For Specialists — Rural Transition Academy

The path

A cascade, not a catalog

Each level opens only to graduates of the level before it. Start where you are.

Level 1

Rural Grocery Transition Specialist

Offered by K-State's Rural Grocery Initiative — the only national training program dedicated to rural grocery succession support. The prerequisite for everything that follows.

Enroll through RGI ↗

Level 2

Advanced Specialist

Twelve weeks on valuation, profitability, and the psychology of identity transition. A Level 1 Specialist can guide a transition; an Advanced Specialist can walk into a store that's years away and make it worth more when the day comes.

12 weeks · offered once a year in the fall · open to Level 1 graduates

Join the waiting list

Ongoing

Community of Practice

Real transition cases, worked through together. Bi-weekly on Zoom, open to Level 1 graduates and above. New Level 1 graduates join free for their first three months.

Join the waiting list

Levels 3 through 5 — Facilitator, Advanced Facilitator, and Master Facilitator — train graduates to teach the levels below them. Details as each opens.

Advanced Specialist · curriculum

What you'll learn

Business transition practice, including valuation
Short-term survival strategy for grocery — profitability, pricing, and labor
The psychology of identity transition, and how to support an owner through it proactively
A proprietary approach to proactively building the value of a business
Working knowledge of Healthy Bucket and Think Like a Buyer Before You Become a Seller

Training for the people grocers already trust.

A cascade, not a catalog

Rural Grocery Transition Specialist

Advanced Specialist

Community of Practice

What you'll learn

Enrollment dates, free webinars, and Community of Practice openings.