Thinking of Starting a Food Business? Read This First CHOW

If you like to cook, there often comes a moment when you start to daydream about turning your favorite hobby into a career. Could your famous apple butter take the world by storm? How many artisanal popsicles would you have to sell to pay the bills? Not so fast, says CHOW. This might not be a good time to start your own food business.

They are actually a little more blunt about it, giving three reasons not to start a food business. For one thing, the market is too crowded at the moment. An assistant grocery buyer at San Francisco's Bi-Rite Market points out:

"The bar is so much higher than it was a few years ago because there are so many producers out there," she says. "Just being small isn't enough. It has to be delicious, and it has to be different, but not so different that it won't appeal to a mass audience. It has to be sustainable, it has to have a great back story, and great packaging, and so on."

Secondly, breaking into big grocery chains is extremely difficult. Very few work directly with small food producers, preferring to put in large-volume orders with big companies.

But that doesn't mean your dream isn't worth pursuing, as long as you go in knowing reason number three: your current job is easier. Starting your own food business entails long hours, work-filled weekends and very little rest. And much of the work — like packaging, publicity, insurance and health codes — doesn't involve cooking. Kind of makes you want to bring your apple butter to a local food swap instead.

Read the article: 3 Reasons Not to Start a Food Biz at CHOW

Have you ever thought about starting your own food business?

(Image: Flickr member ministryofstories licensed under Creative Commons; jams from Hoxton Street Monster Supplies)

Comments (7)

There are organizations out there to help you produce and market your creations. Some are affiliated with culinary arts programs at colleges, some with local extension offices.

(I know - my sister works for a small scale food processor affiliated with a college....)

I recently started my own food business (organic baking mixes) and I would say everything in this article is accurate.

Be prepared to work long hours. You will encounter tons of health codes and regulations you weren't even aware of. Everything takes 2-3 times longer than you expected. And everything costs double what you were expecting.

My best advice: have plenty of capital at the ready. Growth requires hiring brokers and distributors to actually get your product on store shelves. Even the best artisinal products can't get onto big grocery store shelves without a distributor to get it their for them.

I'm still in the trenches as my company grows, and I'd be happy to speak with anyone that has interest in starting a food business. I've found the greatest help in this industry is networking and learning from others who've done it. Ping me @cherryvalefarms

That was an interesting read. I just can't imagine starting mine full-time, leaving my regular job to do it, until I can self-finance. My product is different enough, within its food category, but I've seen so many food-related businesses in SF go out of business (in just a week's time close their doors) when their partner didn't cooperate or they stretched too far to expand and came up short. So in the meantime I take large scale private orders, fulfilling those at a rate of 6-15 a year, and send my product out as my signature holiday gift for family and friends. They all give me feedback and I continue refining what I do, developing more confidence, while saving more money to launch.

These are the exact same reasons I will keep the fantasy of starting my own restaurant a fantasy. If I wanted to work 60 hours a week and nights and weekends I might, but I don't, so I won't.

My regular job's 60-70 hours a week, no overtime and it's a soul-suck, and I spend at least another 15 a week on the food aspect but sometimes 30 hours if I'm producing a large order (and it all has to be done without letting on to my employer). I'd be thrilled to be doing the food business full time because there's far more enjoyment in it.

Starting any kind of small business can be a daunting task, since opening a business requires a lot of planning, tons of research, an unwavering commitment and actual knuckles to the pavement work...Operating a small business is a lot of work and not attractive to the faint at heart...I love food, but I don't know that it is the best business for me...A business that is automatable and scalable is more appealing...

I think: if we did it, you can too.

My vegan blog won The Homies for Best Home Cooking Blog in 2008. My vegan queso recipe that I posted got so popular, that I took the recipe offline.

I started to sell it to local cafes. Our vegan queso, The World's First Vegan Queso, and our company Food for Lovers, Inc. was picked up by Whole Foods in 2010. We're now national with Whole Foods and exported into Australia and Canada.

I'm a 25 year old with no business training. I don't have a business degree. We couldn't get a business loan. We took it a day at a time, a penny at a time and it worked. Our company has grown wildly in the past year and it all started with my vegan blog and one recipe.

Don't give up on your dream of sharing delicious food with the world. If you want it bad enough, you can make it happen.

Positivity!