How do i go about getting a food product from "home made" to selling in the grocery stores?

Question

I have a really great salad dressing recipe and i know if i could just get it on the shelves it would sell like crazy. my family and friends absolutely love it and are always asking me to make it for them. how do i get from making it in my own kitchen to having it made in a factory, and then to the grocery stores?

Answer 1

Well you need to have an approved kitchen, rules can vary depending on where you are, but usually a chamber of commerce can give you the contacts you would need to call.

Then you need to research packaging cost and figure out your price per unit so you can estimate your break even costs. (Might want to look into compiling the information you would need to do a basic business plan and a feasibility study) With the buisiness plan and feasibility study in hand you could look into applying for small business loans and your bank or employment services office.

As a small business owner with a food focus you should target local area stores and independent delis/markets/farmers markets to create a demand for your product, as demand builds and your sales increase then you can expand into a rented kitchen or new permanent facilities where you might be able to catch the interest of big chain stores.

The danger of selling to big stores is that you have to be ready to meet their demand, you can't meet a 3000 bottle order in a weekend for a big store if you don't have the facilities, you need to work your way up until you are in a situation where you can meet big orders like that or you will just be setting yourself up for failure. Many small business owners find that the minute their demand increases they can't keep up and orders are not being filled and all the good will they have built up can be destroyed in an instant. So baby steps.

Answer 2

There are a number of regulations you have to meet to be allowed to sell any kind of food. There are licenses and inspections involved.

To get an item into a grocery store, you'd need to convince the store's buyer first to talk to you at all, and then that they should carry it. Chains typically would then require you to carry insurance of a million dollars or more to cover possible injuries from your product.

Answer 3

I think that you may have to get a license to work out of your home, only because it deals with food. I'm not entirely sure to be honest though. I would start out selling it at Farmer's Market's, you would be amazed at how much exposure you can get just from that alone.

Answer 4

I think you need to have the FDA inspect your kitchen. You also need to find a way to bottle it and label what ingredients are going in. Contact the FDA, they should be able to point you in the right direction.