Hello to all. New member with a few questions......

Hope all is well with everyone this morning. As I am sure is the case with a few of you, I have been making homemade sauce, primarily for wings, for some time now. The last few months, several friends have been pushing me to try and put it on the market. That seems like a big deal and I would have no idea how to really get started. A few questions about that.

1) Do most of you that make your own sauce use an existing base or do you create your own? I know a few people who use LA Hot Sauce, Texas Pete's and the like and then spice it up. If you use those existing bases, can you legally sell your sauce if part of it is made from an existing product?

2) What sort of regulations are required? I've done a bit of reading and it looks like FDA, Health Department, etc play some role, but it's not all that clear.

I'm sure I have a a few more, but that's all I can think of for now. If any of you have some similar experiences, I would appreciate any guidance. Thanks a ton.

DC

I wish you luck in your endeavor. There are however, a number of obstacles that must be tackled. Regarding the base sauces, to avoid all legalities, you'd be better off making your own, but there are quite a few sauces out there that use standard bases. Next up is the big one, you'll have to check with your state Health Dept., but most states do not allow you to create ANY retail food product within your home, bottom line. There are food groups that can help you find an FDA approved facility in your area, for the manufacturing/bottling portion of your product, just make sure you find out first (I would hate to see you attacked by the FDA Stormtroopers). Entering the food industry with all its' regulations and such will be an eye-opener, as it was for us. The rules and regualtions are strict, and for a reason. If you are even THINKING about putting your stuff up for retail sale, get a lawyer, and make sure they are familiar with the food industry. Get insurance immediately, it's not that expensive, and always remember, we live in a litigious society (hence the lady who spilled hot coffee on her lap, or the kids who claimed McDonalds made them fat). Form at least an LLC to protect yourself and your assets, once you make it big, THEN file for a C corp. Figure out some semblence of a business plan, for if you have no set direction, you'll wander off your path into the "Maelstrom of Misdirection". But most of all, follow the state and federal guidelines for food production in your state. All of this is not meant to scare off a future producer, just to give a mild reality check and to show that creating and retailing a food product is quite different than producing and selling non-food products. Once again, I wish you luck.

Thanks

That's what I was afraid of. Sounds like up front costs for attorneys fees, etc would be quite a bit.

Thanks again.

When we started up shop about a year and a half ago, our legal costs were nearly 70% of total startup. Besides all the lovely legalities that I have mentioned, you have to take into consideration, copyrights, patents, trade marks, etc.

Jumping into the food industry is by far, not the easiest course to take when starting up your own business. However, that being said, if you are determined enough, I look forward to seeing your stuff on the shelves.

In response to the question about using someone else's hot sauce as a base...

From what I can tell, there are an absolute TON of hot sauces commercially available that use either Frank's red hot, Dave's Insanity or Somebody's commercial Fermented Pepper Mash, and even our Fresh Hurricane or Goat Pepper Mash.

The only requirement if you are one of those who does this, is to list the ingredients in that sauce as the hot sauce... example:

I'll use Goat Pepper Mash as an example for the base, because it's the easiest.

Denny Chimes' Uranus Orbit Burn hot sauce... (yeah, I know it's not a name that anyone with class would choose. but let's work with it. It's an example)...

Here's the ingredients list:

Mangoes, Papayas, Apricots, Hot Sauce (goat peppers, lime juice, sea salt, citric acid), water, vinegar, herbs and spices.

You can easily get labelling requirements from the FDA.

I know it sounds like a big deal to go commercial, but if you're packaging the sauce for sale on a small, local, retail basis you don't need the details that commercial international boundary crossers need. Check with both your local government requirements and the FDA.

And good luck to you.

I look forward to hearing about your endeavours too.

T