artwork Been there? Done that? Or one day I dream of starting my own fiery foods business?

Husker21

Husker21

I know there are lots of threads that focus on various aspects of the business.  Many thanks go out to Lucky Dog Hot Sauce and Salsa Lady.  I have been reading your content likes its gospel.
 
But I am really curious... How many of us have the dream to start a fiery foods business?  How many people have tried it and couldn't get past some early hurdles?  How many people tried and failed?  How many people have a small business plus a day job?  How many people are living the dream and do this full time?  What are your experiences and lessons learned if you care to share?
 
I am in a weird place right now.  lol  I have a friend who owns a restaurant.  I gave him some of my sauces and jams during the holidays and now he wants to put them on his menu starting around Super Bowl time.  I know I can use his kitchen to produce what he wants....  But I immediately started thinking past this one "order."  
 
What has me hung up is taking the leap.  I have 1 sauce that I think is ready to go to market.  I have two more that need a little fine tuning.  I also have a bbq rub and seasoning salt that I think are ready for market. If I make a business out of this my friend has offered to let me use his kitchen for FREE  I know securing a commercial kitchen can be daunting, but literally had one fall in my lap.  I have a good break down of all of the fees, licenses, regulations, and start ups costs.  I have identified a couple of farmer's markets I could sell at, a couple of vendors that would be willing to sell my products, and 2 restaurants that would be willing to place my sauces on the table of their establishment.  Financing is a big one.  I have a potential financial backer that will be sitting down with me this weekend to go over my business plan.  But as much as I am excited about this, I know there is a good chance at failure.  Right now I can make my hobby sauces and hand them out to friends  The kudos I get are awesome... But I fall into the go big or go home category.  If I am going to do this I need to be all in.
 
I am looking for any feedback or personal experiences that might sway me.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
How much do you enjoy making hot sauces and hot products?  I enjoy it in moderation myself.  I have a blast until mid-September when the produce piles up and I feel like I am in the kitchen full time.
 
Another example - I work in IT.  I like my job and enjoy 80% of what I do on a daily basis.  I love growing things and tinkering in the garden.  I don't mind weeding, but I set things up so I don't have to spend a lot of time doing it.  I have always wanted to raise my own animals for food too.  Well I went and spent a good amount of time with my wife's uncle who raises organic grass fed cattle and chickens, and also farms a few crops.  Not a huge operation but large enough to support his family.   I used to think that was what I wanted to do but now I know I don't.  It would go from being something I am passionate about to just another job for me.
 
If it will be more than "just a job" for you then I would seriously consider it if you have the supply lines in place (bulk ingredients year round). 
 
Just my two cents (I did start a LLC for computer related work many years ago but couldn't get enough business to make it full time).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I have owned a few businesses in my life all 3 were succesful yet I decided that being a business owner was not for me anymore. So I sold them and retired and a year later decided that retirement wasn't for me anymore so I went back to work. Do what you love to do and money will follow.
 
