By Stacy Finz | SFGate.com
S.F. pilot program teaches entrepreneurs how to get rolling with food carts, trucks
Fernay McPherson would like to turn her part-time venture, Minnie Bell’s Catering company, into a full-time gig.
The problem is that while she can make mouth-watering chicken three ways, she doesn’t know a hill of beans about creating a viable business plan.
Help is on the way.
Urban Solutions, a nonprofit economic development organization, and La Cocina, a group specializing in culinary entrepreneurship for low-income communities, have teamed up to take 35 students, including McPherson, under their collective wing. For the next three months, experts will teach the wannabe capitalists how to run their own mobile food businesses – everything from financial management and marketing to details about getting the proper permits and licenses.
“A lot of our participants are home cooks who have dreams of turning their passion into a career,” said Helen Branham, director of small business services at Urban Solutions. “It could be anything from food trucks and carts to catering and kiosks.”
