Name: Cooking Up a Business
Rating: 4.2 (13 reviews)
Author: Rachel Hofstetter

What’s in it for me? Live your dream as a foodie entrepreneur.

Are you glued to the screen when Iron Chef is on? Do you live for taste, savoring each and every new flavor you come across? When you taste a food product, do you think: I could do better than this?

If you have dreams of becoming a food entrepreneur, these blinks will help you fulfil them! Based on the real-life stories of other foodies who went on to build successful businesses, these blinks show you just what it takes to get out of your kitchen and into the market.

One thing is for certain: we all need to eat. Starting your own food business can make you rich only if you successfully meet the many challenges along the way. So heat up that pan and sharpen that knife – and take the advice of these seasoned professionals to heart.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why fresh food products face tons of official regulations;
how just a few freebies could bring you instant success; and
why when it comes to food products, it’s all about need.

Lack of funding isn’t a limitation but an opportunity; work hard and get resourceful!

You’re constantly told, whether by inspirational books or close friends, to chase your dreams no matter what. But what if you want to start a food business and you’re short on cash?

Lacking funding isn’t a dead end. Rather, it’s an opportunity to put your creativity and resourcefulness to the test.

Take Maddy D’Amato and Alex Hasulak, founders of Love Grown Foods. While still in college, they cooked up the idea of building a food business using Maddy’s family’s delicious family recipes for granola. Of course being students, they didn’t have much in the way of financing.

By day, the two young people lived at their parents’ homes and worked hard at their regular jobs. But by night, for hours they cooked and hand-packaged batches of granola in a catering kitchen, watching movies at the same time to keep them going.

This initial phase was tough, but fun! D’Amato and Hasulak proved that with hard work, they could start their business with very little start-up cash.

As well as working with limited resources, you should also feel comfortable with selling your product before you actually make it. This sounds risky, but will help you avoid unnecessary spending.

The first clients for Love Grown Foods were two neighborhood coffee shops. A great place to start, yet D’Amato and Hasulak had bigger dreams. Hasulak soon managed to close a huge deal with the Aspen City Market. They were worried as they had yet to produce such a large amount of granola – but with many long hours, they made their deadline.

Then D’Amato and Hasulak landed a deal with King Soopers, a supermarket in Denver that brought their product to 40 stores. Quickly the chain wanted to sell their product in 80 stores!

With this, D’Amato and Hasulak realized they could start working on Love Grown Foods full-time. In an impressive example of scaling, Love Grown Foods was stocked in 1,300 stores a mere 18 months after the duo’s first supermarket deal!

Manage the challenge of scaling by staying in control of production and changing tack if needed.

Many successful food entrepreneurs start their journey with a recipe cooked in their home kitchen. Yet scaling a small recipe from the kitchen to a multi-state business is no easy feat.

Mary Waldner learned that staying personally involved in production is crucial when scaling. She was inspired to start a business for gluten-free products as she had a gluten allergy herself – a condition that in the 1990s was still mostly unheard of.

Consider exploring short-term credit or equity partners to compensate for a lack of capital.

While funding is a challenge for any start-up, it’s a particularly tricky problem for food businesses. With costly manufacturing processes and shelf-life issues, not to mention the constant search for suppliers and transport, it’s often some time before a food business turns a profit.

So how can you make sure your food business survives this tough initial stage?

A successful product can be either simple or sumptuous; yet must always fill a market need.

In theory, a food entrepreneur can turn any kind of food into a product. But are there certain types of food that are best suited for a business?

Well, there’s really no formula, but more than anything else, success comes when you identify a need for your product to satisfy. Even the simplest products can sell well if they fulfill an important need.

Build buzz around your business by getting clever with free samples and personal promotions.

Who can resist free samples at a store? This type of marketing is simple, and it works. Think about it: experiencing a new, great taste is a quick and easy way to convince a customer to buy.

So why not offer a potential customer a sample before they break out their wallet? Sample promotions are one of the most effective ways to get customers engaged with your food product and the story behind it.

Kernaussagen in Cooking Up a Business