Shared Table Consulting
Shared Table Consulting
Shared Table Consulting is dedicated to helping organizations create meaningful systemic change. With a team of experienced experts in network creation and management. We understand the food system and it's complexity. We can help you unlock the potential of your organization and create a lasting positive impact in the world. Let us help you create positive change today.
Shawn Peterson
I am versed in all aspects of the food system. I specialize in helping clients build connections and consensus in their community to form true networks. I help clients leverage these networks to accomplish lasting change. I have extensive experience in fundraising, strategic planning, program and product development, and alternative revenue sources.
I grew up on a small dairy farm in northern Utah. My youth was spent working and exploring the farm my grandfather ran. We kept a large garden and as a child, my family relied on food from the garden, milk from the farm, and hunted game to eat.
In high school, I began working for an Austrian bakery where I learned the art of making bread and pastries from a fourth-generation Austrian baker. In 1999, I became the onsite manager for the entire bakery. During my time there I oversaw the transition from selling primarily to wholesale accounts to selling directly to customers at more than 25 farmers markets in three states. We also developed and introduced 17 new products to market. While managing the bakery we also ran the third-largest farmers market in the state, with over 50 vendors.
In 2003 I started a mobile wood-fired pizza catering company. At its peak, this business had three mobile pizza units and a physical restaurant. Unfortunately, some avoidable mistakes and the recession of 2007 left the business bankrupt and me homeless. I spent the next year living out of my car and taking stock of what to do with my life.
I spent 2008 volunteering, sleeping on beaches, and traveling via motorcycle in Latin America. In 2009 I decided to make a lifelong dream a reality and learn to sail. After spending nine months learning the craft and preparing our boat, I sailed from Los Angeles to Fuji in a 36-foot motorless sailboat. When I returned to Utah in 2011 I knew I wanted to return to the food space. However, my time living in my car and experiencing various food cultures changed how I viewed my work.
In 2011 I converted a 30-foot school bus into a mobile greenhouse. This was the birth of The Green Urban Lunch Box. Our goal was to challenge how people thought about food and farming. Over the next nine years it would grow into a non-profit organization focused on food justice organization and health equity. Our programming would include a 3-acre urban farm and farmer training program, a 30-acre orchard, a fruit tree gleaning program, a gardener training program that put gardens in low-income senior’s yards, a distribution program that included a CSA, and free farm stands at local hospitals, low-income neighborhoods, and senior centers. I am proud to say this organization continues to be a force for good in the Salt Lake area after I turned over control.
In 2016 my team and I began hosting the International Gleaning Symposium; this work would eventually grow into the Association of Gleaning Organizations. This was my first introduction to the power of networks and working to change a larger system. This has grown into a focus of all my food system work. In 2020 I left The Green Urban Lunch Box to run the Association of Gleaning Organizations and work as a consultant. At the same time, I moved my young family to Costa Rica. We are currently building a small homestead in the jungle where our kids will also learn the joy of growing and eating your own food.
While starting and building The Green Urban Lunch Box I did numerous activities to "pay the bills", including running an artisan ice cream business, managing my own 1.5-acre mix vegetable farm, and raising and processing heritage turkeys.
Contact
I'm always looking for new and exciting opportunities. Let's connect.
801-859-8356