Even in hard economic times like the ones we are living through right now, people have ideas for new businesses and pursue them in hopes of a new lucrative career. In Brooklyn, New York, there has been a recent rise in food entrepreneurs trying to make a living by selling anything from cookies to organic meat to beer – brewing kits.

Creative ideas that take a slightly less conventional approach can be risky, especially in an economy where people try to save money by eating at home and cooking more instead of going out to dinner. It can be hard to secure capital to get the business off the ground and differentiate it from the fierce competition in the food industry. Loving what you do though plays a large part in entrepreneurs’ decisions to go ahead with their ideas and embrace the risk. In a recent interview with the New York Times, Erica Shea, who started the Brooklyn Brew Shop with Stephen Valand, talked about how the duo came up with their idea. “My dad had done some home-brewing […]. I came across all my dad’s old equipment and decided it would be a fun thing to get into.”

Dawn Casale, who worked corporate jobs before opening a bakery, used her marketing expertise to help her business to a successful start. In an interview with Vocation Vacations she explained “I knew I needed to find a niche. New York didn’t need just another caterer.”

Both Shea and Casale will be speakers at the SXSW panel titled “The Rise of Brooklyn Food Scene”. Others include Joshua Applestone, owner of Fleisher’s, and Christina Tosi, pastry chef and owner of Momofuku Milk Bar.

Questions answered during this panel include:

1) Where the business idea came from?
2) How did it get funded?
3) What was the model?
4) What were the beginning months like?
5) How do you go from idea to store front to book deal?