In the process of turning my my sauces into a business

DA SAWSS GUY

DA SAWSS GUY

Hello all, After making my sauces for more than seven years for friends and family, my passion for food and the feed back I received in those years is driving me to turn it into a real business. I have been selling them and giving away samples at parties, gathering, restaurants owners etc as a form of marketing. A friend took samples to a  small grocery store in the state where he works and the owner wants to carry my brand, therefore I want to be all the way legit before I commit to that opportunity, it's more than selling to friends and their friends, I want to do it right. HELP PLEASE! 
While I was online doing some research and I came across forums from this site and decided to create an account, and I am loving the community. 
This is not a get rich idea for me, this is my passion, My mother is Chef and my love for food started from being in the kitchen with her from a young age. I know there is a lot to learn and a lot of work involve in the industry, and I am ready and willing to put in what it takes. I read stories about some of you guys out there, and I like to see how you guys were dedicated from the start. 
I am open to any help and advice I can receive from you guys.
 My company is an LLC, I have a label design along with nutrition facts, I have also purchased bar-codes, I use different bottle suppliers depends on the sale they are having at the time. 
Below are some things I would like some clarity/advice on please.
1- What is the best way to protect my name? is the LLC enough?
2- Do I have to copyright my recipes being that I have ingredient List on the label?
3-I am currently using 5oz Plastic bottles, should I be using glass? if so why? I know glass would cost more to ship.
4-what's the best shipping methods? 
5- I don't have any preservatives in my sauce, how do I check the life? I had the BBQ sauce in the fridge for one year and it was still good, Not sure yet about the Hot sauce,  any suggestions please on how to check?
6-Is it ok to let sauce cool down prior to bottle?
7-What kind of insurance is required?
 
Thank you for any support.
 
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DA SAWSS GUY said:
Hello all, After making my sauces for more than seven years for friends and family, my passion for food and the feed back I received in those years is driving me to turn it into a real business. I have been selling them and giving away samples at parties, gathering, restaurants owners etc as a form of marketing. A friend took samples to a  small grocery store in the state where he works and the owner wants to carry my brand, therefore I want to be all the way legit before I commit to that opportunity, it's more than selling to friends and their friends, I want to do it right. HELP PLEASE! 
While I was online doing some research and I came across forums from this site and decided to create an account, and I am loving the community. 
This is not a get rich idea for me, this is my passion, My mother is Chef and my love for food started from being in the kitchen with her from a young age. I know there is a lot to learn and a lot of work involve in the industry, and I am ready and willing to put in what it takes. I read stories about some of you guys out there, and I like to see how you guys were dedicated from the start. 
I am open to any help and advice I can receive from you guys.
 My company is an LLC, I have a label design along with nutrition facts, I have also purchased bar-codes, I use different bottle suppliers depends on the sale they are having at the time. 
Below are some things I would like some clarity/advice on please.
1- What is the best way to protect my name? is the LLC enough?
2- Do I have to copyright my recipes being that I have ingredient List on the label?
3-I am currently using 5oz Plastic bottles, should I be using glass? if so why? I know glass would cost more to ship.
4-what's the best shipping methods? 
5- I don't have any preservatives in my sauce, how do I check the life? I had the BBQ sauce in the fridge for one year and it was still good, Not sure yet about the Hot sauce,  any suggestions please on how to check?
6-Is it ok to let sauce cool down prior to bottle?
7-What kind of insurance is required?
 
Thank you for any support.
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Welcome. :welcome:

For one, stop selling sauce until you're legit.

On to your questions:
1. LLC does nothing to protect your name without a trademark.
2. There is no copyrighting of recipes. There's technically no way to protect your recipe other than keeping it (along with process) confidential.
3. This will be determined by how you're preserving the sauce. Safety first - worry about shipping costs later.
4. Worry about this once you've registered your products, become a licensed canner (or found a copacker) and done all of the steps to make your product legally.
5. A good emersable pH meter runs about $50. You can check the pH. Your question concerns me though as it seems to indicate you're not sure if your sauce is preserved - yet you're giving it to people & selling it? Sounds dangerous.
6. No never no - hot pack/inversion is the recommended method for safe preservation.
7. At least 1 million in liability, 2 recommended.
Good luck with your business - it sounds like you have a ways to go. I'd highly recommend digging through these business forums and reading up on food preservation, registering your sauce with the proper authorities for your state, etc.
 
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Hey Dat Sawss Guy!
 
1. Trademark no doubt.  On your company name and any subsequent sauce names you come out with is best.
 
2. Technically any original recipe you come up with is copyrighted as soon as you write it down on paper, but that doesn't protect others from mimicking or imitating or reproducing your recipes at any time.  Best to keep them and your preparation methods close to the vest.
 
3. Most use glass, because most hot fill/hold to insure sanitation.  Plastic doesn't tend to lend itself to such process methods, but I'm sure there's a product out there that could work if you want to continue with plastic.  Hoy Fung's Sriacha comes to mind - it's a fermented product and goes into PET bottles - but I do not know if they are pasteurized or hot filled.  
 
4. Best shipping methods are the ones that get your product safely to those who put in an order.  Experiment and price check USPS/FedEx and UPS.
 
5. If you use salt and/or vinegar or other such acid then you're using preservatives.  Best advice I'd give has already been given:  Get a good pH meter and solution and then test the sauces you make.  The final pH of your sauces will determine shelf life/storage in most cases.
 
6. I assume you ask about filling after cooling down because you're using plastic bottles.  Industry wide accepted standard is glass and hot fill/hold.  Bottles are sterilized and then filled with hot product and inverted to sterilize the cap and form a seal.  When it comes to things like sanitation it's best to be safe.
 
7. You need liability insurance, and a million dollars worth is a good place to start.  Your current insurance agent can get you a quote; just double check them against a couple other sources that normally handle small business before you sign.
 
You've found a community here that is very helpful and the knowledge of all things pepper related around here is vast. You've already jumped the first few hurdles and are well on your way.  Keep pushing and don't let your enthusiasm wane.  Talent and ability are nice, but neither replaces determination and tenacity. :)  
 
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grantmichaels said:
Happens to me all the time ...
 
When it goes slow, I just assume there's packets dropping en route and resend the request repeatedly until it goes ...
 
I'm a horrible user. Site's running slow = send more requests =)
 
I do not want to know the number of page-views I average daily, ever.
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When it happens to me I just assume Pookie is usin this site as a proxy to surf for pron, thus slowing it down to a crawl.
;)
 
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In my defense, while I am impatient as fuck, I think a lot of the packet loss is right on my own WiFi - hence the repeated requests ...
 
The fact that I'll grab the nearest iOS device and see if the mobile API is still answering via Tapatalk ... well, that I don't have an excuse handy for ...
 
Then there's the race vs JHP to get a status update in 1st after, LOL ...
 
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