Considering a small commercial endeavor

Dorkasaurus

Dorkasaurus

I'm primarily considering dried pods and powder, nothing fancy. Currently I only have a small garden so I'm only expecting 40-50lbs of dried peppers this year but my wife and I have access to five +/- more acres should we decide to expand. I've emailed the local farmers markets to get information concerning vending fresh peppers, pods, and powders there but there's a limited number of people locally that want to eat superhots so I'm more interested in online sales. I can't find crap on my county website regarding what's involved with starting a (very) small pepper business and my google fu is failing me.

I assume step one is get a business license but that's the easy part. My wife is a full time graphic designer part time web developer so labeling and website are also easy to take care of. What's next? I know we could just start trying to sell stuff online but I don't want to be an ebayer and I want to do things legally. How big of a pita is this going to be?
 
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40-50 lbs of dried peppers??? That is no small garden my friend, depending on varieties of course.

Get your self a business license through your county, get yourself registered with your State so you can pay your sales taxes. Keep records/receipts of EVERYTHING!

Check with your city, county, and state for any food handling regulations you might run into.

If you get past those hurdles, well, then there are several more to overcome. That should get you pointed in the right direction though.
 
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you need to have a lot more than you think to start such a small online business selling food product so i would start as a farmers market vendor for now to see if you can catch a crowd of people that like your product and then expand to online later on when your product starts to pick up. if you are really wanting to start an online business i would contact a business lawyer to get all the legal stuff dealt with
 
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Its a risky business to get into :) I wish i was warned first! LOL :)

....but then again, if i HAD been warned prior, i might still be runnin' a kitchen in Tampa...........on a "fixed" income...lol....at least this way im not bustin my butt 70 hrs a week to make SOMEONE ELSE rich! LOL :) Still bustin my butt 70+ hrs a week...with "hopes" to make some $$ in the future...lol...we shall see.......
 
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theghostpepperstore said:
40-50 lbs of dried peppers??? That is no small garden my friend, depending on varieties of course.

Get your self a business license through your county, get yourself registered with your State so you can pay your sales taxes. Keep records/receipts of EVERYTHING!

Check with your city, county, and state for any food handling regulations you might run into.

If you get past those hurdles, well, then there are several more to overcome. That should get you pointed in the right direction though.
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The 40 to 50lbs was just a guesstimate, and potentially an overly optimistic one. 20 to 30 is probably more realistic. Still more than I'll eat. I still have a few pounds of powder left from last year, and that was grown in a tiny 6'x12' bed, Now I have 1300 +/- sq. ft. to play with so we'll see how it goes. My wife and I also have an opportunity to farm a 5 acre plot of land that's gone unused for years... shouldn't be impossible to grow 400 to 500lbs of (fresh) peppers with that kind of space.

Anyhow thanks for the advice. They don't make it easy do they?
 
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Dorkasaurus said:
but there's a limited number of people locally that want to eat superhots so I'm more interested in online sales. I can't find crap on my county website regarding what's involved with starting a (very) small pepper business and my google fu is failing me.
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Start at the farmers market level to get going because you are selling within your state, and the laws are lenient for dried produce and inspected home kitchens. Selling online is interstate commerce and there is a lot more red tape. Don't jump into it start small. You can easily find the info you need online.

Farmers market resource:
http://www.farmersma...dors/vendor.php

State info:
http://www.nmenv.sta...egulations.html
 
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armac said:
Also keep in mind everybody here would like to recoup some of their expenses, most don't, the business is tough.
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Expenses are what I'm trying to determine since the actual growing part is neglible (free dirt, sun, water, compost). Packaging is also cheap. Due to my wifes profession I can have all the labels/printing I'll ever need done professionally for free. I realize my time should be worth something but growing is something I enjoy and will do with or without profit. It seems to me the biggest expenses involved are the ones centered around government regulations. I understand the idea is to keep food safe but imho they make it more difficult for a guy to sell peppers than it needs to be while disgusting large scale producers seem to have little problem getting the seal of approval.

BakersPeppers said:
400 - 500 lbs of fresh will be required to make 40-50 lbs of dried......"roughly".....depending on the type of pepper...just my dos pesos :)
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I assume a 10:1 ratio as well. I probably got 40+ pounds of fresh out of 72 sq. ft last year. All I know is I ate many, made hot sauce, gave away many, tossed a quite a few over the fence to the chickens and goat next door (poor guy ate a bhut) and I still have 3+ lbs of powder & dried pods so hoping 1300 sq. ft. will get me a little more. :P

The Hot Pepper said:
Start at the farmers market level to get going because you are selling within your state, and the laws are lenient for dried produce and inspected home kitchens. Selling online is interstate commerce and there is a lot more red tape. Don't jump into it start small. You can easily find the info you need online.

Farmers market resource:
http://www.farmersma...dors/vendor.php

State info:
http://www.nmenv.sta...egulations.html
Click to expand...

Thanks for the second link. Couldn't find anything on the Albuquerque website listing the regulations.
 
