Food Hub Receiving Process Checklist and Template
September 12, 2025 - Phil Britton
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For food hubs, the process of delivering quality products to its customers begins at the receiving door.
What is a food hub?
Food hubs are businesses or organizations that foster and manage connections between local farms and buyers to create a healthy, sustainable, local and regional food system. Though there are many different types of food hubs, this video caters to the specific needs of physical food hubs with a receiving dock to accept goods from multiple vendors.
This short video will cover best practices and considerations for receiving, such as approving suppliers, product inspection, vendor requirements, and food safety.
This templated document, featured in the video, can be used by food hubs to build out their processes: Receiving Inspection Guide.
Phil Britton is the Principal of Fresh Systems LLC. https://www.freshsystemsllc.com/
Support for this publication comes from the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service.
Per the USDA announcement on July 15, 2025, the Regional Food Business Centers program was terminated, prior to its original end date of July 2028. Because of this, the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center will halt operations on September 15, 2025. Please see our related press release. Resources intended to help food and farm businesses will remain freely available on this website and additional resources can be found at foodsystems.msu.edu/resources.
About the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center
The Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center is dedicated to offering coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building opportunities for farmers, producers, and other food business owners in support of a more resilient and competitive food system. Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (MI) coordinates the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center comprised of network coordinators – Chicago Food Policy Action Council (IL), Northwest Indiana Food Council (IN), Food Finance Institute of the University of Wisconsin System (WI), and the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture and Food Systems – who seek to take a transformational, rather than transactional, approach. Learn more at glm-rfbc.msu.edu
