Amy McQuery transfers pizzas from the kitchen to the patio where a brick oven was constructed at the Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm in rural Waseca, Minnesota. The business is a part of a new coaching program offered by the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation.

WASECA, Minn. — The Minnesota Department of Agriculture received a grant to help give food businesses owners a solid start as they enter the market with plenty of passion, but not always a background in business. 

Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm owners Emily Knudsen and Bill Bartz say they feel like they are flying by the seat of their pants as they navigate the world of business and that the Feast! Smart Start Initiative will help them and other owners get it right. 

“I sometimes feel like I don’t have all of the correct knowledge that it takes to run your own small business,” Knudsen said. She has an associate’s degree in business along with two bachelor’s degrees, but running a new business comes with hundreds of challenges for entrepreneurs to tackle.

Starting soon, food businesses like Knudsen’s pizza farm will have a chance to work with a business coach to help them to answer all the questions a small-business owner might have, said Kallie Rollenhagen, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation communications coordinator.

Beginning this month through the end of the year, 14 businesses in southern Minnesota will get advanced training courses and personal coaches, Rollenhagen said. Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation is a nonprofit that works on economic development. They have partnered with Feast! Local Foods Network to work to strengthen the local food ecosystem. 

Feast! is a network designed to connect local food organizations, businesses and individuals who work to make sustainable and local food available in places where it often isn’t. The networks operates throughout Southern Minnesota, Northeastern Iowa and Southwest Wisconsin.

At the Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm, Knudsen and Bartz make artisan pizzas with homegrown ingredients in a 600-degree brick oven on summer nights, while customers bring their own beverages and seating and enjoy the outdoors. The farm, which opened two years ago, often schedules live music.

“I’m looking forward to the business coach,” Knudsen said. “I’m also looking forward to learning more about strategic planning and better bookkeeping.”

Also selected was Farmhouse Market, located in New Prague, Minnesota. They sell only locally grown food and is open at all hours for members and has certain hours each week for the public.

Farmhouse Market co-owner Kendra Rasmussen said she’s excited to be a part of the program. 

“As a small business working hard to grow with a tight budget, it’s hard to tackle big goals we’ve set for the future,” Rasmussen said.

Other businesses selected from Minnesota were Carlson Roasting Co. in Houston, Curly Girlz Candy in Owatonna, Gardenaire in Rochester, Grandma’s Gourmets in Albert Lea, Mama Stoen’s in Owatonna, Metz’s Hart-Land Dairy, Honey and Creamery in Rushford, Perfect Day Cakes & Bakery in Owatonna, Singing Hills Dairy in Nerstrand, Stagecoach Brewing Co. in Mantorville, The Bee Shed in Oronoco and Whitewater Gardens Farm in Altura.

Narveson writes for the Mankato, Minnesota Free Press.