[SIZE=14pt]“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=14pt]“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”― Thomas A. Edison[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=14pt]“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston Churchill [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=14pt]“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
― Theodore Roosevelt[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=11pt]No matter how old you are now. You are never 2 young or 2 old for success or going after what you want. Here’s a short list of people who accomplished & (against the odds) great things at different ages…
1) Helen Keller At the age of 19 months Helen became deaf & blind. But that didn’t stop her.She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree
2) Mozart was already competent on keyboard & violin, he composed from the age of 5
3) Shirley Temple was 6 when she became a movie star on “Bright Eyes”
4) Anne Frank was 12 when she wrote the diary of Anne Frank
5) Magnus Carlsen became a chess Grandmaster at the age of 13 years
6) Nadia Comăneci At age 14, gymnast of Romania scored seven perfect 10.0 and won three gold medals at the Olympics
7) Tenzin Gyatso was formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama November 1950, at the age of 15
8) Pele soccer superstar was 17 years old when he won the world cup in 1958 with Brazil
9) Elvis was a Superstar by age 19
10) John Lennon was 20 years & Paul Mcartney 18 when the Beatles had their first concert in1961
11) Jesse Owens was 22 when he won 4 gold medals in Berlin 1936
12) Beethoven was a Piano virtuoso by age 23
13) Issac Newton at 24 wrote Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
14) Roger Bannister was 25 When he broke the 4 minute mile record
15) Albert Einstein was 26 when he wrote the theory of relativity
16) Lance E Armstrong was 27 when he won the tour de France
17) Michelangelo created the two of the greatest sculptures “David” and “Pieta” by age 28
18) Alexander the Great by age 29, had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world
19) J.K.Rowling was 30 years old when she finished the first manuscript for Harry Potter
20) Amelia Earhart was 31 years old when she became the first woman 2 fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean
21) Oprah was 32 when she started her talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind
22) Edmund Hillary was 33 when he became the first man to reach Mount Everest (highest Mountain in the world
23) Martin Luther King jr was 34 When he did the speech “I have a dream”
24) Marie Curie was 35 years old when she got nominated 4 Nobel Prize in Physics 1903
25) The Wright brothers, Orville (was 32 ) & Wilbur (was 36) when they invented & built the world's first successful airplane & making the first controlled, powered & sustained heavier-than-air human flight
26) Vincent Van Gogh was 37 when he died & virtually unknown yet his paintings today are worth millions
27) Neil Armstrong was 38 when he became the first man to set foot on the moon
28) Mark Twain was 40 when he wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and 49 years old for Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
29) Christopher Columbus was 41 when he discovered the Americas
30) Rosa Parks was 42 when she refused 2 obey bus driver’s order 2 give up her seat 2 make room for a white passenger.
31) John F. Kennedy was 43years when he became President of the United States
32) Henry Ford Was 45 when the Ford T came out
33) Suzanne Collins was 46 when she wrote “ The Hunger Games”
34) Charles Darwin was 50 years old when his book On the Origin of Species came out
35) Leonardo Da Vinci was 51 years old when he painted the Mona Lisa
36) Abraham Lincoln was 52 when he became president
37) Ray Kroc Was 53 when he bought the McDonalds Franchise and took it to unprecedented levels
38) Dr. Seuss was 54 when he wrote “the cat in the hat”
40) Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III was 57 years old when he successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549, in the Hudson River in, 2009. All of the 155 passengers aboard the aircraft survived.
41) Colonel Harland Sanders was 61 when he started the KFC Franchise
42) J R R Tolkien was 62 when the lord of the ring books came out
43) Ronald Reagan was 69 when he became President of the United States
44) Jack Lalane at age 70 handcuffed, shackled, towed 70 rowboats
45) Nelson Mandela was 76 When he Became President” [/SIZE]
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
So...what I understand of the law is that you can use his kitchen and serve the sauce in that restaurant. I don't think you can sell it though, other than to sell to your friend for use in his restaurant.

When I started I had 3 solid finished recipes and probably close to 50 more that needed fine tuning (3 of which I've since launched) and I worked my day job for 6 months when I launched - so I worked 70 hours a week then went to the farmers market on weekends.

I took the plunge & went full time - and who knows, I still might fall flat on my face. But I'll never regret not trying.

In your situation i'd suggest makin that 1 sauce while you hone your other recipes. Get feedback, see if a buzz builds. Work on your other recipes & start working with your process authority to see what it'll take to go pro in your state. Take your time and create a business plan - make a budget, see if it's do-able. Consider sales avenues - retail? Wholesale? There are a lot of moving parts to consider...but you'll never know until you consider them. I'm a former project manager so I'm a big proponent of lists - the nice thing about lists is that you can cross things off of them as you go. It makes daunting overwhelming amounts of stuff a little more managable.

