Stock Pot Academy, A Foodservice Incubator Program Like No Other
At Stock Pot Malden, we believe that the future of foodservice for schools, childcare centers and senior organizations lies in helping local caterers and restaurants develop in their communities the capabilities required to serve those markets at scale, while meeting the regulatory requirements involved. This requires a massive skills development effort of food operators at the local and regional level.
To that effect, we have developed the Stock Pot Academy program to help selected food entrepreneurs in Massachusetts acquire the necessary skills through a combination of classroom teaching and on-site coaching and support.
Stock Pot Academy is a two-year program. The program starts when three elements are present:
We have identified a partner we want to work with.
We have secured a kitchen from which the partner can operate, under our supervision.
We have acquired one or more local clients we want to eventually serve through the new partner and the new kitchen.
The 10 Modules of the Stock Pot Academy Program
Each module involves a mix of formal classroom training and on-site applied work taking place in the partner’s kitchen or the Stock Pot Malden central kitchen.
1.
Co-Venturing with Stock Pot Malden, Basics of the Shared Profit Model, Understanding what Being an Entrepreneur Implies.
2.
How The Stock Pot Partnership Works in Practice: Contracts, Financing, Roles And Responsibilities, Feedback Meetings.
3.
Key Success Factors In Running A Local School, Childcare Center, and Senior Institution Program.
4.
Basics of Nutrition, Key Role of USDA Regulation, How to Build a Menu for Kids and Seniors, Role of Software In Compliance, Preparing for Inspections.
5.
Establishing the Right Supplier Relationships and Procuring Inputs Cost-Effectively.
6.
Designing Your Kitchen Layout and Equipment, your Organization and your Operational Processes for Efficiency And Food Safety
7.
Understanding your Costs and Pricing Effectively, Dynamics of your Profit and Loss Statement.
8.
Building Long-Term Relationships with Clients Through Customer Service and Delivery Logistics.
9.
Learning To Sell through RFPs and Direct Marketing, Tracking your Pipeline and Developing your Own Marketing Program
10.
Basics of Human Resources Management And People Development, Learning to Manage and Grow your Staff, Becoming a Leader.
How the Stock Pot Academy Program Unfolds Over the Two Years of Incubation
Stock Pot Malden guarantees a minimum income to the partner for the two years of the incubation program. As soon as the share of profit earned by the partner in the co-venture program becomes larger than the guaranteed amount, he/she starts earning that higher amount and starts operating as an independent entrepreneur. In many cases, this happens long before two full years have elapsed, but we want our partners to have peace of mind for those two years by de-risking their entrepreneurial adventure.
At the beginning of those two years, each new client identified for the co-venture is initially served from our existing, company-owned kitchen in Malden (“SPM1”). During that time, the partner (and some of his/her staff) is attending formal classroom training on the 10 modules and participating in the preparation and delivery of the meals for their future clients. This period typically lasts from 6 months to a year.
The partner then starts preparing the food in their own assigned kitchen, applying what he/she has learned at our central kitchen, and works in close collaboration with the Stock Pot Academy staff to ensure that the transition to the partner’s operations is a smooth one. Over that time, Stock Pot Malden progressively adds new clients to the partner’s business gradually making him/her comfortable with a growing volume of meals.
Eventually, the partner reaches a scale where his/her operation becomes profitable, at which point the partner’s business becomes a full-fledged independent business responsible for all aspects of its operations and financials. The relationship with Stock Pot Malden continues after that, with the partner being the local representative of the Stock Pot Malden network and continuing to derive significant revenues from the business brought by Stock Pot Malden but also using that business as a foundation for developing their own catering or restaurant business.