guide member. The suction skimmer is provided with a flotation assembly to buoyantly support the skimming sleeve member thereby positioning the inlet first end of the skimming sleeve member near the surface of a fluid body. The flotation assembly is removably engaged to the skimming sleeve member so that the distance between the skimming sleeve inlet and the surface of a fluid body can be preferentially adjusted and engaged over a large array of vertical distances."

Based on this abstract our claims were accepted on their first application. There were about 45 individual component items identified across 3 separate drawings (figures) submitted.

You can write this language and do the drawings yourself if you commit a lot of time to the process. It's a big learning curve. It takes a lot of time.

So, yes, you can write and draw your own patents.

Do you really want to? Do you have months of work-hours to devote to learning and executing in this environment?

Is it valuable to utilize the professional skills of patent attorneys? Absolutely!

Is it fun to use your business graphics and make holiday cards? Oh my gosh, priceless.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!



Happy 12 year anniversary of our first patent filing Dave!

Kudos to the great books from Nolo Press that guided the writing and the patent drawings that supported our first patent.

First photo is of our suction skimmer in action.

Second is a scan of a holiday card we sent to our customers and friends in the first years - our suction skimmer with the flotation system disguised as Christmas ornaments.

Next phone conference 12/15 - starting an artisan food enterprise through the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen

We'll be having a phone seminar next week for people interested in starting or growing an artisan food business through the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen. We limit these invitations to keep the conversation effective. There are 5 slots open for next Wednesday Dec. 15 at 2:30 PM CST.

Here are a couple of comments from the first seminar:

"Thank you for the very informative conference call yesterday. I came away from the call with the inspiration I needed to go to the next level. "

"It was really informative taking part in the phone seminar."

If you know someone who might be interested in having the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen be the 'food processing back office', please pass this note along.

The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen is an opportunity to start or grow an artisan food enterprise in a state-inspected commercial kitchen, licensed to legally and lovingly prepare recipes for commercial sale. The Innovation Kitchen can also supply packaging, labeling and shipping support, all of this at a small enough scale that's affordable for most new and emerging food entrepreneurs.

You can live anywhere in the United States and start an artisan food business through the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

For people thinking about this opportunity we have a couple of pricing paths into the process. One path will focus on commercial recipe testing and development. The other path will provide mentorship in business startup and development with a focus on artisan food enterprises, as well as the commercial recipe development services.

Our next phone seminar to discuss this food entrepreneurship opportunity is next Wednesday Dec. 15 at 2:30 PM CST. We have 5 slots open for this seminar.

We also have phone seminars scheduled for Wed. Jan 5, and Wed. Jan. 19

Join us or pass this note along to a friend who may want to become a food entrepreneur ! You can register using the link below.

Request an invitation to an upcoming phone seminar for people interested in having the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen prepare their recipes for commercial sale.

Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen

Iowa County (WI) Area Economic Development Corporation.

Boomer startups and encore careers

Long time Madison and Wisconsin contributor Nino Amato is currently the President and Executive Director of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups.

There was a very good interview with Mr. Amato in the November 2010 Madison Magazine.

The discussion of an aging workforce can be looked at from many ways. Certainly there is a financial risk to individuals and to the system.

However, starting new careers and new businesses may be one way older Americans can meet this challenge.

As Mr. Amato closes out his interview, he cites a movement I'm seeing in many areas of my economic development work, especially in the field of artisan food entrepreneurship through the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen.

“'Baby boomers don’t think they’ll be ‘old’ until they’re eighty,' Amato says. Citing survey research conducted by Merrill Lynch, Amato says 76 percent of baby boomers intend to continue earning income full- or part-time after they retire from their main line of work. Many plan to begin new professional careers or start their own businesses."

For anyone thinking about starting their own small food enterprise to help carry them into and through their older years, the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen may be a great option right in our own back yard.

Sounds like a plan...


Interview with Nino Amato in Madison Magazine.

Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups. Focusing on issues that impact older adults and people with disabilities.

The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen. Mineral Point, Iowa County, Wisconsin.

Newman's Own. Shameless!

My good friend Robin K. lent me her copy of Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner's great book "Shameless Exploitation: In Pursuit of the Common Good."

In 2008, the year of Paul Newman's passing, this was republished as "In Pursuit of the Common Good: Twenty-Five Years of Improving the World, One Bottle of Salad Dressing at a Time."

My goodness. What a contribution these explorers provided to all of us interested in food, philanthropy, and economic development.

Some good summaries of food entrepreneurship from the beginning and end of Newman and Hotchner's adventure...