Of course you'll always be adding to them too, but that's what keeps it challenging/interesting.
:cheers:
Ps - One final thought. Someone asked "how much do you love making hot sauce?"

That's kinda the wrong question.

Your job will not be making sauce if you do it. Your job will be selling sauce. All the time. Make no mistake - you'll make sauce a couple times a year, maybe more depending on your scale - but you'll be selling every single day.

You're not selling Cadillacs so you've gotta sell a lot of sauce to pay the bills.

It's very important to consider this. Many folks have this vision of themselves in the double breasted chef's coat standing over a kettle. Yeah - that's part of it. But sauce doesn't sell itself. It's a hustle. And you've got to be all in with the hustle. You can make the best sauce mankind has ever tasted but you won't sell a single bottle without hustle.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
So...what I understand of the law is that you can use his kitchen and serve the sauce in that restaurant. I don't think you can sell it though, other than to sell to your friend for use in his restaurant.

When I started I had 3 solid finished recipes and probably close to 50 more that needed fine tuning (3 of which I've since launched) and I worked my day job for 6 months when I launched - so I worked 70 hours a week then went to the farmers market on weekends.

I took the plunge & went full time - and who knows, I still might fall flat on my face. But I'll never regret not trying.

In your situation is suggest makin that 1 sauce while you home your other recipes. Get feedback, see if a buzz builds. Work on your other recipes & start working with your process authority to see what it'll take to go pro in your state. Take your time and create a business plan - make a budget, see if it's do-able. Consider sales avenues - retail? Wholesale? There are a lot of moving parts to consider...but you'll never know until you consider them. I'm a former project manager so I'm a big proponent of lists - the nice thing about lists is that you can cross things off of them as you go. It makes daunting overwhelming amounts of stuff a little more managable.

Of course you'll always be adding to them too, but that's what keeps it challenging/interesting.
:cheers:
Ps - One final thought. Someone asked "how much do you love making hot sauce?"

That's kinda the wrong question.

Your job will not be making sauce if you do it. Your job will be selling sauce. All the time. Make no mistake - you'll make sauce a couple times a year, maybe more depending on your scale - but you'll be selling every single day.

You're not selling Cadillacs so you've gotta sell a lot of sauce to pay the bills.

It's very important to consider this. Many folks have this vision of themselves in the double breasted chef's coat standing over a kettle. Yeah - that's part of it. But sauce doesn't sell itself. It's a hustle. And you've got to be all in with the hustle. You can make the best sauce mankind has ever tasted but you won't sell a single bottle without hustle.
Click to expand...
 
 
Amen!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
poypoyking said:
How much do you enjoy making hot sauces and hot products?  I enjoy it in moderation myself.  I have a blast until mid-September when the produce piles up and I feel like I am in the kitchen full time.
 
Another example - I work in IT.  I like my job and enjoy 80% of what I do on a daily basis.  I love growing things and tinkering in the garden.  I don't mind weeding, but I set things up so I don't have to spend a lot of time doing it.  I have always wanted to raise my own animals for food too.  Well I went and spent a good amount of time with my wife's uncle who raises organic grass fed cattle and chickens, and also farms a few crops.  Not a huge operation but large enough to support his family.   I used to think that was what I wanted to do but now I know I don't.  It would go from being something I am passionate about to just another job for me.
 
If it will be more than "just a job" for you then I would seriously consider it if you have the supply lines in place (bulk ingredients year round). 
 
Just my two cents (I did start a LLC for computer related work many years ago but couldn't get enough business to make it full time).
Click to expand...
 
I worked for a financial software company doing training and QA work for 13 years.  I have spent the past 6 months working in a QA role as a contractor for a firm in VT.  I hate all of it.  This proposed business venture isn't going to be my saving grace from a slow corporate death.  I want to be immersed in my community (or beyond my community if I do well) working in one or multiple aspects of the food industry.  Its an industry I love.  I just know that my entry can't be cooking in a restaurant kitchen at this point in life.
 
