>I have an ideal about putting together some very healthy
>snacks for people of the go. Joggers, school lunches, bicycle
>riders, campers, etc?? How can I protect this ideal, how do I
>get packaging for this product, and how can I get this in
>stores for resale? Any help is appreciated thank you.

I have some good news for you and I have some bad news.

The good news is that if you have a good product, with good packaging, a good marketing plan, and you work your butt off, you can get it out there.

The bad news is that what you're suggesting is enormously difficult to do: You're going to have to create the food product, ensure your labels are up to snuff for wherever you are going to be selling the products. You'll have to register your processes with the FDA (for sale across State and international boundaries) you'll have to ensure that your labels and food products are eligible for sale and not restricted in your target markets and this all before you actually have any idea whether or not it will be profitable.

So... the good news...

You can do this...

Start off small. Never mind big markets... Take your product, package it for sale, contact your local small business development organization and they will help you with small projects, labelling rules, etc. Sell your products at your local markets, find some local retailers to carry your product wholesale and keep plugging away like that, going further and further afield until you establish a presence... If the product is good enough, it will eventually catch the right buyer's eye and voila... you'll be huge. But... it takes years to get there, even if you think you have the most spectacularily wonderful thing to hit the food market since sliced bread.

That said...

There is absolutely NOTHING that you can do to protect your product. I'm sorry to say. There is no such thing as legal protection for a recipe. So, the only way you can protect your product is to hope to get it out there, and marketed as far afield as you can get it BEFORE the competition figures out how to make it and bites into your profits.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but in the food industry copying someone else's recipe (if you can) seems to be legal; because it happens a lot.

If you have any specific questions, do feel free to ask, I can help as best I can.

T

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

Eat more peppers!