Cottage food start-up sales, aided by food incubators, have soared from $5 billion annually in 2008 to over $20 billion annually in recent years. Chances are if you can make it, there is a market that will buy it – provided you are prepared to do more than just deliver the goods.
The benefits of bootstrapping a food start-up come from being able to dive right in without significant upfront costs, while the downside is a lack of resources that will allow you to grow consistently. However, food incubators offer a solution to a lack of resources so that you can have your cake and eat it too.
If you are known as the local chili specialist or have the chocolate lava cake recipe everyone is always asking for, then a specialty food business might be ripe for future success. While some homegrown food start-ups will grow to regional distribution in under a year, others will struggle to get out of the local farmer’s market.
What they have in common is that all food startups are started by real people with a concept they believe in. The difference between the two is strategic resources.
Photo Credit: Peerspace, Bite Unite Commercial Shared Kitchen
What Is A Food Incubator
To begin with, most cottage food businesses will be making high-value goods in low quantities, a sure recipe for quality but one lacking in a plan for scale and growth. No matter how good the idea is, you’ll need to front the investment for commercial space or a licensed home kitchen (depending on state law), equipment, and possibly most time-consuming, find your way through laws, licensing, and insurance.
The average start-up cost for a food business can easily be in the neighborhood of $100,000 before you’ve even labeled your first hot sauce.
The solution? Enter the food incubator model of the 1980s; a communally licensed and shared kitchen space. To “incubate” a business idea is to give resources to a fledgling idea before it leaves the nest.
Kitchen Incubators
Food incubator, shared kitchen, cloud kitchen, and ghost kitchen all refer to a magical place to start your food concept without the need for a big investment. These licensed commercial kitchens have been a place where small food business renters have the umbrella of shared preparation space, storage, and commercial equipment while sharing the costs with other creators. Kitchen incubators have allowed tens of thousands of “foodpreneurs” to start with minimal resources. These spaces can be rented hourly or monthly with limited contracts, allowing foodpreneurs who outgrow the space to move on and scale up without the liability of a long-term lease.
SAPi APP is an example of how a platform can make a great food incubator for a new business.
Platform Incubators
Kitchens aren’t the only business incubators available to hustling food entrepreneurs. A food APP platform, like Save A Plate (SAPi) , can also can address meaningful resource gaps as you grow. Food start-ups are more than the product. You can have the hottest biscuit in town, but without the ability to market, show proof of concept, and connect with your community, your biscuit will get cold.
This is where a digital platform, like a food APP, can help you fly. A crucial part of any operating budget is in marketing and sales. SAPi is a food incubator in the sense that it provides a shared platform of resources to reach a broader customer base. It also advertises for you, connecting your food concept to a local community looking for unique, fresh plates and products.
A food APP gives you the exposure you need without the legwork that usually follows. An APP also provides an organic marketing opportunity where the product pitch is coming from an established platform instead from just the creator. It also gives you a level of professionalism that is naturally associated with aligning yourself with a well-respected platform.
Utilizing a food incubator APP like SAPi will help you:
Reach new audiences.
Give you a place to trial concepts.
Save money on marketing costs.
Save valuable time.
Allow you to focus on the details of your product instead of sales.
Join the SAPi APP as a vendor, or find your local plate here.
How To Stand Out And Sell More At Your First Farmer’s Market
Photo Credit: Coastside Farmer’s Market, Half Moon Bay, California
Last year was the first that every state in the US offered some kind of cottage food law, the regulatory framework that allows small food businesses to sell legally from a domestic kitchen. These laws also made it easier for new foodpreneurs to enter the market via Farmer’s Markets in their local area.
Check out our article here about why the Farmer’s Market is a great place to test a concept or menu as you scale your food business.
Rolling into your first Farmer’s Market may feel intimidating, but fortunately, most are full of like-minded people who value the community aspect of the market. These events are a good place to launch your new food business for several reasons.
They attract a diverse group of people.
A market offers a place to test your concept and get honest feedback.
They are a way for people to meet YOU, the maker!
Your market table offers a great place to take pictures and use them for marketing.
It is an invaluable forum to network with potential customers and future collaborators.
Markets are a place that encourages communal growth, with vendors helping each other learn the way.
Whether you sell only to friends, on an online plaform, or through a food app like SAPi, Farmer’s Markets are a great place to connect with the public once a week. Your product may be the best available in town, but that’s not always enough to grab the attention of new customers or set you apart from the competition. Your first foray into the market should be bold and polished.
