After a successful first year, the Niche Meat Processors Assistance Network is offering its 12-Month Meat Processor's Mastermind course again for 2025. NMPAN has built upon the original curriculum, adding more finance and operations-focused content. Designed specifically for meat processing plants with between 10-100 employees, this course covers topics including:
- Basic bookkeeping: Master the fundamentals of tracking expenses and managing finances in the plant to control the cost of goods sold and continue growing net profit year over year.
- Financial statements: Learn how to analyze profit and loss statements, cash flow and balance sheets for better business decisions.
- Strategic planning: Develop strategies based on solid financial metrics, analyze a business's strengths and weaknesses and set a service fee and product pricings for growth and profitability.
- Business operations: Improve efficiency in day-to-day operations for higher productivity.
- Opportunities and how to assess them for viability
- Order fulfillment and inventory management
- Labor strategy: Match production to capacity
- Basic human resources framework: Understand hiring, firing, onboarding and employee incentives for compliance and creating a high-quality workplace culture.
Course features:
- 10 hours of one-on-one financial coaching: Each student receives personal coaching to help get their books in order and set a financial foundation for their business. Monthly meetings in an online format. Recordings are always available within 24 hours for review.
- Monthly meetings, each focusing on a specific aspect of running a successful meat processing business
- Interactive lessons and expert guidance from boots-on-the-ground professionals to help you apply what you learn
- Teamwork sessions, where you tackle your most difficult topics with peers from the cohort
- “Plant Management Roundtables” to work through current issues.
Some of the working-expert instructors:
- Todd Churchill of CLA and Thousand Hills Beef
- Oliver Mincey of O & Co consulting, who created AAMP's HR five-part series
- David Zarling, program manager of NMPAN and operations manager for StarHarvest Processing
- Finance and bookkeeping coaches from CLA and Good Roots, formerly Kitchen Table Consultants
- Fractional CFOs
- Working plant managers
Registration is open, and all applications will be due Jan. 15, 2025. The start date for the Mastermind program will be mid February, and the program will last for 12 months.
