Sounds like you may have a product worth pursuing. The question is how do you do it.

You have several options at your disposal, all of them will require two things: a business plan and a business registration.

Then, food manufacture laws are going to kick in.

In order to manufacture food for sale to the public, it needs to be prepared in a certified kitchen; it cannot be done in your home.

You can build your own kitchen, rent space from a restaurant or other commercial kitchen or simply hire a co-packer.

Building your own kitchen would require serious financial commitment and prior to doing this, I would suggest a couple of years of successful marketing efforts in place to justify the expense.

Renting a commercial space has its benefits and its drawbacks. One of the key drawbacks are having the space available when you need it and also having the equipment that you require to manufacture your product.

For example; in your home kitchen, making a tartar sauce has several steps, notwithstanding the cracking of eggs. Making a tartar sauce in a commercial kitchen requires many more eggs. Eggs require refrigeration, is the fridge available and large enough to accommodate your needs. Are the tools, knives, spoons, bowls, mixers, etc. available to you or do you need to provide your own? And, Tartar sauce will possibly (if not probably) qualify as a low-acid or acidified food and will require water movement and ph testing. Are the tools required for this testing available to you, and if not, you will need to find a facility to do the testing for you. Will the kitchen be available to you when you need to produce product or will you have to be scheduled in blocks of time that may or may not work with your production. Will you need to provide your own license or will you be covered by the license of the kitchen.

There are many other questions that will come up.

The key benefits to building your own kitchen or renting your own space are that you are not subject to the profit margins of someone else and can vary your ingredients and supplies according to what you can afford, you are not locked into what a co-packer will provide.

Of course, there are many advantages and disadvantages to using a co-packer as well.

Some advantages include not having to worry about things like sourcing your ingredients and supplies. Some co-packers offer support with business plans and marketing support and services, others offer a bare bones, here's your product type service. You will want to shop around to find the one that is right for you.

A big disadvantage is having a limited profit-margin with which to work, as the co-packers charge will not fluctuate once your contract is signed.

My company offers co-packing services, so if you have any questions on that end, feel free to ask.

T

Tina Brooks, VP Marketing
Brooks Pepperfire Foods, Inc.
Makers of Peppermaster Hot Sauces
http://www.peppermaster.com

Eat more peppers!