So we’ve created a list of where to start, how to make your brand stand out, and sell more.
8 Ways To Stand Out & Sell More At The Farmers Market
Farmer’s Markets are a feast for the stomach AND the eyes. Walking in, weekend markets can be full of hustle and bustle and people who know what they want. Your job is to be the pleasant new addition to their shopping list.
When it comes to catching the eye of potential new customers, you’ll need to go bold and prepared. While some markets may have just ten vendors, other more competitive markets may have 150 vendors or more. This creates massive competition over the attention of a potentially large amount of foot traffic that you hope to convert to loyal customers.
We love a “fake it til you make it” moment in foodpreneur. We’re not talking about dishonesty; we’re talking about showing people that you are serious about your product, that you have a cohesive vision, and that your product is boldly the best through clean branding that can be more effective than food samples.
While you might think that just dipping your toes in a market environment to test a product out doesn’t mean thinking about a branding strategy, the average consumer doesn’t want to wait for you to believe in your own product.
Coming with matching table clothes, color-coordinated signage, and proper labeling are imperative to building a subconscious experience for new customers. The truth is, humans are visually drawn to and psychologically driven to go towards products that look polished and proven.
2. Clean Signage & Pricing
Clear signage with pricing may seem obvious, but customers like to know about pricing. Not all customers feel social enough or want to wait to have a conversation with you about the pricing of your goods. A clear sign with pricing goes a long way to silently communicating to your customer base, speeding up transactions, and can even be a place where you further explain your product.
Hopefully, you’ll find yourself too busy at your market table to be able to answer every question. When this is the case, signage about ingredients, sourcing, and contact information that can answer customer questions! Also, consider popping a QR code up for people to quickly access a landing or social media page to see your products in action or answer commonly asked questions.
In regards to pricing, do your market research (no pun intended) and make sure that you are competitive with other like minded vendors. Too low and you’ll undercut the competition while potentially making your product look low in value. Too high and savvy shoppers will move on from sticker shock.
3. Stay Clean and Organized
The organization of your Farmer’s Market booth provides insight into your food business operations. While a busy day for a market vendor may mean some chaos may happen with boxes flying, empty sample trays stacked in the back, and marketing materials being blown around, do your best to have your booth represent your brand.
4. Come Prepared
Ensure you bring more than enough stock, marketing materials, sample packaging, and takeaway packaging. The latter is a big one. Imagine having an excited line of new customers and no packaging to serve your product in!
However, it’s not necessarily a bad thing to run out. Let us explain. There is nothing more intriguing to a consumer than a “sold out” sign.
“Was it THAT good?”
“How can I get it?”
“I’m coming early next time!”
It’s the good old crowd that attracts a crowd principle.
5. Everyone Loves A Free Sample
Building on the “crowd attracts a crowd” principle, nothing attracts a crowd like samples. Don’t be precious with your product, especially the first few times into a public forum. Letting people try your product gives them a risk free way to experience your goods rather than weighing a purchase to try.
Be prepared to chat with people, and receive honest feedback. Keep a notebook! Customer trials are a great barometer for what flavors people reach for most, whether you need to tweak a recipe, and if they fully understand the product. It is a valuable, free, real time research opportunity.
6. Founder Representation
Show up. Don’t leave your booth to a teenager who is just trying to make an hourly wage. Selling is an art and authenticity is a gold that should come directly from the Founder’s mouth. No one cares more about your product than you do. No one will be able to answer questions, upsell, and make strong connections better than the maker of the product.
Letting people see you is important in establishing that real local face that is behind your product.
7. Create A Call To Action
Your job isn’t done after the sale is complete. Asking people to become ambassadors in an organic way can create a domino effect in attracting and retaining customers. A call to action (CTA) can be as simple as a sign that says:
“Tag Us On Social Media”
“Follow Us On Instagram”
“Come Back Next Week To Try Our New Flavor”
“Enter Our Contest To Win a Free XXX”
Catching the attention of your audience and convincing them to continue interacting with your brand is the key to food business sustainability.
8. Consider A Market Promotion
The sky is blue, the grass is green, and humans love a good deal. If it’s your first few appearances at a market, start with some goodwill! A two-for-one deal that includes a new product is a great way to incentivize people to buy more and try new products. A sales promotion is a marketing activity that is designed to increase sales, encourage customer loyalty, or generate brand awareness.
