ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the development of micro-enterprises in the field of specialty food production from a knowledge perspective. The regional case study from a peripheral area of north-eastern Germany is based upon a group of entrepreneurs who produce for niche markets, not uncommon in rural regions. The specific regional setting, however, with little to no food heritage, and thus little regional or endogenous symbolic and synthetic knowledge of specialty food production, poses challenges to food entrepreneurship and growth of the enterprises. The results from qualitative interviews show that entrepreneurs deal with this setting in various ways. First, they use global symbolic knowledge to develop their products and market them to non-local customers. They furthermore attend food conferences, etc., and through their embeddedness in specific fields of food production (such as vegetables or coffee), the entrepreneurs have access to synthetic, industry-specific knowledge tied to the machinery. Second, they network intensively within the small local population of niche-market producers to generate knowledge exchange and temporary buzz. Through the cooperative use of customised machinery, the local network and knowledge exchange grows. Finally, the entrepreneurs cooperate to create a local market to sell their products. In this way, they also disseminate the symbolic knowledge of their food products to a wider local buyership.