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
I have owned a few businesses in my life all 3 were succesful yet I decided that being a business owner was not for me anymore. So I sold them and retired and a year later decided that retirement wasn't for me anymore so I went back to work. Do what you love to do and money will follow.
 
[SIZE=14pt]“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=14pt]“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”― Thomas A. Edison[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=14pt]“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston Churchill [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=14pt]“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
― Theodore Roosevelt[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=11pt]No matter how old you are now. You are never 2 young or 2 old for suc
36) Abraham Lincoln was 52 when he became president[/SIZE]
Click to expand...
 
My son's scout master read a list of all of the offices Lincoln ran for and lost as well as all of the businesses he started and failed at.  My jaw was literally on the ground as he listed all of his failures.  Truly inspirational.
 
Lucky Dog Hot Sauce said:
So...what I understand of the law is that you can use his kitchen and serve the sauce in that restaurant. I don't think you can sell it though, other than to sell to your friend for use in his restaurant.

When I started I had 3 solid finished recipes and probably close to 50 more that needed fine tuning (3 of which I've since launched) and I worked my day job for 6 months when I launched - so I worked 70 hours a week then went to the farmers market on weekends.

I took the plunge & went full time - and who knows, I still might fall flat on my face. But I'll never regret not trying.

In your situation is suggest makin that 1 sauce while you home your other recipes. Get feedback, see if a buzz builds. Work on your other recipes & start working with your process authority to see what it'll take to go pro in your state. Take your time and create a business plan - make a budget, see if it's do-able. Consider sales avenues - retail? Wholesale? There are a lot of moving parts to consider...but you'll never know until you consider them. I'm a former project manager so I'm a big proponent of lists - the nice thing about lists is that you can cross things off of them as you go. It makes daunting overwhelming amounts of stuff a little more managable.

Of course you'll always be adding to them too, but that's what keeps it challenging/interesting.
:cheers:
Ps - One final thought. Someone asked "how much do you love making hot sauce?"

That's kinda the wrong question.

Your job will not be making sauce if you do it. Your job will be selling sauce. All the time. Make no mistake - you'll make sauce a couple times a year, maybe more depending on your scale - but you'll be selling every single day.

You're not selling Cadillacs so you've gotta sell a lot of sauce to pay the bills.

It's very important to consider this. Many folks have this vision of themselves in the double breasted chef's coat standing over a kettle. Yeah - that's part of it. But sauce doesn't sell itself. It's a hustle. And you've got to be all in with the hustle. You can make the best sauce mankind has ever tasted but you won't sell a single bottle without hustle
Click to expand...
 
I do like your model.  While I love developing sauces, my goal isnt to be in a processing facility for the rest of my life.  I want to be out in the public selling my product and showing people how to use my products in their home cooking.
 
As for my friend's kitchen.  I will do more research on this.  I thought I read tales of some people using restaurant kitchens in their off hours when they started up a sauce business.
 
A little more background on my friend.... and why I my am so hard pressed to get a marketable product..... He is really encouraging me to get this venture going.  I have his full support.  He offered up his restaurant to hold tastings and drum up business.  And the kicker, he will be on Food Network in a couple of weeks doing a guest spot on The Kitchen.  He is also working with a production company that is developing a show around him for Spike TV.  So the opportunity to have my products on his menu in the short term could lead to some crazy exposure down the line.  
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I don't know how are things where you live (here not good to be euphemistic), but if you think something is ready and you have the strenght to start (and to recover if things go bad)... Give it a try! Who knows, maybe it will work great. Otherwise it's always an experience!