"Sometimes you get what you want but it ain't what you expected. Newman's Own was supposed to be a tiny boutique operation - parchment labels on elegant wine bottles of antique glass. We expected train wrecks along the way and got, instead, one astonishment followed by another. We flourished like weeds in the garden of Wishbone, like silver in the vaults of finance. A lot of time we thought we were in first gear we were really in reverse, but it didn't seem to make any difference. We anticipated sales of $1,200 a year, and a loss, despite our gambling winnings, of $6,000. But in these twenty years we have earned over $150 million, which we've given to countless charities. How to account for this massive success? Pure luck? Transcendental meditation? Machiavellian manipulation? Aerodynamics? High calonics? We haven't the slightest idea."

"That bottle of salad dressing that we concocted as a prank in Newman's old stable twenty-odd years ago has had a hell of a ride. Without realizing it, by being both stupid and stubborn we stuck to our guns, insisted on all-natural, no preservatives products, and in some small way caused an industry to change its ways. A business we ran by the seat of our pants, without plans or budgets, is now a significant player in the world's markets. A camp we built in Connecticut for sick children has now been duplicated for afflicted kids all over the world. A vision realized. Like a grain of sand in the oyster, it just grew, and for us, these camps are indeed the pearls.

So, whatever it is, whatever it amounts to, whatever it does or doesn't do, we grabbed it by the shirttailand hung on. Sure makes a believer out of you."

So here is my own shameless pitch... the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen is a state of the art food processing center that can supply all the needs of a ‘virtual’ food entrepreneur - purchasing, ingredient prepping, recipe testing and preparation, packaging, labeling, storage, and shipping. You can utilize the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen to be your safe, legal, wonderful food preparation center, operated for whatever worthy purpose you designate, from wherever you live.

The Innovation Kitchen also supports the employment goals of adults with disabilities. With your help and patronage, we can do this all over the world.

For people who would like to experiment in food entrepreneurship and philanthropy the Innovation Kitchen is a perfect storm of good news.



The Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen

Amazon link to these great books

Wikipedia Newman's Own. "According to the Newman's Own website, by March 2010 over US$290 million had been generated for charity since 1982"

Chrysler Kokomo. Largest investment in one U.S. city for 2010

This is a short re-visit to our recent manufacturing startup. I really miss showing off our technology and working in that marketplace.

My business partner Dave and I manufactured and installed industrial fluid recycling systems in heavy industrial plants worldwide, beginning in 1997.

One of my favorite customers was Chrysler Kokomo. That's our equipment and our results highlighted in the photos.

Surprisingly there was little economic development press about a new $843 million investment recently announced by Chrysler to upgrade their metal casting and transmission manufacturing facility in Kokomo, Indiana. This brings this year's investment in Chrysler Kokomo up to $1.1 billion.

I know this plant well. I spent a LOT of time inside Chrysler Kokomo with our last venture.

Long before green manufacturing became cool, the technology Dave and I patented, built, and installed in Kokomo saved this one facility millions of dollars in reclaimed fluids and big decreases in resource consumption (largely oil , water, and surfactants). It was my understanding at that time that Chrysler Kokomo ran the largest heat treating operations under one roof in the world. Our equipment recycled oil and industrial fluids in most of the heat treating parts washers in this amazing facility.

After we installed our technology, we won a global environmental award from Chrysler, presented by Dr. Deiter Zetsche, current Chairman of Daimler AG in the photos above.

This award led to others and a lot more customers throughout that industry.

The new investment in Chrysler Kokomo is great news for this facility and for American manufacturing. With some additional funding by the City of Kokomo, this will be the largest investment in a single city in the U.S. this year.

I am very proud of the small part my business partner Dave and I played in helping this wonderful American manufacturing facility emerge smarter into our new century.

Congratulations, Kokomo! Congratulations, American manufacturing! Forward!


Inside Indiana Business. Interview with local UAW president about initial $343 million investment and Chrysler press release about full $1.1 billion investment in Chrysler Kokomo this year.

Washington Post article about President Obama visit to Chrysler Kokomo. 11/24/10

Environmental technology award presented by Dr. Deiter Zetsche

Photo notes: Dr. Deiter Zetsche in photos with Heat Treating Manager Bob McCulley. Wikipedia Dr. Deiter Zetsche

Presentations about job creation and local foods - Mon. Nov. 29

We are hosting presentations organized by Wisconsin Senator Dale Schultz highlighting the Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen and the Highland vegetable processing center. November 29, 2010. Both projects are supported by our Iowa County Area Economic Development Corporation and SW CAP.

(emphasis added by me)

From Senator Dale Schultz:

Greetings -

You are invited to take part in stops being hosted by leaders for job
creation and Wisconsin's bioenergy future on the afternoon of Monday,
November 29. This invite is to you and other community leaders in the
region of Grant, Green, Lafayette, Richland, Sauk, Juneau, Crawford and
Iowa Counties. Please consider forwarding this invitation to your
community contacts. Stop #1 is at a new regional food-jobs generator in
Mineral Point, plus we'll get an update on the next regional food-jobs
generator in Highland and an update on other regional E.D. initiatives
from SWCAP. Stop #2 is at an exciting bio-energy generator in
Dodgeville. Take part in one or both stops. There is no cost involved
at either stop.

