If you’ve dreamed about turning Aunt Bertha’s recipe for wild blueberry pancake syrup into a business enterprise, or retooling your dairy operation to make artisan cheeses, the New England Extension Food Safety Consortium has a new Web site for you.

Online Support for New England Food Entrepreneurs serves as a one-stop Web gateway that walks you through the entire process of starting (or growing) a specialty food business, from developing and testing your recipe, to learning about federal and state regulations, raising capital, and finding help for business planning, marketing, transportation, packaging, labeling, equipment, and much, much more.

UNH Cooperative Extension’s food and nutrition specialist Catherine Violette and UMass Extension food safety educator Rita Brennan Olson head up the project team, which includes Cooperative Extension food science, food safety and nutrition staff from all six New England states.

“I get lots of calls from folks who want to start or expand a specialty food business, so food entrepreneurs are a group that’s long been an interest of mine,” said Violette. “The new site will replace our print publication N.H. Handbook and Resource Guide for Specialty Food Producers, enabling us to organize and keep up-to-date in one place all the information specialty food producers need.”

The well-designed site features simple intuitive navigation and an excellent site map.

Violette has organized an impressive range of information and resources specific to New Hampshire.

A Resources section connects site visitors with a wealth of information from selected food entrepreneur sites across the nation.

An innovative feedback feature allows visitors to rate various aspects of the site and make specific suggestions for improvements or additions.

Site may benefit local agricultural producers

“It’s great!” says Gail McWilliam-Jellie, director of agricultural development for the N.H. Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food. “There’s a lot of general information useful to anyone interested in starting a food business; but there’s also a lot of state-specific information.”

“We get a lot of calls from people who want to start a food business,” she says. “Since product developers have to do a lot of their own homework, it’s been frustrating not to have a source of updated information to refer people to. I like the fact that the site offers business and marketing resources. A lot of people who have a great idea for a food product don’t have a clue about how to bring that idea into the marketplace.”

McWilliam-Jellie says the site may benefit New Hampshire ’s agricultural producers. “Developing a food product that makes use of their own raw materials is one way growers can retain control over their product and pocket more of the profits that would otherwise go to middlemen.”