For the dream part: if i could i'd open a computer hardware store with integrated pub plenty of hot stuff... :D
I'd fail next day, probably i am the worst seller ever! :D
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Husker21 said:
 
A little more background on my friend.... and why I my am so hard pressed to get a marketable product..... He is really encouraging me to get this venture going.  I have his full support.  He offered up his restaurant to hold tastings and drum up business.  And the kicker, he will be on Food Network in a couple of weeks doing a guest spot on The Kitchen.  He is also working with a production company that is developing a show around him for Spike TV.  So the opportunity to have my products on his menu in the short term could lead to some crazy exposure down the line.  
Click to expand...
 
 
I was on Food Network 3 times and Extreme Home Makeover once ( I declined the 2nd offer)  and let me tell you that I had to go 3 shifts 6 days a week and was still 12 weeks behind on orders with 27 employees. Careful what you wish for....FREE exposure is great if you can keep up with the demand.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
 
 
I was on Food Network 3 times and Extreme Home Makeover once ( I declined the 2nd offer)  and let me tell you that I had to go 3 shifts 6 days a week and was still 12 weeks behind on orders with 27 employees. Careful what you wish for....FREE exposure is great if you can keep up with the demand.
Click to expand...
 
This is all pie in the sky for me...
 
But the situation you described is what freaks me out.  What if it IS a success?  And I have orders coming out of my a$$.  I think too much too fast would be a quick way to crush a small business with potential.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Well
 
Husker21 said:
 
This is all pie in the sky for me...
 
But the situation you described is what freaks me out.  What if it IS a success?  And I have orders coming out of my a$$.  I think too much too fast would be a quick way to crush a small business with potential.
Click to expand...
 
Well the good news is Food Network is always 3 months behind on producing, editing and showing so when they come out and record (We recorded for 5 days to make a 2 hour show) you have 3 months to produce your products before the show starts and everybody starts ordering, and they will order. I then had QVC contact me, wanting to sell my products and I declined. You will get all kinds of offers just wait. It was fun for a few weeks then it became too much and not fun. Good Luck.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Husker21 said:
 
This is all pie in the sky for me...
 
But the situation you described is what freaks me out.  What if it IS a success?  And I have orders coming out of my a$$.  I think too much too fast would be a quick way to crush a small business with potential.
Click to expand...
Shark Tank and a solid business plan :) 
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
Well
 
 
Well the good news is Food Network is always 3 months behind on producing, editing and showing so when they come out and record (We recorded for 5 days to make a 2 hour show) you have 3 months to produce your products before the show starts and everybody starts ordering, and they will order. I then had QVC contact me, wanting to sell my products and I declined. You will get all kinds of offers just wait. It was fun for a few weeks then it became too much and not fun. Good Luck.
Click to expand...
Spill the beans, who are you and what products :) You can start another thread for it as to not thread jack here.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Husker21 said:
 
I worked for a financial software company doing training and QA work for 13 years.  I have spent the past 6 months working in a QA role as a contractor for a firm in VT.  I hate all of it.  This proposed business venture isn't going to be my saving grace from a slow corporate death.  I want to be immersed in my community (or beyond my community if I do well) working in one or multiple aspects of the food industry.  Its an industry I love.  I just know that my entry can't be cooking in a restaurant kitchen at this point in life.
 
 
My son's scout master read a list of all of the offices Lincoln ran for and lost as well as all of the businesses he started and failed at.  My jaw was literally on the ground as he listed all of his failures.  Truly inspirational.
 
 
I do like your model.  While I love developing sauces, my goal isnt to be in a processing facility for the rest of my life.  I want to be out in the public selling my product and showing people how to use my products in their home cooking.
 
As for my friend's kitchen.  I will do more research on this.  I thought I read tales of some people using restaurant kitchens in their off hours when they started up a sauce business.
 
A little more background on my friend.... and why I my am so hard pressed to get a marketable product..... He is really encouraging me to get this venture going.  I have his full support.  He offered up his restaurant to hold tastings and drum up business.  And the kicker, he will be on Food Network in a couple of weeks doing a guest spot on The Kitchen.  He is also working with a production company that is developing a show around him for Spike TV.  So the opportunity to have my products on his menu in the short term could lead to some crazy exposure down the line.  
Click to expand...
Food laws are food laws.