Farmer’s Markets are an incubator for new food businesses, a place to grow and learn in equal measure. The connections built and feedback given are incredible assets to a new business. Start small; just start!
Sustainably Delicious: 8 Ways To Run An Eco-Friendly Food Business
Photo: iStock
As we face mounting pressure to reduce our environmental footprints, the food service industry will take center stage in sustainably feeding our communities. Running an eco-friendly food business can have many benefits for profit, planet, and plate.
The food and beverage industry is embracing greener measures to show that feeding consumers don’t have to cost the earth. Instead, a triple bottom line of people, planet, and profit is possible through a few conscious shifts towards earth-friendly business strategies.
What Does It Mean To Be An Environmentally Friendly Food Business?
A study by consulting firm Deloitte reveals that more consumers are proactive in adopting a more sustainable lifestyle. This means choosing brands with ethical or environmentally sustainable practices and values or no longer purchasing certain products because they are concerned about the brand’s ethical or sustainability practices or values. 2.
Sustainability in the food sector refers to practices that minimize the business’ impact on the planet. Solutions like sustainable sourcing, monitoring food waste, eco-friendly packaging, and digital administration strategies can significantly lighten your food business’s carbon footprint.
Adding sustainability into your day-to-day business is not only responsible but also gives customers a window into your value system and an opportunity to contribute to these positive efforts.
Photo: Pexels
The Benefits of Sustainable Food Business Practices
Sustainable is more than just a token social media post; it is long-term leadership that will impact current and future generations of diners.
Finally, all food businesses, whether you are a five-star dining experience or the neighborhood’s hottest food, need to stay profitable in their pursuit of doing better for the planet. The good news is that leading in sustainable practices will give you the edge over the competition, showing you’re putting the planet before the plate.
Demonstrating a priority for sustainable food business practices brings various benefits to your business. Adopting a sustainable strategy can also be a worthwhile investment for your business.
1. Brand loyalty.
When your company’s values align with people, they will likely be repeat customers. People like to feel like their money contributed to a positive difference in the world and actively seek ways they can be impactful with purchases. It also increases the chance that they’ll post about their good deed and, in doing so, will spread the word and create a powerful organic marketing campaign.
2. It’s Good For Business
With an increased gain in your customer base, you’ll organically find your profits growing. In addition, many sustainable practices, such as minimizing food waste, can go a long way to helping the bottom line.
4. Employee Morale
In the same way, customers want to know their dollars are helping a greater cause every time they purchase from a restaurant or food app; employees want to know their clock serves a bigger purpose. Demonstrating a central mission to feed the people and protect the planet can boost employee morale, increase motivation, and keep them around for longer as they feel they are part of a purposeful organization.
5. Establish Yourself As a Leader
No matter how small, your sustainable practices can serve as an example of what is possible. You are creating the bar for your competitors.
6. Improve The Quality Of Your Menu
Sustainable food sourcing – using organic, local, and seasonal ingredients – can lead to a more high-quality menu. Quality, showing your commitment to other local businesses, and clean ingredients will naturally lead to more business.
Implementing sustainability strategies may be easier than you think. You don’t have to tackle them all at once. If you are a food startup, consider implementing these practices out of the gate to reduce time-consuming and costly transitions. Lastly, remember that change takes time, and communicating your progress via marketing can help customers understand the bigger picture.
Start Small
All food businesses can adopt sustainable strategies. Start where you are, do what you can. Just start. Begin by building your knowledge about more sustainably ingredient options, one ingredient at a time.
Look Local To Reduce Mileage
Choosing local suppliers will naturally lead to lowering part of your carbon footprint. That’s right; you are responsible for your supplier’s gas mileage and the impact that has on the environment. Minimizing the carbon trail of your business means sourcing ingredients, packaging, and marketing materials, as locally as possible.
Source Carefully
Sourcing is key to reducing your impact on the environment as a business. Ask questions, do your research, and demand better from your vendors. Using food ingredients that are local, organic, fair trade, or produced using sustainable farming practices all help to reduce your overall impact.
Packaging
Packaging – especially in food APPs, food trucks, and takeaway-centered business models is a key place to analyze your carbon footprint. Eco-friendly packaging is often recyclable, compostable, lighter-weight, reusable, and ideally compostable or biodegradable. Using less packaging is even more critical to reducing landfill waste.
