Unless you're planning on franchising someone else's idea, ignore RW's post. :D

I have a business prospect who does this and I have a contact who also does this.

One is making a nice living marketing his meals via a distribution channel. I wouldn't call his a small operation, but then I don't have a lot of details on his operation either.

The other fellow prepackages meals for old folks' residences and he had the good sense to hook up with meals on wheels so, he delivers pre-packaged meals to them and they deliver them to the final recipient.

What you should know up front is that you cannot simply package these meals in your home kitchen. You can use a certified catering kitchen sometimes available through your local business development center, called incubator kitchens. You can rent a certified catering kitchen at a church, etc. to get started. But the easiest thing is to take a ten by ten space, separate it from the rest of your house, install a private entrance and build a kitchen in there. Which is what the fellow I mention above did.

His is a pretty neat set up. He cooks the food then puts it into microwaveable/oven proof serving trays. He has a machine that heat seals a plastic layer onto the meal and then he simply slaps a sticker on the top with the details of what's inside and the date it's packaged.

If you're doing it for private couples and small groups, it's the same idea.

Either way, you'll need to have the licensing and permits that a caterer would require. These you can get detailed information on from your local city hall.

If you avoid meat in your packaging, you'll have way fewer rules to follow.

Good luck with it.

It's not quite at all what I do, but if you have any questions, I can help steer you in the right direction... so post away.

There's lots of other posters with varying experience in food service and they'll post their two cents as they find your question.

Good luck with it.

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

Eat more peppers!