Empowering Food & Farm Businesses
At the Food Finance Institute, we envision a world where strong food and farm businesses create vibrant communities and a healthy planet.
We help food and farm businesses thrive by providing essential financial training, coaching, and consulting at every stage of growth.
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Who We Are
The Food Finance Institute (FFI) is a part of the Universities of Wisconsin’s Office of Business & Entrepreneurship, rooted in Wisconsin but with a national reach. We support the entire food business sector, from consumer packaged goods and value-added agriculture to beverage companies, consultants, and food systems nonprofits.
We understand that every business is unique. That’s why we offer a “continuum of care” model, supporting you whether you’re an innovative startup or a mature, sale-ready enterprise. Our goal is to equip you with the financial and business management skills you need to succeed and access capital for long-term viability.
Our Impact
2014-2025
Our Approach
We combine sophisticated financial expertise with practical, real-world knowledge gained from decades of experience. Our services include:
- Training: We teach core financial concepts and best practices.
- Coaching: We guide you through customized next steps for your business.
- Consulting: We help with essentials like financial projections and business model strategy, always focused on profitability and resilience.
We Help Food Businesses:
- Build financial skills
- Develop financially viable business models
- Access capital
- Catalyze their community
- Become profitable and resilient
Participants Say…
“Thanks to FFI, we’ve been able to build new tools that improve our processes and help us reach more customers.”
Francisco Guerrero
Redwood St Roasters
“This program gave us the financial management tools to take our business to the next level. It was paramount to us being able to scale our brand.”
Danielle Goss
KUL MOCKS
“The training I’ve accessed through FFI has been magnificent, expanding my knowledge in finance, accounting, marketing and promotion.”
Ryan Sullivan
Sullivan Family Farm
Signature Programs & Initiatives
We offer robust programs and have led impactful initiatives, including:
- Our Food Business Fellows Program
- Consultant Training and Certification
- Food business trainings, including Financial Foundations for Food Businesses, Financial Foundations for Farms, Raising Equity, and Navigating Uncertainty
- Our Online Food Finance Learning Center
- Naturally Wisconsin — our state’s Naturally Network Chapter, is a project of FFI
We also spearhead initiatives such as:
- Securing BIPOC farmland access and tenure in the Upper Midwest (USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program)
- Helping farmers’ markets sell, profit, and expand (USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program)
- Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center (Wisconsin Network Coordinator)
and scores of other initiatives.
FFI partnerships:
FFI works with valued partners to further their mission and ours by providing food and farm financial training, coaching, and consulting.