The Agri-Food Industry

Hart & Associates is a leader in helping agri-food companies make important investment and business decisions to help them grow and succeed.

We provide the food and agriculture industry by developing effective sales and marketing programs, feasibility studies, business plans in Canada and in export markets.

We have been helping agri-food clients improve performance for over 30 years.

We help our clients to increase sales and profits across the entire range of the agri-food industry from growers, marketing boards and food research to food processing and grocery and export levels of the industry.

Our clients include:

• Food processing companies
• Producers and growers
• Agricultural Co-ops
• Agricultural Associations
• Food retailers and grocery chains
• Food research and development centres
• Marketing and grower boards
• Food and agriculture government clients at the provincial and federal level
• Economic development organizations
• Banks, lenders and suppliers to the agri-food industry

We provide detailed insights on market and business opportunities and develop recommendations and implementation plans that our clients rely on to make informed business decisions to help them succeed and increase profitability.

Our Food Processing Consulting Practice

Do you want to take your food company to the next level?

• Do you need to increase sales and find new customers
• Are you about to make a major expansion, investment or perhaps want to buy another company?
• Do you want to expand into export markets?

We help food processing companies to achieve their business goals by providing very focused services including:

• Developing effective marketing and sales programs
• Feasibility studies for plant investment decisions or purchase of a food company
• Market research to identify new markets and customers in Canada and in export markets
• New product development research
• Find food companies candidates you could buy
• Joint venture, strategic partnering, co-packing
• Business plans to help you secure financing

Some of our recent food processing studies include:

• Viability and business assessment for a proposed acquisition of a food processor
• Retailer and grocer chain research (identifying new ways to work with retailers)
• Identified co-packing opportunities for clients
• Identified how a major lender could better reach decision makers in the agri-food industry
• Developed innovative and effective marketing and sales plans to increase a company’s sales and market position
• Conducted focus groups with consumers to reveal new product, packaging and promotional initiatives
• A business plan for a food processing and innovation centre
• Helped clients identify export opportunities in the US and foreign markets.
• Conduct detailed market and feasibility studies and business plans to food processing clients obtain financing and successfully implement new business and expansion plans.

Our focus is to help our food industry clients achieve their marketing, profitability and corporate goals.

Our Agriculture Industry Consulting Practice

Our agricultural clients include:

• Producer and grower organizations
• Marketing boards
• Agricultural Co-ops
• Agricultural Associations
• Food research and development centres
• Agriculture government ministries and departments
• Economic development organizations

Some of our recent agricultural studies include:

• Feasibility study for a grower organization on how its members could be market and sell to the grocery chains and specialized retailers
• Feasibility studies for new farm investors
• Market studies for a wide range of specialized products including nuts, fish, bison
• Feasibility studies on abattoirs, meat processing, commercial-scale vegetable greenhouses and a number of other food product studies
• Business plan for an agricultural co-op
• Market research and customer evaluations for major marketing boards
• Business assessment and feasibility study for a grain co-op
• Senior level consultations on strategic direction, policy and programs with key stakeholders in the entire agri-food value chain
• Directional plans, visioning statements and implementation plans for a producer board.
• Created agri-food economic development strategies.
• Economic development plans for a local EDO on value-added agricultural products, food processing and distribution to help grow local economies.
• Comprehensive analysis for agricultural and food policy strategies for a government client

Call to discuss how we can help you move ahead