Bevin Brooks owns one of dozens of small farm and food businesses that have started up successfully since the Heartland Regional Food Business Center just last year, in 2024, began putting more boots on the ground to help.
The Kansas City entrepreneur credits her Heartland Center business coach, Jenny Doty, based at K-State Research and Extension, for essential resources and connections. Brooks has used every one of those resources to grow her Lionberry “farm-to-sports drink” business.
It’s the specific knowledge of food and farm markets and resources that makes the difference, Brooks said. “I really like that Jenny is someone I can go to who understands the questions I’m asking.”
The 5-state Heartland Center is, in fact, designed to do just that; to bridge the gap in available and appropriate business coaching for small farms and food businesses in local and regional food markets. It brings together 32 organizations with on-the-ground food and farm expertise to serve the growing community of local and regional food enterprises in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and northwest Arkansas.
Business-to-business boost
Lionberry is a case study in what can happen, and not just for one business.
Brooks started up with the idea of marketing products from her own small elderberry farm. She quickly outgrew that approach.
Lionberry has been purchasing elderberry from some two dozen elderberry growers who supply the larger elderberry business, Buehler Organics, in Mt. Vernon, MO. Brooks added Lions Mane mushroom products to her lineup from Myers Mushrooms in Wichita, KS, and as a key ingredient in her Lionberry Restorative Refresher. She uses honey from SHoney Farm in Wamego, KS.
Lionberry is now one of the largest customers for each of these small farm businesses. Brooks expects their sales will continue to grow along with hers.
She is currently making Lionberry ready for larger wholesale orders. That requires navigating a common chicken-and-egg type of business growth situation,” she said.
“I need a co-packer to produce more product, but I also need a purchase order from a wholesale customer to pay for it.”
Right resource, right time
Brooks is getting ready for that next step after taking advantage this past year of different business and product development resources that her Heartland Center business coach Jenny Doty provided.
With Doty’s help, Brooks found her way to the KSU’s Food Innovation Accelerator. It provides a commercial kitchen where she can incubate her business and get expert guidance and feedback.
The associated Kansas Value Added Foods Lab supports recipe development, product testing, and food safety protocols. The Kansas Value Added Foods Lab is currently reviewing Brooks’ Lionberry Restorative Refresher drink for the “process authority letter” she needs to take the wholesale step with co-packer production.
Another big resource Brooks tapped into early on is the statewide directory From the Land of Kansas. In addition to marketing help, the promotional effort for Kansas products includes financial support for lab tests and classes.
These resources and others helped Brooks bring her products to market and start making money that she uses to not only pay her first employee but also continue building her business.
She attends specialty trade shows. She is a regular vendor at several farmers’ markets in the region. She’s getting her products into retail outlets, such as gyms and wineries, on consignment. She is constantly setting up at events, such as music festivals and health fairs. She is set to have a retail space in the new Legacy Park Plaza for small businesses in Wyandotte County, KS.
“This year, I’m sticking myself in front of as many people as I can,” Brooks said. “Some weekends it’s hundreds of thousands at big convention centers and festivals. Other times it’s only a handful at a rainy farmers’ market.”
Business Builder grant
It all started when she heard about business support and possible funding from the Heartland Center. What brought her to partner K-State Research and Extension was the prospect of a Heartland Center Business Builder grant.
Lionberry was not selected as a finalist, but preparation for it took her through the business planning process that requires entrepreneurs to think through what they want to do and how they can be successful.
[NOTE: The Business Builder grant is currently on hold pending a Trump administration review of USDA programs.]
“The Business Builder grant — writing and rewriting it — really helped, even if it was not granted,” Brooks said. “Through Heartland Center technical assistance for a grant, a business was born, and a thriving one.”
Lionberry is not the only one.
In 2024, its startup year of operation, the Heartland Center’s partners worked with 1,330 small farm and food businesses in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and northwest Arkansas. At least 39 established new businesses while 239 reported increased revenue. In addition, Heartland Center partners made significant progress building collaboration among other regional resources for small farm and food business success, including 68 new partnerships.
“We need these people,” Brooks said. Heartland Center technical assistance providers, like Jenny Doty at KSU, provide the coaching and connecting that works.