Mariam, Guljan, Zainul and Habiba, food processors. They are spending two weeks in Maine. Why Maine? Lots of entrepreneurial natural and organic food companies with a size footprint that is inspirational to our entrepreneurs.A little background on the Bpeace Food Processing entrepreneurs. Mariam produces dried fruits and nuts. Guljan produces tomato paste. Zainul is a beekeeper. Habiba produces mint water and dried herbs and essences.
The Lean Manufacturing workshop on their first day in Maine continues to resonate. They particularly responded to the idea of developing documents detailing standard operating procedures that they could provide to their employees and suppliers in order to improve the quality and efficiency of production.
Another important and recurring theme was the concept of doing private label production for other companies. Mariam, Guljan, Habiba and Zainul learned some of the implications of pricing/costing and contractual agreements for these types of arrangements and the possible benefits/drawbacks of this type of market opportunity.
A visit to Wilbur's Chocolates (above) and Simply Divine Brownies included a product review, and a tour of each company's (joined) retail stores. There the emphasis was on product differentiation through packaging and specialty products--capturing new markets through holiday/seasonal and "Maine native" themed products. Owner Catherine Carty-Wilbur provided a tour of the production facilities, going over the principles of sanitation, quality control, production organization, and packaging.During the Q&A session (over fresh Maine cider and chocolates), our Afghan entrepreneurs asked how she grew her business. Catherine shared that she and her husband have achieved their current level of sales/production over 25 years, and originally they started by producing their chocolates on their stove, and setting up a packaging system in their basement. Since then they have grown slowly--taking on loans only when they have all of their other debts paid off.
Lincoln, daughter Abbey, Zainul in her gift beekeeper suit from the Sennett's, and Karen.
At Swan's Honey. Karen and Lincoln Sennett were extremely warm and hospitable. The technical information about processing and production was most immediately helpful to Zainul, some of the other market opportunities for products and bi-products were of interest to everyone, especially the demonstration of how to make both soap and balm using honey and beeswax.
The Bpeace Associates even got to try their hands at rolling their own beeswax candles. Interesting ideas for product expansion included of course, Zainul selling her wax (which she is not now doing), or developing new products with it. Zainul and Mariam discussed teaming up to produce a honey nut spread, and incorporating Habiba's essential mint oil with beeswax to make specialty balms and soaps.
Ureka! Mariam discovers raw almond nut butter with Michelle Cote.
On Friday, Michelle Cote loaded the entrepreneurs into a van for the two-plus hour drive from Freeport, Maine to Boston for the Natural and Organic Food Show at the Convention Center. Wow. Sensory overload. Everyone snacked their way through the booths, dazzled by the packaging and innovation. But it was something that Americans take for granted that made Mariam’s eyes pop out when she tasted it—nut butter. Afghanistan is known for the quality of their almonds, and when Mariam tasted a raw almond nut butter, she was immediately smitten and grilled the exhibitor on how to make it. We’ll have to round up a food processing machine to show her just how easy it is.
The last stop at the Food Show was the booth of Liberty Richter, the distributor for Bar Harbor Foods. CEO Mike Cote is Michelle’s dad. And the VP of marketing and Quality Insurance is Bpeacer Cynthia Fisher who provided the vision behind this Maine portion of the apprenticeships for the Food Processing Associates. Above, left to right: Guljan, Zainul, Cynthia, Mariam, Mike, Michelle and Habiba. 
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