FIRST STOP, 1:30 to 2:40
Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen
851 Dodge St. (old Hwy 151), Mineral Point WI 53565
Web: http://www.wi.innovationkitchen.org/, phone 608 987 3558
Host #1: Rick Terrien, director of the Iowa County Area E.D. Corp,
(http://www.iowacountyedc.org/)
You'll get a tour and hear how WINK is helping food-related
entrepreneurs from a large region.
Come if you want to keep or create local food jobs in your community.

Host #2: Wally Orzechowski and David Vobora of Southwest Wisconsin
Community Action Program
They will be at WINK to describe their programs to help you keep and
create jobs in your community.
SWCAP (http://www.swcap.org/) is the region's leader for community and
economic development.
Come if you want to keep or create frozen-food-related jobs in your
community or you want to help people escape poverty and become
financially self-sustaining.

SECOND STOP, 3:00 to 4:15
Energy Unlimited, Inc.
4881 CR YZ, Dodgeville WI 53535
http://www.energyunlimitedinc.com/
Host: John Lundell, President.
The Wisconsin Office of Energy Independence is one of many entities
excited about the Biomass Burner. Lundell plans to have the system
operating for your visit. See how various biomass inputs can generate
electricity at less cost than a digester, and heat a large facility.
Come if you want your community to be a leader for our bio-energy
future.

RSVPs are not essential, but if you do, we can offer you car pooling
possibilities with other folks coming from your area.
To rsvp, email Tom Jackson, tjackson@legis.wi.gov.

Questions?
- Tom Jackson, Office of Senator Dale Schultz, tjackson@legis.wi.gov
- Rick Terrien, ICEDC, rickt@iowacountyedc.org
- Wally Orzechowski, SWCAP, w.orzechowski@swcap.org
- David Vobora, SWCAP, d.vobora@swcap.org
- John Lundell, Energy Unlimited, john@sawdustburner.com


WI Senator Dale Schultz
Wisconsin Innovation Kitchen, WInK
Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program, SW CAP
Dodgeville's Energy Unlimited Sawdust Burner site

Photo notes. - see the wing chunks missing bottom left wing - Monarch predation. A small biz strategy worth considering...

Getting to 10,000 new businesses in Wisconsin

This is from a recent article by Wisconsin Technology Council president Tom Still. Nov. 3, 2010 "Inside WI: The mathematics of job creation in Wisconsin calls for quantity and quality."

In discussing the need for growth in high quality jobs, the article closes with a strong argument for entrepreneurship making an important contribution. (emphasis added by me)

"So, where will new jobs be produced? Sectors such as care for the aging, education, food processing and safety, information technology sectors, transportation, trade, bioproducts and alternative fuels hold potential.

'Raw numbers of jobs is not our problem. We need high-quality jobs,' said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance and author of new report titled 'Wisconsin Jobs and Wages: A Wake-Up Call?'

Berry believes the number that will drive 250,000 new jobs is 10,000 new businesses, given that small businesses create virtually all jobs in the U.S. economy. As the Kauffman Foundation reported recently, 'start-ups and young companies dominate job creation in the United States – and have done so for the past 30 years.'

Launching start-ups is precisely where Wisconsin has lagged since the early 1990s. In the 17 years ending in 2009, new companies as a percentage of all firms averaged 5.4 percent nationally, while in Wisconsin the 'firm creation rate' was 4.5 percent. Wisconsin ranked 42nd among the 50 states and scored behind most of its neighbors.

Berry noted that attracting and retaining larger firms gets most of the political attention, and a disproportionate amount of state financial support, even though creating new businesses from within is the real game.

'If young firms are creating all of the new jobs, as the data show, then we’re having the wrong conversation,' Berry said.

'Changing that conversation means creating a culture of entrepreneurism and removing obstacles that prevent young firms from getting a running start. Those obstacles can include local ordinances, state regulations and licensing requirements. Unemployment payroll taxes hurt young firms because it’s a tax not tied to profitability. The relative lack of venture capital also contributes to less-than-average firm creation.'

'In the end, we’ve got to decide what kind of culture we want,' Berry said. 'We should have a culture that rewards risk – a culture that allows entrepreneurs to keep money in their pockets and to keep pounding away in their garages.'

While that cultural shift is underway in Wisconsin, much work remains. Creating 250,000 jobs is laudable and attainable – and launching 10,000 new companies with the potential to create high-wage jobs is even better."



Inside WI: The mathematics of job creation in Wisconsin calls for quantity and quality.

A safe and peaceful Thanksgiving to all! Abramam Lincoln's Proclamation of Thanksgiving, 1863.

Photo is looking through the amazing plant kaleidoscope ("observer of beautiful forms.") at our wonderful Olbrich Gardens in Madison, WI