Sue Ellsworth (she/her), Manager of Piedmont Food Processing Center
and Founder of WE Power Food
In the food industry, facing challenges is like battling summer heat—you can’t escape it, but you can learn to thrive with the right supports. In this episode of Proofing Stage, hosts Michelle Bond and Joan Kanner explore the realities with Sue Ellsworth, Manager of Piedmont Food Processing Center and Founder of WE Power Food, about running a shared kitchen successfully.
Sue reveals how the center evolved into a 10,200 square-foot haven for 65 companies, navigating cross-contamination and overcrowding with its unique setup. She emphasizes the importance of truly serving the entrepreneurs who use the facility by championing the art of starting small, testing products at farmers’ markets, and using raw, unbiased feedback to improve them before going big on packaging and marketing.
Michelle and Joan serve up their own tales from Bottoms Up Bagels (BUB), underscoring the goldmine that is direct customer feedback and how it helped inform their product development and the overall BUB brand. Whether you are a food business owner, consumer or champion, tune in to this episode for sharp insights, practical advice, and a dose of real-world grit on fostering a thriving food business ecosystem.
Highlights include:
- Building a community of would-be competitors
- Navigating red tape of food entrepreneurship
- Nitty gritty in regulations and labeling
- Tanking two of our episode sponsors
- Passion, vision (and an assist!) are all equally necessary
- Long-term thinking impacts “success” and can fight food insecurity
- Opportunity calling (but Kool Kat Sue sends them to voicemail)
Links
Connect with Sue Ellsworth:
WE Power Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WEPowerNC
WE Power Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/we_power_food1/
WE Power website: www.wepowerfood.org
Piedmont Food Processing Center -
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/PFAPNC
Website: www.pfapnc.org
Above: WE Power Food group shot from Empowerment Conference
More on food business startups and spaces S1: EP3, Share Kitchen Confidential
Theme music by Thorn Haze
Additional music by William King (via Pixabay), SergePavkinMusic (via Pixabay)
Artwork by Lisa Orye
Executive Producers, Joan Kanner and Michelle Bond
Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
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