Happy National Small Business Week!

At SOF our mission has always been to grow Baltimore’s local food economy by creating opportunities for low-income entrepreneurs and small business owners who have faced barriers to employment or business development. What started out as a small business training workshop series for food entrepreneurs back in 2015, quickly grew into something much bigger.

Since then, our business training program has grown into a year-long business technical assistance curriculum (and expanded to D.C.), we’ve held 2 vendor fairs at Lexington Market connecting our entrepreneurs to local institutional buyers, were awarded a grant from Baltimore Integration Project to continue our work connecting small food biz owners with buyers, and of course, opened a new teaching kitchen with culinary class offerings and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence program at the East Baltimore Food Hub.

We recognize that small businesses are what drive, sustain, and strengthen our local communities – and we can’t express how rewarding it has been to work with Baltimore’s amazing food business community, and to watch our entrepreneurs grow and succeed. A big thank you to all of our partners at School of Food – and to our food entrepreneurs & small businesses! This week, we celebrate you guys!

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the SOF Impact Report HERE.