misc Hello hello and a bunch of questions.

S

sauce_newb

Hello everyone at the hot pepper! My name is Aaron, just found the website and registered. My friend and I have been contemplating starting a small scale hot sauce/salsa business for the last 6 months or so. I myself run a pressure washing business and he owns two pizza places so business wise we feel competent with this endeavour. Now we recently began doing more research(mostly in the kitchen and some internet) on the subject and have become a little daunted and scared off with some of the regulations we are finding out about. Some we hadnn't even begun to consider. So I'd like to ask some questions to some of you already in the business, especially in regards to hot sauce.

Number 1: Will we need to retort the sauces? Or..is proper ph and high temperature bottling satisfactory in regards to health and safety regulations for processed foods? Could we use a small steam sterilizer at first if retorting is neccesary? IF yes...how long?

Number 2: For a small scale start-up like our own, what is the suggested bottle count per batch? We were thinking 20 gallon batches to being with in 5 oz bottles.

Number 3: Will we be required to provide nutritional content information? And if so, is there a ballpark figure we should be shopping for in regards to labratory testing/analysis?

Number 4: In such small batches that we plan on starting with is there a portable bottling/capping system that you can suggest? Is there another way to do it without dropping a ton of money on a bottling machine?

Number 5: How many of you are using pepper mash from other manufacturers verses making your own? Is using pepper mash industry standard? Or is it only used with high volume production?

Number 6: Does anyone think being fully or partially certified organic is worth it in regards to cost increases?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Cheers! And Happy New Year!
Aaron
 
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Solve all of your problems in one shot, hire a co-packer. If your buddy has a pizza place, you could probably do your R&D in his commercial kitchen (check your local laws). When you come up with a recipe, have a co-packer make it.
 
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defcon:
We definately see something like that in the future but not immediately. At first, we would like to keep costs and overhead low. I'm pretty sure we can make and bottle in the pizza facility. The real question there is in regards to retorting.

bubbaschili:
We have a bunch of ideas and fun names we have considered and 1 we are set on..Kind of not wanting to share it until we can trademark it. Hope you understand :twisted:

Cheers,
Aaron
 
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I understand, just prepare to deal with a ton of regulations and by-laws. First off, I would hire legal council to take care of the legal startups and ground floor packaging regulations, not to mention securing your trademark(s). ONE MAJOR POINT, when selecting council, make sure you get a lawyer who has a clue about FDA regulations AND the food production industry, not to mention local laws, MOST DON'T! Hot bottling is probably the way to go. However, you may be surprised at the cost of a co-packer. For one, they can get the ingredients and bottling accessories for a much lower rate than most, due to the large quantities. Just for giggles, call one up and just get a ballpark quote.
 
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defcon:
As per your advice...I have been surfing contract packers. Some require far too much but, I found a few that seemed like they handle smaller orders, with in house scientists for nutritional analysis. Obviously like with any business we understand there will be start-up costs higher than we want. In a nutshell, we don't want to spend more than $7500.00 to start. We plan on doing all of the marketing and distributing ourselves to help keep that figure in sight. If anyone wants to answer this question feel free...

Cost per bottle through a contract packer?
(average)

Thanks!
Aaron
 
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Well, speaking from personal experience, $7500 should cover your legal costs. Then there is the bottles, which ain't cheap due to shipping costs, the ingredients, laser printer, advertising in magazines and newspapers, hot bottling machine, show costs (if you'll be doing them), website development, etc. I wish you luck, but think you'll be breaking the $7500 mark kinda quick. The prices vary widely with different co-packers, but there are a few that do small batches. Before you launch this endeavor, complete your homework, so all your bases are convered in case of the need for funding some unforeseen situation. Hope this bit of enlightenment helps, in some cases, I learned the hard way.
 
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We've invested well over $150K in our business so far.

For our hot filler, we paid near $10K CAD, our capper cost $4-5K CAD. Add 20% for US exchange, and the rest of our equipment, legal fees, incorporation, taxes, etc. If we weren't seeing such good success, I'd be thinking... are you nuts???

You ask some valid questions though.

It seems to me that most hot sauce producers are hot filling. I'm not quite sure what you mean exactly by "retorting", are you suggesting heat treating or pasteurization? Whatever you mean though, we use a heat treatment system, here at Peppermaster. That was an exercise in investment to set up too. But then, we've got a pretty cool system that the Peppermaster set up for that purpose.

A lot of what you and your partner are going to put together is going to depend on your business plan. I personally suggest you start there.

I can save you a bit of a headache up front, in reference to salsas. We decided to drop the salsas from our line of products because the market is saturated and the gross-profits are very slim. I suggest you do your own market research. Market research is key... Without winning a Scovie Award out of the box, you're going to have to figure out how to go about getting your product in front of people, that will require a show booth, and that alone could cost upwards of $7500; never mind show fees. The entry fees to the New York Fancy Foods are to the tune of $5K.

Simply jarring and selling out of the restaurant for a while seems the way to go if $7500 is all you have intended for investment. Of course, you won't be able to sell anywhere but from the restaurant.

I'm afraid that going with a co-packer, will present different challenges. Any other route, I have to agree, makes $7500 seems a little short-sighted to me.

What do I know, though, we originally started with an initial investment of $250 and a well written business plan.

T
 
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Hi Tina, oh yeah, welcome back!

I agree with what you said, however the big shows do cost a bit of coin, but doing small local bbq/chili shows, or even showings at local drinking establishments (our "Defcon Days"), etc. are a great way to get the name out, which is the hardest part. We are getting a booth for Fiery Foods in March only because with the 2 Scovies, we're on the map, and we might as well ride the wave this year. That being said, I really think the $7500 they are looking to throw into an idea is great, but it will be used up quicker than thought. A real brainstorming session/business plan is needed to find out exactly where every penny will be allocated, and have very accurate quotes and pricing on the ingredients and bottling accessories that will be needed. We started very small, but by sheer force of fate have found ourselves thrust into the land of the co-packer because we couldn't personally keep up with the demand. A good problem, but yet unforeseen.
 
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DEFCON Creator said:
Hi Tina, oh yeah, welcome back!

I agree with what you said, however the big shows do cost a bit of coin, but doing small local bbq/chili shows, or even showings at local drinking establishments (our "Defcon Days"), etc. are a great way to get the name out, which is the hardest part. We are getting a booth for Fiery Foods in March only because with the 2 Scovies, we're on the map, and we might as well ride the wave this year. That being said, I really think the $7500 they are looking to throw into an idea is great, but it will be used up quicker than thought. A real brainstorming session/business plan is needed to find out exactly where every penny will be allocated, and have very accurate quotes and pricing on the ingredients and bottling accessories that will be needed. We started very small, but by sheer force of fate have found ourselves thrust into the land of the co-packer because we couldn't personally keep up with the demand. A good problem, but yet unforeseen.
Click to expand...

I notice you used the word "force of fate".

It's a huge market, I believe that with a great product, one that people are going to eat over and over again, there is a lot of room for great success, even starting small.

But reality is key. And that to me is a detailed business plan.

-- Shakes head in stunned disbelief --

You've gone co-pack???? How the H E double hockey sticks are you managing that???

T
 
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How are we managing that??? Well, right now quite well. We were using a commercial facility for a little while, but considering we both have 9-5 jobs, we couldn't keep up. The packer we are using is really cool, and the price was definitely good. Believe me, if givan the choice, I'd get a spot in a commercial zoned area and make my own. If things go as planned, and we have 8 digits net in the bank, that will happen...Until then, well, we really don't have much of a choice.
 
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