Julia Shanks Food Consulting can help you at every stage of your business, from creating financial projections to seeking investors so you can grow to the next phase. We can create a custom scope of work to address your specific business challenges. If you want a quick coaching session (to work on your QuickBooks or have a review of your projections), you can schedule an appointment below. We look forward to working with you to help you build a financially sustainable business.
Schedule aConsultationwith Julia
Schedule aConsultationwith Julia
*After purchase, please email Julia with three date/times options to schedule your meeting.
Small Farm Business Development
A small farm can be a thriving business. Let Julia Shanks Food Consulting help you get out of the weeds and thrive doing what you love.
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Crop by crop profitability analysis determines which crops are making money and which are not. As one of our clients said, we “help you stop guessing about what really makes you money versus what you grow for no good reason.”
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Establish which sectors can be most profitable for your business: wholesales/restaurants, CSA, farmers market, auction, etc.
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Create a cash flow plan so you can be prepared to weather the seasonal ebbs and flows of cash in your business.
For more information or to schedule an initial consultation, call 617-945-8718 or send us an email. We look forward to helping you succeed!
Business Plans and Investor Presentations
When you’re looking for a loan or investors to grow your business, you need a plan. Whether you are launching a new business or expanding your current venture, clearly articulating your vision with a business plan is a critical first step.
Business plans tell a story: they also help you, the entrepreneur, refine your business operations and growth strategy, and communicate to potential investors that you’ve thought through every detail.
Let Julia Shanks Food Consulting help you articulate your vision by:
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Coaching you through the business planning process
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Writing a plan that is appropriate for investors
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Creating a investor presentation deck
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Building a dynamic financial projections model for investors and testing your operating assumptions.
Get started with our Business Plan Template for Restaurants or Business Plan Template for Farms (templates for food entrepreneurs coming soon.) For more information or to schedule an initial consultation, call 617-945-8718 or send us an email. We look forward to helping you succeed!
Financial Accounting Software Setup & Training (QuickBooks)
Effective bookkeeping is more than just paying bills and filing taxes: you can extract a wealth of information from all the invoices and sales receipts, which can help you make important decision about your business. Julia Shanks Food Consulting can help even the most math-phobic restaurateurs and farmers set up and maintain an effective accounting system using the industry-standard QuickBooks.
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Understand the specific bookkeeping needs for your business, including the reports that will be most helpful for business analysis and tax preparation
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Set up QuickBooks with the appropriate accounts and services
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Create templates so that entering daily and monthly revenue and expenses is effortless
For the DIY-ers, we offer short consultations sessions to help you refine your QuickBooks settings and answer business-specific questions. Schedule a one-on-one phone consultation with screen-share with Julia to get the assistance you need!
Ready to get started? We’ve created several versions of the chart of accounts which can be customized for food and agricultural entrepreneurs. You can find the options here.
For more information or to schedule an initial consultation, call 617-945-8718 or send us an email. We look forward to helping you succeed!
"Julia really understands our business, the various employees as well as my goals, and this is absolutely a result of the long term relationship we have built. She was able to see various places where we could save money, either through changing the product, the amount, or doing prep differently. At that time, I had no idea how QuickBooks (which she set up) would help us, but in fact, it has proved to be an invaluable tool for assessing our business. Her sense of integrity, humor and reliability over the past two years has made working together a real pleasure."
Deborah Wollheim, Owner, Plates Cafe & Catering
Recipe & Menu Development
Recipe Development
Relying on her many years as a professional chef, Julia will work with you to develop a recipe that suits your needs, sourcing options, and budget –– no matter how esoteric your ingredients!
In 2013, we partnered with the Aspire Group, working on food security in sub-Saharan Africa, who hit on using crickets to create a protein-rich flour. Julia developed a range of recipes that complemented the cricket flour’s unique taste and texture with nutritious, easily-prepared, culturally-acceptable, and tasty items. The client, and their cricket recipes, won the prestigious Holt prize.
Closer to home, a restaurant in Waltham had been searching for a gluten-free bread as delicious as the rest of their menu. Julia worked to find the right blend of flours and developed a proprietary recipe for them to bake their own gluten-free bread in-house.
We look forward to working with you to create a solution for your own recipe needs.
Menu Development
The menu is the best marketing tool a restaurant has. Make sure your menu aligns with your value proposition and your food cost. Julia Shanks Food Consulting will work with you to create:
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A menu that fits your mission and customer base
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Recipes that can be executed within the labor and space constraints of your business
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Menus and recipes that allow the business to maintain a food cost that aligns with your financial goals
For more information or to schedule an initial consultation, call 617-945-8718 or send us an email. We look forward to helping you succeed!
Restaurant Operational Assessment
Let Julia Shanks Food Consulting take a comprehensive look at your restaurant business and show you ways to increase revenues, decrease expenses, maximize profits, and help your business thrive.
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Food Cost Analysis includes reviewing recipes, invoices, and production to calculate actual versus theoretical food cost and determine appropriate food cost target.
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Profit and Loss Statement Analysis helps your business determine sales targets based on occupancy and labor costs, as well as identify opportunities to increase sales and reduce operating expenses.
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Mystery Dining – Service Analysis
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An Operations Assessment is a review of your business’ overall operations to determine what systems need to be implemented to improve efficiencies, including inventory controls, waste sheets, incentivized compensation models, and more.
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Inventory Management can make a huge impact on your bottom line when done well because it impacts your product availability as well as how much you waste.
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A Marketing Overview Analysis helps you determine how to pique your existing and potential customers’ interest and get the public excited about what you offer.
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Prepare for financing with tools to effectively pitch your business, including business plan writing, investor presentations, and financial projections.
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Green Analysis
For more information or to schedule an initial consultation, call 617-945-8718 or send us an email. We look forward to helping you succeed!
“It can really help you understand and improve your business when you expose it to a fresh pair of eyes, especially a pair as educated and experienced as Julia’s. For many years we had thought one of our three restaurants was earning far more than our numbers suggested, and another far worse, which nearly led us to sell the unit we had thought was under-performing. After a thorough review of our financial statements and internal management reports, Julia challenged – and corrected – several crucial, erroneous assumptions we had been living under. Julia helped us understand some important truths about our business, improved our decision making, which in turn is helping The Elephant Walk to thrive.”
Bob Perry, Founding Partner, The Elephant Walk Restaurant Group, Inc.
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.
