City of Cambridge Offers Support and 1-on-1 Coaching to Food Businesses

The Economic Opportunity and Development Division (EODD) is offering free one-on-one coaching and a 3-part workshop series for food businesses in April! Whether you are a food business owner looking for clarity on your strategic goals, feeling confused or overwhelmed by food business financials, or unsure how best to attract today’s customers, these workshops and 1-on-1 coaching are aimed at putting your business on the track to success.

In partnership with Prepshift, EODD will be hosting 3 webinars for food businesses in April. Each workshop will be held on Zoom and each workshop informs the next. Food business owners are encouraged to participate in all three (3) all online workshops. Webinars are free to all and each workshop informs the next. 

Food Business Coaching Webinar Part 1: Guided Self Assessment

• Date: Tuesday, April 15, 2025
• Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
• Location: Virtual Zoom Webinar
• Click here to register.
• Workshop Description: Are you a food business owner and unsure of how to position your business for success in 2025 Join our workshop to identify your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, setting you and your business up for future success. All participants should leave with a better understanding of the current state of their business and with some questions to further reflect upon.

Food Business Coaching Webinar Part 2: Food Business Financials in 2025

• Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
• Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
• Location: Virtual Zoom Webinar
• Click here to register.
• Workshop Description: Feeling overwhelmed by your food business financials? Join our workshop focused on demystifying financial best practices, typical financial statements, and how to get organized. Attendees will be introduced to financial best practices including how often to consult an accountant, what financial admin work you can do yourself, how often to look at profit and loss statements and a balance sheet, and where to start if you haven’t had a chance to organize your financials. This workshop will also incorporate references to the financial realities of food businesses in a post-Covid environment, including how to manage any existing government grants, considerations for inflation and re-financing of debt, and how to anticipate raising wage rates for employees.

Food Business Coaching Webinar Part 3: Today's Food Business Customers

• Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2025
• Time: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
• Location: Virtual Zoom Webinar
• Click here to register.
• Workshop Description: Have you wondered how today’s customers interact with food businesses? Are you wanting to attract new customers to your food business? Join this workshop to learn more about the typical customer patterns of food business patrons. Customer needs and interests constantly evolve but Covid-19 grafted a host of new concerns onto existing customer patterns. In this workshop, attendees will be presented with a review of common customer personas that include psychographics, needs, and pain points. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of today’s customers and will be guided through some specific examples of how one’s business can make certain changes that will best cater to those new customer needs. Attendees will also explore customer profiles for untraditional shoppers including students, government or institution staff who purchase items for catering events, and other businesses as part of a peer-to-peer network.

Cambridge businesses who attend these workshops may be eligible for free, one-on-one coaching assistance with Prepshift. To check your eligibility, click here.

For more information

For more information on this series or one-on-one coaching assistance, please contact Jared Staley at jstaley@cambridgema.gov.