Winners of the From Scratch food entrepreneurship business awards, Katherine and William Harris (Beyond the Pail), and Jud Flynn (On Site Culinary Solutions), will each receive $5,000 with which to start or expand their Blacksburg-based businesses.
Despite the delay in culminating the From Scratch competition and a host of uncertainty due to the onset of COVID-19, these entrepreneurs remain optimistic. “Things are looking up,” shared Jud Flynn, “we are ready to evolve and respond to the market as things continue to open.” Flynn plans to use the funds to purchase catering equipment to expand his existing culinary training business to handle event requests. The Harrises are excited to get their food truck operational. “We were ready to go before all this happened,” William explained, “now we are just waiting for people to come back.” Both award winners hope to use their funds and gear up as soon as possible. Their operations will be based at the Millstone Kitchen.
From Scratch was a free course for aspiring entrepreneurs, hosted at Millstone Kitchen, through which industry professionals shared their expertise on business planning strategies, food safety requirements, legal parameters, marketing ideas, and finance options. The class was fully booked with 39 participants, seven of which submitted business plans to be judged by a committee for awards. Many of the other participants also hope to launch their businesses in the next year.