If your food business relies on the packaging, compostable is the way to go. It is often made from renewable plant-based materials like corn, wheat, fiber, and sugarcane and uses fewer resources, produces less pollution in production, and won’t hang around in landfills for thousands of years like plastic.
Get Plants On The Menu
Last year, a study found that 48% of consumers seek “plant-based” foods and 70% of those have tried plant-based meat alternatives. You don’t have to adopt a fully vegan or vegetarian menu to be a plant-forward food business. You only need to offer options. Doing so may even have a surprising impact on your profits as more people are shifting their lifestyle to include a “Meat Free Monday” or just healthier eating habits. It doesn’t have to be a salad. Plenty of plant-based beef, chicken, and seafood is available to supply the commercial food industry with mouth-watering alternatives to carbon-intensive animal-based protein.
Reduce Food Waste
The energy and natural resources that go into growing the food are wasted if they don’t serve a purpose. Food waste also breaks down in landfills to create greenhouse gasses that are exacerbating climate change.
In the United States, roughly 133 billion pounds of food is wasted annually. This contributes to a growing carbon footprint where the food industry is responsible for 84% of food waste ending up in landfills. So what can we do as a food business to mitigate food waste? Keep a close eye on stock, educate staff, and compost if possible (you can also donate food waste to a local farm).
Get Digital
It’s time to join the digital revolution that is happening in the food industry. From paperless receipts to APPs that track inventory, we can digitize operations and save reams of paper, petroleum-based ink, and appliance energy by moving systems into a cloud. Digital record-keeping, QR code menus, and delivering receipts by email all help to cut down on office supply impact.
Recycle
Ideally, you’ll first work on minimizing overall waste before recycling comes into play. However, it’s better to do things imperfectly than hold out for perfection. The first step in sustainability is making it easy and accessible for you and your customers. You can do this by providing the proper recycling bins for tin, glass, plastic, or cardboard and partnering with your local waste management company to see that it may live another day and reduce waste. Don’t forget to create educational signage to remind people how to recycle and why it is important.
Publicize your efforts.
Messaging is a big part of reaping the payoffs of your sustainability efforts. Make sure that all stakeholders, customers, employees, and the public know the sustainability efforts you are working hard to implement.
Don’t be humble; your actions may go a long way in inspiring others in the food community. Be sure to share updates, statistics, progress, and initiatives via marketing channels.
When you are well on your way, consider joining sustainable food business alliances that will vet your efforts and bring validity to your efforts.
Do Better When You Know Better
Lastly, adopting sustainability is a transformational process that may take time. Even the greenest food business can always do better as new innovations make being a green business easier. As you find more environmentally friendly options, research, train your staff, and implement them. Include your customers and future customers on your journey to put the planet over plate and acknowledge where you may fall short but are trying to improve.
We aren’t robots; we are real people trying to make the earth better for each other! Progress isn’t always linear, small efforts go a long way, and we can continually improve our sustainable strategies.
The Ultimate Guide To Mobile POS Systems For Your Food Business
Connect POS, a Shopify Compatible APP
Aside from seeing happy customers, being fulfilled within your life’s purpose, and selling out your inventory, the next best thing about having a food business is getting paid. For cottage food businesses, home-based commercial kitchens, farmers market regulars, and food trucks having a reliable mobile point of sale system (mPOS) is a must.
Mastercard revealed that 82% of customers surveyed believe that contactless payment is a safer way to pay. The transition away from cash payments is picking up pace. Mobile and contactless payments are expected to grow by 221% between 2022 and 2027.
Where once cash was king, cards have taken the crown. We are quickly moving towards a cashless society, and adapting to consumer spending habits is part of keeping up with contactless payment methods should be a top priority.
The Benefits Of A Mobile POS System
Whether you are tethered to a brick-and-mortar kitchen at a fixed address, or you are ruling the city in your moving food mobile on wheels, a portable mPOS system should be a top priority investment.
They can help streamline payments on the go at farmers’ markets, festivals, and private events.
You can eliminate a bulky register and use your phone or smart tablet instead.
You can accept contactless payments.
Your payment information is safely stored in the cloud and accessible anywhere.
Commerce is paper free. Receipts are stored and can be emailed quickly.
It makes your business accessible to customers who don’t carry cash but have their phone on hand for contactless payment.
Perhaps most importantly, mPOS systems can help expand your revenue streams and allow you to be in multiple places simultaneously. In addition, because the mPOS systems are cloud-based, you can access business information anywhere, anytime, allowing you to untether from your computer, creating higher productivity and efficiency.