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armac said:
what pods did you grow?

that is a lot of poundage for such a small plot.
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Bhuts, Fataali, Jamaican Hot Chocolate, White Habaneros, Tabasco, Trinidad Scorpions, Chichimecca Jalapenos, Caribbean Red Habs, and Hungarian Hot Wax. It was ridiculously overcrowded. Of those I grew the Hungarians and Caribbean Reds produced the most. 3 Caribbean Red plants produced hundreds of pods between them. I still have a little over a pound of powder from those 3 plants alone. The Bhuts also did well but I accidently burned them in the smoker. I advise against setting any hot pepper on fire, but really avoid lighting up bhuts if you can. :oops:

EDIT: Forgot I had some Red Hinkelhatz and Thai Hots in there too. I just weighed the remaining pods and powder and it's a hair over 2.5lbs. I'm still estimating between 30 and 40lbs of fresh peppers came out of that jungle.

EDIT#2: Here's a picture of my humble overcrowded pepper area taken August of last year: http://thehotpepper.com/topic/33557-a-few-garden-pics/
 
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Dorkasaurus,
your biggest hurdle with be the actual processing of the chiles in a licensed facility. It sounds like you'll be growing enough that some sauce makers might be interested. But you have to be able to provide them with a clean product made in sanitary conditions in a licensed facitiy. I'm not saying you have to put in your own facility, but you will need access to one and access to some drying equipment. You could probably invest in a couple dehydrators as long as there's a place to process the chiles.

There's several threads about community kitchens, shared use kitchens, other commercial kitchens you might be able to rent... just keep reading and think outside-the-box of where you could find a kitchen to use for a few weeks in the fall.

Also, you might be interested in coming to the Fiery Foods Show this coming weekend at the Sandia Resort in Albq. It's open to trade people in the mornings and if you are serious about getting hooked up with some processors, it would be a great opportunity for you to meet them directly. Bring some samples of your powder or arrange to send them samples later.

Good Luck!
 
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salsalady said:
Dorkasaurus,
your biggest hurdle with be the actual processing of the chiles in a licensed facility. It sounds like you'll be growing enough that some sauce makers might be interested. But you have to be able to provide them with a clean product made in sanitary conditions in a licensed facitiy. I'm not saying you have to put in your own facility, but you will need access to one and access to some drying equipment. You could probably invest in a couple dehydrators as long as there's a place to process the chiles.

There's several threads about community kitchens, shared use kitchens, other commercial kitchens you might be able to rent... just keep reading and think outside-the-box of where you could find a kitchen to use for a few weeks in the fall.

Also, you might be interested in coming to the Fiery Foods Show this coming weekend at the Sandia Resort in Albq. It's open to trade people in the mornings and if you are serious about getting hooked up with some processors, it would be a great opportunity for you to meet them directly. Bring some samples of your powder or arrange to send them samples later.

Good Luck!
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There is a community kitchen nearby I'm investigating. Also investigating farmers markets.

I always go to the Fiery Foods Show. Will be there this year as soon as the doors open to the public (not for business reasons, just to puke up some hot shit asap... for some reason I always find myself huddled around CaJohns booth). I appreciate everyone's replies so far but I think we all need to remember (me especially) this would be a small operation and I'm just trying to wrap my head around what will be involved. Even though I'll be growing significantly more this year and dreaming of farming a five acre spread that's been doing nothing for years I don't think I'll have truckloads of superhots just yet. Maybe I should just try to unload it here and at flea market. Heck Albuquerque is the only place you have to have a permit to sell at a farmers market, the rest of the state has no regulation (and no population lol).
 
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Well, come on by the Pure Evil booth (#305) and say HI! My son and I are in Spokane right now, flying out tomorrow.


If your [sub][sub]small operation[/sub][/sub] really does net you 40# of dried powders, I seriously doubt you'd be able to move that amount through FMs. I could be wrong, ( often am :) )... just thinking it would be a lot better for you if you could just package it up and ship it to a few processors than fussing about with FM's and little packages and going every week and 99% of the customers run away at the sight of a cayenne....

Good thing is you're starting far enough ahead that when the time comes, you'll have it sorted out.
 
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You could sell them as decorative chiles and not for consumption, lol. Talk about circumventing the law! :lol:

NOT RECOMMENDED! :)

Just a joke. No one would trust them if they said not for consumption. Just get all legit and do it.
 
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salsalady said:
Well, come on by the Pure Evil booth (#305) and say HI! My son and I are in Spokane right now, flying out tomorrow.


If your [sub][sub]small operation[/sub][/sub] really does net you 40# of dried powders, I seriously doubt you'd be able to move that amount through FMs. I could be wrong, ( often am :) )... just thinking it would be a lot better for you if you could just package it up and ship it to a few processors than fussing about with FM's and little packages and going every week and 99% of the customers run away at the sight of a cayenne....

Good thing is you're starting far enough ahead that when the time comes, you'll have it sorted out.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely stop by and say hi. Will be there Friday at 4pm.
 
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