205502 Food Business Incubation: An Innovative Model for Public Health through Nutritious Food Development, Farm to Cafeteria Programs, Local Food Promotion, Poverty Alleviation, and Regional Economic Growth

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 3:30 PM

H. Louis Cooperhouse , Rutgers Food Innovation Center, Rutgers University, Bridgeton, NJ
  
The Rutgers Food Innovation Center is a unique business incubation and economic development accelerator program, which provides business and technology expertise to small and mid-sized food and agribusiness companies, and increases employment and serves the food industry of communities throughout the region. The Center has been awarded “Incubator of the Year” by the National Business Incubation Association, and has been recognized as a national “Innovative Program Model” and an “Agricultural Innovation Center Demonstration Program” by the USDA.

Business and technology expertise has been provided to over 1,000 companies and entrepreneurs to date, since the Center's founding in 2001. Clients include:

o Farmers and Cooperatives desiring to create new businesses based on value-added agricultural products and/or developing new markets for their existing commodities

o Startup Food Companies coping with challenges such as financing, technology, regulations, market development and infrastructure requirements

o Existing Food Establishments seeking to access new technologies, upgrade quality assurance capabilities, enter new markets, train their workforce, and expand and improve their operations

o Retail and Foodservice Establishments, including farm markets, school cafeterias, and urban destination markets, seeking to improve their operations, provide healthy food choices, and/or purchase locally grown New Jersey products

In addition, the Rutgers Food Innovation Center is meeting the diverse public health needs of the community, including the development and production of nutritious value-added foods produced by regional farmers and entrepreneurs; establishment of farm-to-school programs; education and community outreach regarding best practices in farm markets and year-round destination markets in inner cities; the alleviation of poverty via production of value-added products derived from gleaned produce; the promotion of local foods to the state and its residents; the creation of corporate social responsibility programs for food processors; and the development of international and domestic collaborations with sister business incubator programs to serve the needs of communities worldwide.

In this presentation, attendees will understand the model that has been created by the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, and the best practices that need to be applied for the successful development of a food business incubator for their community.

Learning Objectives:
Define a food business incubation program, and explain the benefits and impacts of a business incubator to the community, state and region Discuss how a business incubator program can meet diverse public health needs of the community. Describe the model that has been created by the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, which has been awarded “Incubator of the Year” by the National Business Incubation Association, and has been recognized as a national “Innovative Program Model” and an “Agricultural Innovation Center Demonstration Program” by the USDA Identify the best practices for the successful development of a food business incubator for your community

Keywords: Community Development, Food and Nutrition

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am Director of the Rutgers Food Innovation Center, which has been awarded “Incubator of the Year” by the National Business Incubation Association from among 7,000 incubator programs that exist globally. Our Center has also been recognized as a national “Innovative Program Model” and an “Agricultural Innovation Center Demonstration Program” by the USDA I serve on the Board of Directors of the National Business Incubation Association, the New Jersey Food Processors Association, and am very active in a number of other associations as well. I've worked in industry for over 25 years, at Campbell Soup, ConAgra and Nestle, and was the co-founder and CEO of MenuDirect, which pioneered the development of nutritional foods for individuals on specialty diets.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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