How Do Mobile Payment Systems Work
The learning curve for mobile payment systems is a relatively easy one. They are typically uncomplicated, allowing both employees and customers a smooth experience.
Getting your mPOS system up and running will require choosing a software provider, downloading the app, and connecting your card reader to the mobile device. After that, the only limiting factor is a strong WIFI or data connection.
Even without a signal, some mPOS offer an offline mode that lets you continue to accept payment even if you’re without a connection. In contrast, others won’t allow payment but will still provide some functionality while offline.
Using a mobile POS system can allow your business to be in more than one place at a time.
What To Look For In A Mobile POS System
Mobile POS systems can have a wide variety of features and operating modes catering to an equally wide variety of needs.
mPOS systems can process a variety of payment types, including:
Knowing what kinds of payments you want to accept will help you make an informed decision on your mPOS system.
In addition, you’ll want to keep in mind which features work best with your business model. Here are six features that might help you decide which mPOS system is right for you.
1. Marketing
Many mobile POS systems will allow you to create and process coupons, gift certificates, and loyalty programs, in essence operating as both a payment portal and your marketing department.
2. Security
Secure payments are crucial for both you and your customer. Therefore, your mPOS should be PCI-Compliant which will help you keep transactions secure and protect you from disputed charges.
3. Reporting
Reports are essential to analyzing sales figures, inventory, and buying trends. Knowing when your customers are most active, what they are buying and how they are paying will help you optimize your business.
4. E-Commerce Compatibility
As your business grows, you may consider integrating other platforms like websites, to sell products. An all-in-one concept like Square that will provide you with mobile POS hardware and website-building software that works in sync and can become a centralized place to manage your food business.
5. Third-Party Integrations
New food start-ups are often lean operations with one or two people at the helm. For example, using third-party programs for advanced accounting, inventory, and staff management that integrate with your mPOS system will help keep the juggling act smooth.
6. Employee Management
Some mobile POS systems will allow for multiple employee profiles to help you resolve human error issues or track time. You will also be able to set different roles and permissions using unique profiles.
How Much Does an mPOS Cost
There are typically three areas of the cost associated with an investment into a mobile POS system: hardware, software, and payment processing fees.
Hardware
The physical hardware can cost between $0- $800 whether you choose an mPOS that will work with your existing smartphone or tablet (Poster) or you invest in one that has its own unit (Square).
Software
Software for mPOS systems can also vary greatly, with some being free with the purchase of a portable terminal and others upwards of $270 per month.
Payment Processing Fees
Payment processing fees average 2.6% and are usually accompanied by a flat rate per transaction fee. All around, mobile payment systems tend to be cheaper than their traditional counterparts.
The Best Mobile POS Systems
There is really no ‘best’ mobile POS system; there is only the best mobile POS system for your specific needs. Here are a few of the most popular entry-level mPOS systems on the market.
Clover is a mobile POS system with several different options for mobile units. (Source: Clover)
Clover
Per Merchant Maverick: Clover has several mobile Android-based and purpose-built POS hardware solutions to choose from, but the most mobile-ready Clover device is the Clover Flex.
The mobility of the $499 Clover Flex makes it easy to line-bust, sell on the floor, or even outside the bounds of your brick-and-mortar store with a data plan. In addition, the Clover Flex has a built-in card swipe/chip/tap payment reader, receipt printer, and barcode scanner.
Suitable for any business type
Monthly Fee: $0-$290/month
Processing Fee: 2.3%-3.5% + $0.10
Square Mobile POS coordinates with an APP and a backend capable of managing analytics.
Square
Square Point of Sale is a mobile POS system available for iOS and Android devices. Key capabilities of the Square POS system include online payment processing, sales reports, inventory tracking, digital receipts, email and SMS marketing campaigns, eCommerce, insights/analytics, and more.
Suitable for any business type
Monthly Fee: Free
Processing Fee: 2.6% + $0.10
Shopify Mobile POS system works especially well if you also want to develop E Commerce
Shopify
Reviewers report that one big draw with Shopify POS is how easily you can upgrade and scale as your business grows. Shopify is also versatile in that you can use it on any mobile device or laptop and has various pricing plans.
The entry-level service plan, Shopify’s Starter Plan, comes at a reasonable monthly fee of $5/month and provides access to the POS system as well as invoicing and limited online selling tools — embeddable buy buttons to sell on your existing blog or website (supports WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, Weebly, Tumblr, and more).
