Three Haines food entrepreneurs got drilled in a business boot camp last month as part of a regional business competition.
Perma Food-Scaping’s Andrew Cardella and Marnie Hartman along with Sarah Jaymont of Sarah J’s Espresso Shoppe were among the top 12 finalists selected in this year’s Path to Prosperity (P2P) Southeast Alaska small business competition.
This year’s competition focus was on food growing, harvesting, processing, aggregation, preparation and distribution.
P2P Office Administrator Shawn Blumenshine, said the three-day business boot camp in Juneau provided intensive coaching and mentorship for business owners.
“We bring in pros,” Blumenshine said. “We brought in a food scientist, a food branding expert. We brought in a bunch of marketing people, attorneys, accountants, book keepers, basically resources that you would normally have to pay a lot of money for.”
Contestants met in groups and individually with experts to help refine and focus their business plans and marketing campaigns.
Hartman said she appreciated marketing advice that forced her to determine the “why” of their projects.
“It definitely helped focus and give motivation to sit down and write a full business plan with a mission statement and create goals and marketing and determine who your competitors are. It motivated me for my business that’s already been in practice for three years.”
Cardella is currently in Nepal and Hartman describes her involvement in the business as an “enthusiastic supporter.”
Perma Food-Scaping (with a name change pending) will build raised garden beds for individuals or businesses from reclaimed products, such as slab wood from local lumber mills, and use soil made from wood, leaves, seaweed and spent grain.
“One of the big ambitions behind our project is the education that comes along with the delivery of the product itself, really getting people to feel self-sustainable,” Hartman said. “The boot camp, the question of “why,” really helped to support us that that should be a part of the marketing. As Alaskans we pride ourselves on being self-sufficient and yet we don’t grow our own produce.”
Jaymont was not available to comment but in a previous story about the competition, she said she wants to build a permanent structure on the property where her food trailer currently stands. She said she didn’t want to reveal all her plans for her expanded business.
After the boot camp, contestants have until Dec. 3 to submit their final business plans. An independent panel of judges will select two winners to be given a $25,000 award that can be used to fund training, consulting and or technical service used to develop their business concept.
Cardella and Jaymont are competing with 10 other entrepreneurs from Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Craig and Hydaburg,
This year is P2P’s fifth competition.
Haines Brewing Company and Fairweather Ski Works were previous winners of the P2P competition.