April 9, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Startup Sioux Falls.

In just a matter of months, a Sioux Falls startup has grown into training food service workers nationwide through a new software platform.

Momentum appears to be building for Gavin Van De Walle’s FoodSafePal, which was founded in late 2022 and officially launched last fall after receiving necessary accreditation.

Van De Walle, a Sioux Falls native, is a registered dietitian nutritionist who realized the food service industry could support another way for food service workers and managers to obtain necessary food handling training.

With FoodSafePal, which is accredited by the American National Standards Institute, training caters to food handlers across various industries, including restaurants, schools, bars, markets and health care facilities — from nursing homes to hospitals.

“It’s all online,” Van De Walle said. “Anyplace that serves food can have workers take the course and earn a certificate in the end. Many states and counties have specific requirements.”

He bootstrapped the startup, creating the script for food handler training and then contracting the work of turning it into a video-style course.

“It’s all through WordPress and learning management software to actually employ the program,” he said.

While he’s not necessarily a classic software company founder, Van De Walle wanted to learn more from like-minded entrepreneurs and experts, which led him to Startup Sioux Falls’ inaugural CO.STARTERS Software Accelerator last year.

“I like to have my hands in all parts of the business,” he said. “From a tech standpoint, it was more for background on programs that are out there, and it allowed me to connect with developers for potential relationships.”

The program returns this spring, with 10 sessions beginning in May. It’s designed to mentor and guide software startup founders with a comprehensive curriculum that follows the proven CO.STARTERS approach.

“Founders should come into it having a really good understanding of what problem they’re trying to solve and a very good start on how you’re going to tackle it,” said Scott Petersen, co-founder of HireClick, who co-facilitated the first accelerator.

“Our last group was great, and what we really wanted to happen happened. As tech types, you being to think the only challenge is the architecture of the solution you’re building, but it turns out the real issues are how to identify a target market and go after it, what outreach looks like and all the business drivers. That’s what gelled the group together. They did very little talking about the actual tech.”

Accelerator participants will refine their software business ideas, develop scalable software solutions and gain the skills to pitch their ideas effectively to earn investment dollars or loans to launch their software. They also will have access to an extensive network of software industry experts and potential investors.

The accelerator is a fit for those who:

• Want to build a software company.
• Have experience and understanding of business problems that need to be solved.
• Are either business-minded or software developers or both.

“We had a couple founders who weren’t tech types but were more business types and went into it with the understanding they need to build out the business canvas and get a better understanding of who they can partner with on the tech side,” Petersen said.

Software as a service, or SaaS, companies have some unique challenges, he added. Depending on the size and complexity of the software build, companies might need to spend significant time in development without income. There’s also a need to understand how studios work – essentially tech resources that can be used to help build the product in exchange for equity and a reduced amount of cash.

“Even presenting to investors, SaaS businesses are viewed extremely different, so it’s really important to have an understanding of that prior to meeting,” Petersen said. “You might want to look at holding onto equity very differently in a SaaS company.”

Sessions run weekly through July, and the program is free for a limited time through support from the Community Navigator Pilot Program, powered by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

“It was great,” Van De Walle said of his experience. “They did a great job of honing the content to each startup and made me think about things I hadn’t considered before. They were heavy on encouraging discussions with customers to learn their pain points instead of founders trying to create a product around what we think the customers’ needs are. Plus, each week they’d bring in people from different industries to talk on topics like legal or marketing, so that was a good way to build connections.”

Founders who have scaled and sold SaaS businesses in Sioux Falls spoke to the group and allowed accelerator participants to realize “other people in Sioux Falls struggled with the same thing,” Petersen said. “I think it’s the very beginning of creating a community of SaaS founders.”

Since completing the course, Van De Walle’s business has experienced impressive growth, reaching workers from Texas to California and Utah, largely in areas where training is government-mandated. Employees from such major organizations as the Army and Disney have taken his courses, and a viral TikTok marketing piece even caught the attention of the New York Post.

@foodsafepal Also, never rinse your chicken with the hopes of removing bacteria. The splashing water actually spreads bacteria around. #foodhandler #foodsafety #foodsafetymanager #barechicken ♬ original sound – FoodSafePal

“Our demographics are between 18 and 35, and a lot more people are using TikTok as a search engine,” he explained, while adding he was “surprised and not surprised” by his traction.

“I knew the market share had to be out there,” he said.

His next steps include adding a course for food managers as well as one around cottage food safety. Looking back on his experience with the software accelerator, he believes it set him up for a stronger start.

“In the end, we were able to pitch the business, and that’s not something I’d thought about doing, but it provided me with the steps if I want to have investors, what that process looks like and what red flags investors look for in a company,” he said. “Plus, many of us developed good relationships that I think will be long term. We plan to continue to meet up, and I plan to get more involved with Startup Sioux Falls as I’ve learned more about the resources they offer.”

The hope is that program participants, alumni and other local software founders continue to gel and learn from one another, Petersen said.

“I personally learned a ton from the people going through the program,” he said. “I think the more we talk about the issues and understanding this really interesting segment that does pertain to Sioux Falls, we’ll only grow it going forward.”

Applications for the next Startup Sioux Falls CO.STARTERS Software Accelerator close April 14. To learn more, click here.