Suitable for retail
Monthly Fee: $9
Processing Fee: 2.7%
Using a mobile POS system will soon be the future of frictionless payments. Even if you feel you don’t need a mobile payment system yet, it’s worth looking at for the future scalability potential one offers.
Are you thinking of taking your culinary creations into edible commerce? But perhaps think that starting a food business is for “other people”? A home-based food business is a perfect way to start your journey and comes with tremendous benefits. Starting small can help you decide if being a foodpreneur is something you want to chase and turn into your legacy.
Setting up a commercial food business in your home may seem a daunting task at first. However, you may be surprised by just how easy state Cottage Food Business Acts have made getting into the commercial food industry without the full-scale start-up responsibilities restaurants require.
Below we will break down the best perks of realizing your culinary dreams from home.
The Advantages of Starting A Cottage Food Business
Low Barrier To Entry
Every home-based food business must comply with their state’s cottage food laws. This includes licensing, permitting, and hygiene regulations. These are generally straightforward and can be less rigorous for a home-based business depending on the area. Fewer start-up costs and legal requirements make a cottage food business an equal opportunity starting point for most foodpreneurs.
Less Capital Intensive
Setting up a full-scale restaurant requires a tremendous amount of start-up capital and potentially the involvement of investors. Instead, using space you already have can help save precious funds that can be reinvested into your growth instead of a landlord.
Additionally, you’ll be spending less on utilities, maintenance, and staffing required to run a brick-and-mortar operation. Items like utensils and cooking equipment can also be cross purposed.
Lower Liability
A home-based food operation allows you to operate with much less stress than a traditional commercial kitchen. For example, you likely won’t need to worry about employee insurance, costly maintenance, or risk an unexpected closure tanking your profits for the month.
Since your investment remains comparatively low, the risk quotient decreases compared to a stand-alone commercial food business. If something unexpected happens and you decide to take a break, you won’t have employees to lay off or a landlord banging at your door either.
Low Overhead and Operating Costs
Compared to the stand-alone commercial kitchen, the day-to-day operational costs of a home-based kitchen are appreciably lower. From utilities to rent, you’ll have less overhead to cover, and more profit can be made. Not only is the overhead reduced, but you also won’t have operating costs like POS systems, employee management software, or the wages of admin staff (like accountants and human resources) to cover.
You Can Scale As You Grow
As far as pressure goes, the ability to scale as you grow in a home-based food business is possibly one of the best advantages of running your commercial kitchen in-house. While starting a full-scale restaurant will mean that you need to be more or less fully stocked on opening day, a home-based kitchen means that you can scale as you grow.
You can level up your kitchen equipment and staffing needs as profits allow rather than spending money upfront. In addition, you won’t have to front the expenses of large volumes of packaging and ingredients until your customer base grows. It is a perfect solution for those with a food dream but without a millionaire’s bank account.
Tax Advantages
While you should consult your accountant, it is logical that you can claim many of your home-based business expenses on your taxes. For example, if your in-house commercial kitchen takes up 20% of your house, you should be able to make a write-off on your income taxes.
You can also receive tax deductions for expenses related to licensure and permitting. The same goes for marketing materials, website hosting, online courses, and vehicle expenses.
Flexibility In Concept
One of the best advantages of starting your foodpreneur journey with a home-based kitchen is that you can test the waters and modify your offerings with feedback. Instead, a stand-alone restaurant has a very slim margin of versatility as menus need to be printed with set offerings and ingredients need to be purchased ahead in large quantities. In addition, staff are trained to make specific recipes. Throwing new products into the mix will cause inconsistency, increased costs, and instability.
In a cottage food business, you have the benefit of testing products and friends, family, and even the local farmer’s market before you commit to a menu or product. Take advantage of this flexibility by hosting tasting events in your neighborhood or popping up at festivals to try out creations.
Finding a balance between your business and family can be easier in a cottage food business model.
Flexible Hours, Flexible Life
Finally, one of the most difficult tasks as a foodpreneur is establishing a work-life balance. Establishing a routine inside the comfort of your home and doing so early in the process will help you stay happy, passionate, and motivated.
Too often, entrepreneurs get sucked into the hustle. A busy week can turn into months that can turn into years where you’ve missed important life events and holidays to stay open as a brick-and-mortar business. Because, hey, the landlord, employees, and vendors still need to get paid.