Yes - you can use his kitchen to make your sauce. But there are restrictions.

If you want to sell across state lines or outside of the restaurant in general, (or even "to go") it's now a different classification of product: a shelf stable acidified product.

Those fall under a specific category for regulations. You'll need your sauce tested, samples submitted to state with all process and ingredient documentation. Your sauce will have to be made in a certified kitchen and will likely need to have every batch sequestered, inspected, tested & released for sale (may be state specific, but I think it's universal).

So yes - it's possible to use the kitchen of a restaurant or lion's club or rotary club or something, but you'll need to be a licensed kitchen manager (or work under the supervision of one) and/or a licensed cannery (if your kitchen isn't) - again, speak with your state process authority about this for your specific laws. You may need lot ID and recall procedures, and numerous other regulatory things.

There are no short cuts to making a legal shelf stable product. Consumer protection laws are looser or former depending on the state but every state has them.

Best thing to do: speak with your process authority.
:cheers:


Ps - hook me up with some of that food network love!
:woohoo:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Brain Strain Pepper Head said:
This isn't about me it is about Husker 21 wanting advice on starting a business and advice is what I offered. Maybe some other time.
Click to expand...
Agreed, hence the other thread comment.
 
Scott has some great advice and if you have the support around you, jump in. The market is very hot right now and you never know how long that will last. 
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ps - One final thought. Someone asked "how much do you love making hot sauce?"

That's kinda the wrong question.

Your job will not be making sauce if you do it. Your job will be selling sauce. All the time.
 
ALL THE TIME :lol:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Did a test batch of my BBQ sauce tonight. pH of 3.52. Looks like that one is well under 4.6. Cider vinegar is one of the main ingredients on that one.

Took a stab at another sauce that was 2.72. That one needs more of the sweetener I used and more salt.

Sending off a gift box on Monday for some critique.

If nothing else I am having fun experimenting.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
If you never try, you will never know!
 
I think where to start has mainly been covered, but I would like to add, although you need to think about it and keep your eye on the future, stop stressing so much about what may or may not happen if this or that situation arises...take a breath, pick a spot and start from there. I also find lists really really really help! Although at the beginning those lists are likely to resemble spiders webs with all the offshoots from your original question :rolleyes:
 
Good Luck with your venture!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
As long as you're having fun, that's a big part of it.
 
 
 
I've been self employed for most of my life.  A Job is A Job be it electrical or sauce making.  What makes money is what I have to do.  I've had a legal side-line food business for almost 20 years.  Most of that has been salsa.  I've always done all my own processing.  During the summer busy season I make a batch of salsa about every 5-7 days.  Even though it's only once a week average, after 18+ years, I'm getting really tired of making salsa!!!!   I dread it, postpone it, find excuses not to make it, cajole and bribe The 'Kid to help make it....bottom line is....the bottom line.  It makes money.  It's immediate cash in hand, and it always sells.  And it's so well known locally that I'm afraid what would happen if I just up and quit making it.   
 
The fun part for me is the sauce recipe development.  Get it perfected....but then I have to make it.....  
 
I don't have enough time to keep up on all the sauces in the line up.  We have a local marketing campaign going on and I could be in 15 stores with 8 different sauces, but I know there's no way I could keep up on all that. 
 
Our electrical business pays the household bills so that's what gets top priority.  I'm stuck doing salsa and try to keep up on the bottled sauces. 
 
 
 
Side Note- the inspections of every batch and sequestering of sauces is not required everywhere.  In WA state, once the sauce gets PA approval and the person and facility is state licensed, there are no further issues than the periodic routine state inspections.  CA has the mandatory testing for every batch.  Don't know about other areas.  Contact your licensing agency for what applies to you. 
 
Whatever you decide, Good Luck!  :)  
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top