Who We Are
Julia Shanks Food Consulting works with food-focused businesses to help them reach financial sustainability. We believe that business owners need to manage with the numbers – plan, measure, and adapt – in order to maximize profitability and succeed. By starting with the numbers, we help businesses to streamline operations and maximize profits. Whether writing business plans or developing new menus, we work with our clients to ensure success! How can we help you?
A member of the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, Julia Shanks Food Consulting is committed to taking concrete actions to make our business more environmentally sustainable, including reducing our carbon footprint and environmental impact.
“Julia brings a combination of real world experience, strong accounting and finance skills, and common sense.”
Michael Staub, Principal, Group M.
Julia ShanksPrincipal
Julia brings a broad range of professional experience to her clients, from pilot to chef to serial entrepreneur. She combines the practicality of an accountant with the creativity of a chef.Each business is different -- whether a farm, food producer or chef; and the support the businesses need to grow vary. Julia draws on a variety of tools and methodologies to support her clients' growth and success: from writing businesses plans and creating financial feasibility models to recipe development. Some of Julia’s most intriguing projects include developing a Cricket Cracker recipe for Aspire Food Group and refining the growth strategy of Boston’s first rooftop farm.
With a mission of supporting a sustainable and just food system, Julia wrote The Farmer's Office: Tools, Tips and Template for Successfully Managing a Growing Farm Business. The book coaches farmers to think like entrepreneurs so they can build a financially sustainable business. The Farmers Market Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to Enjoying Fresh, Local, Seasonal Produce, co-authored with Brett Grohsgal and cited as a reference in Michelle Obama’s American Grown, highlights the joys of local produce; and helps consumers make the most of local farmers' bounties.
Julia’s career started at the FAA as an aviation analyst and quickly swerved into the culinary arts. After more than a decade of professional cooking, she earned her MBA, taught graduate and undergraduate accounting, and helped small companies create business plans to get the financing they needed for growth.
Julia received her professional training as a chef at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, her BA from Hampshire College and an MBA, Magna Cum Laude in Entrepreneurship, from Babson College.
Our Partners
Jan Glassman and Joel Sowalsky of Daily General Counsel work with small businesses and start-ups that cannot afford to hire a lawyer for their basic legal needs, or that are “lawyer-averse.” They provide affordable General Counsel Services on a One Day and Done™ model. An experienced business attorney spends a full business day at the client’s place of business for a flat fee of $1,500. They either resolve the legal issues or educate and empower their clients to proceed independently. You can see the full range of services they offer here. For follow-up or hourly work, they offer very aggressive, below market rates and rapid, effective service.
Patrick Morin specializes in servicing the business needs of the food, beverage and hospitality industry. He handles a full range of transactional services for food, beverage and hospitality businesses, including regulatory compliance, food labeling and marketing, food safety, licensing, commercial real estate, commercial contracts, intellectual property, and corporate transactions and governance matters.
Fishbrook Design Studio opened in February, 2004 in a renovated barn overlooking the Fish Brook in Boxford, MA. The practice focuses on Hospitality, Retail, Residential, Office and Educational projects. Matthew E. Juros, AIA, founding principal: “Design merges a steely grasp of function with dreams and aspiration. Being equally tuned to the rich magic of history and vibrant pace of fashion is vital to crafting a vision that has both delight and meaning.”
Project Design Company is an award-winning design firm based in Washington, DC. For over fifteen years, we have grown and enhanced the brands and communications of cause organizations and passionate businesses. The PDC team works with the latest industry expertise and technologies to successfully transform your content into something your audience will respond to—and remember.
Agenda28 is a design firm specializing in social impact. We were founded at the Harvard Innovation Lab and are dually based in New York City and Mexico City. We leverage the power of design to increase social, environmental and economic change. Our services range from branding to editorial and product design (industrial and digital).
Good Egg Marketing helps you increase sales and build loyalty by sharing your story. We specialize in connecting small farms and food-related business with consumers and advocates who care about food, the environment and local economies.
Strategic Marketing Consulting helps businesses grow and increase their visibility by thinking strategically about their business. SMC works with businesses to determine where they are in their market, where they want to be, what sets them apart, and who their target market is.
Charles River CFO provides outsourced accounting and bookkeeping services. RCFO offers a full suite of finance, accounting and tax services, and we offer a flexible and scalable team approach. As your Strategic Transaction Services partner, we support both your technical and operational accounting & finance function, in concert with your outside auditors to navigate this important transaction.
Dawn Quesnel, CPCC, PCC, founded Career Life Balance, a coaching & consulting company for professionals who want to accelerate their careers so they can love their lives! DQ is trained and certified as a Career & Life Coach and was voted ICFNE Career Coach of the Year by her peers. When she is not coaching or facilitating workshops, she co-hosts & produces “Brain Talk Radio” airing on the 1st Wednesday of every month at 12n EST. Follow her @coachdq.
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What WeOffer You
Whether you’re just starting out, or expanding your business to the next phase of growth, Julia Shanks Food Consulting can help you succeed. Click below to find out more about our services.
Tips, Toolsand Templates
Writing a business plan? Looking for investors? Getting set up in QuickBooks? We’ve got the tools and templates you need, from planning a startup to growing your business.