A home-based commercial kitchen offers a somewhat more flexible routine with less impact if you need to take a day off. You can set your own hours, take feedback and make adjustments to offerings relatively easily, and every day is casual Friday. You also won’t lose precious time driving to the restaurant each day when you can just roll up to your in-house kitchen instead.
Conclusion
While there are also disadvantages to running a home-based business (you are essentially never able to leave your workplace after all!), we believe the pros outweigh the cons. Starting your foodpreneur journey in your home allows for a massive amount of flexibility and a faster approach to begin.
If you are still unsure if taking on a home-based food business is the right choice, consider touching base with fellow home-based food business entrepreneurs. Additionally, community forums are helpful to learn from those who have gone before you. If you want to make sure you are on the right path you can also connect with a consultant who specializes in helping home-based food businesses get licensed and comply with regulations.
How defining your purpose will help your food business define its values, create momentum, and become the ultimate touchstone for longevity.
Defining your brand’s purpose is an essential starting point for creating your brand story. While everyone’s story will be different, and the way you tell your story can take on various forms, your unique brand story should be anchored in your company’s purpose. Check out Grow Your Kitchen Series: 5 Steps To Creating Your Brand Story for more on how to build a compelling brand story.
A purpose statement will inform your brand story. It is a succinct description of why you exist beyond financial gain. Are you making your community healthier? Are you introducing authentic international flavors to an otherwise bland food desert?
The Harvard Business Review reports that companies with a defined sense of purpose can foster better employee satisfaction, facilitate business growth and transformation, and boost customer loyalty. Your Purpose Statement will provide a guiding compass to your business internally and a representation of your values and mission to the public externally.
What Is The Difference Between A Purpose Statement and A Mission Statement
When you are starting a business, you are inundated with different terms that are needed to create pitch decks, internal guidelines, and marketing copy. Your mission, vision, and purpose are all separate parts of creating a focused foundation and roadmap for your food business.
Many people confuse Mission, Vision, and Purpose Statements. Here are the key differences:
Mission Statement: This statement is about what you do and for whom.
Vision Statement: This is where your food business is going is goals and intentions are accomplished.
Purpose Statement: The intent of a Purpose Statement is to define the reason or reasons you exist as a business.
Your Mission and Vision Statements will be the tangible goals and people that you serve. Your Purpose Statement will tie this all together to show your resolve and determination is seeing your mission and vision through.
How To Create A Purpose Statement
Deep diving into your company’s morals, ethics, and beliefs will help you define your purpose. You will often find your purpose organically by asking yourself and your employees:
“Why are we here?”
“What problem do we solve?”
“What movement are we championing?
In the food world, this could be that you are championing the slow food movement where everything is prepared fresh from local farms.
Maybe you are solving a gap in the market where your community has no authentic Asian cuisine.
The problem + your solution = your purpose.
The Five Steps To Creating a Purpose Statement
When crafting such an essential piece of your company’s foundation, it might seem hard to hone in the perfect concise purpose statement. It takes time to create a purpose that perfectly captures your food business’s essence. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
1. Consider Forming A Committee
This doesn’t have to be a formal group, but of course, it can and should include stakeholders when suitable. A committee can be a group of close friends and like-minded business people who know you and your goals and can help you define your purpose.
2. Figure Out Your Why First
You can refer to Finding Your Why to inform your purpose. Your “why” is the reason you decided to open up your food business in the first place. It is the excitement that keeps a foodpreneur up late at night dreaming, and it is essential to be able to describe the motivation behind your purpose.
3. Identify Your Legacy
Identifying your legacy is a good exercise to put you in a purposeful frame of mind. The description of your purpose should be informed by what your future impact looks like. Knowing what you want your legacy to be and working backward will help you develop your core purpose.
4. List Your Values
In listing your values, you will find some of the most critical vocabulary that will become the words you use for your purpose statement. Your values will help you align with your purpose.
5. Create A Draft and Leave Room To Grow
Once you have collected feedback from a trusted group, listed your values, determined your ‘why’, and identified your future legacy, it’s time to create a draft. Try to keep your Purpose Statement between 1-2 concise sentences. Also, aim for easy-to-understand vocabulary and a tone that matches your audience.
Remember that your business will evolve, and your Purpose Statement might as well. Leave room for growth.
Examples Of Purpose Statements
Here are a few examples to fire up your creativity in creating your own Purpose Statement.
Campbell Soup: Real food that matters for life’s moments.
