Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The retail food environment can be shaped by those working in food production, from the farm to the table, as well as those within the government sector. By interviewing local food business entrepreneurs and government actors within St. John's and the surrounding area we brought opinions together and searched for overlapping interests, suggestions and themes. By doing this, we identified some of the barriers and opportunities facing food entrepreneurs in the region. The themes we identified from the participants included: 1) A need for support for entrepreneurs during the beginning stages of business development 2) An interest in formally organized groups enabling government workers and business owners to work together in the interest of food business innovation 3) The potential for city funds to be used for new food business and 4) Support for new entrepreneurs to understand and fulfill the needs of government policies when starting a business. This research led to the discovery that there are mutual interests and shared ideas in entrepreneur communities and the government sector. Participants expressed multiple innovative suggestions for improvement within the region. This research has helped develop a more complete picture of the experience of health food entrepreneurs and those in the government working with them. This research has the potential to positively impact entrepreneurs through the implementation of recommendations of nurturing policies. If these policies are successful, health food entrepreneurs will flourish, and thus health food access, and health within the region will be drastically improved.