HI!
I have been contacted by a distributor to buy 2,000 bottles of my hot sauce at whole sale price. I have been operating out of my home licensed kitchen up until now, making at most, 100 bottles a day.
In order to make 2,000 bottles I will need to buy some new equipment and rent a commercial kitchen. I have so many questions.
I am hoping this thread, though it is long, can serve as a reference for future sauce makers in my position.
I'm asking for advice in multiple departments here from cooking, scaling up receipes, hiring help, commercial kitchen rentals, etc.
COOKING
SCALING UP:
Please give any tips to scaling up a recipe. I have heard you can multiply ingredients in equal ratios except for salts. Any advice on how to scale up salt? Right now I have an accurate recipe for about 100 bottles. Should I just multiply everything by 5 to make 500 bottles, and work 4 days straight in the kichen to meet my 2,000 demand?
BLENDING:
I've' been using my blender for creating sauce at home. Is there a giant blender I can use to blend ingredients when making large batches How do you blend things in such a large scale capacity? Does a commercial kitchen usually provide the equipment needed for this?
BOTTLING:
I am looking at buying a Handy Filler (VPF108-SL) to help with the bottling process. It looks pretty perfect for what I need to be doing.
Can anyone suggest any alternatives? I will be bottling into standard 5 oz woozy bottles
COMMERCIAL KITCHENS
I have scheduled a kitchen tour with a well reviewed commercial kitchen. Until the meeting, I have several questions. I'm hoping people here with experience can weigh in...
EQUIPMENT
What kind of equipment should I expect a standard commercial kitchen to provide for me in the hot sauce making process?
SANITIZING BOTTLES
I have read that putting glass bottles in an industrial dishwashing machine found in common commercial kitchens is the most efficient way of sanitizing bottles. Is this the standard method? Can someone help describe the method of sanitizing bottles in bulk at a commercial kitchen.
HIRING HELP
I am fully up to FDA standards (licensed with BPCS certificate). If I want to hire a friend to help me in the kitchen, will they need to be certified in any way similar or is that unnecessary?
SHIPPING PALLETS OF SAUCE
Once the hard work is done and the sauce is made, I need to then get the bottles shipped all the way across the country from Oregon to New York. Each case holds 12 bottles, so I will have a total of 167 cases to ship. I'm looking into how to do this properly. A friend who is in the wholesale condiments industry has said I should expect about $400 to ship the pallets to the east coast.
Any tips on this?
THANK YOU EVERYONE - This will be a GIANT learning curve for me, but I am open and ready for the next chapter of my business! Thank you!
-Jake / Newks Hot Sauce
www.newkssauces.com
www.instagram.com/newks_hot_sauce
I have been contacted by a distributor to buy 2,000 bottles of my hot sauce at whole sale price. I have been operating out of my home licensed kitchen up until now, making at most, 100 bottles a day.
In order to make 2,000 bottles I will need to buy some new equipment and rent a commercial kitchen. I have so many questions.
I am hoping this thread, though it is long, can serve as a reference for future sauce makers in my position.
I'm asking for advice in multiple departments here from cooking, scaling up receipes, hiring help, commercial kitchen rentals, etc.
COOKING
SCALING UP:
Please give any tips to scaling up a recipe. I have heard you can multiply ingredients in equal ratios except for salts. Any advice on how to scale up salt? Right now I have an accurate recipe for about 100 bottles. Should I just multiply everything by 5 to make 500 bottles, and work 4 days straight in the kichen to meet my 2,000 demand?
BLENDING:
I've' been using my blender for creating sauce at home. Is there a giant blender I can use to blend ingredients when making large batches How do you blend things in such a large scale capacity? Does a commercial kitchen usually provide the equipment needed for this?
BOTTLING:
I am looking at buying a Handy Filler (VPF108-SL) to help with the bottling process. It looks pretty perfect for what I need to be doing.
Can anyone suggest any alternatives? I will be bottling into standard 5 oz woozy bottles
COMMERCIAL KITCHENS
I have scheduled a kitchen tour with a well reviewed commercial kitchen. Until the meeting, I have several questions. I'm hoping people here with experience can weigh in...
EQUIPMENT
What kind of equipment should I expect a standard commercial kitchen to provide for me in the hot sauce making process?
SANITIZING BOTTLES
I have read that putting glass bottles in an industrial dishwashing machine found in common commercial kitchens is the most efficient way of sanitizing bottles. Is this the standard method? Can someone help describe the method of sanitizing bottles in bulk at a commercial kitchen.
HIRING HELP
I am fully up to FDA standards (licensed with BPCS certificate). If I want to hire a friend to help me in the kitchen, will they need to be certified in any way similar or is that unnecessary?
SHIPPING PALLETS OF SAUCE
Once the hard work is done and the sauce is made, I need to then get the bottles shipped all the way across the country from Oregon to New York. Each case holds 12 bottles, so I will have a total of 167 cases to ship. I'm looking into how to do this properly. A friend who is in the wholesale condiments industry has said I should expect about $400 to ship the pallets to the east coast.
Any tips on this?
THANK YOU EVERYONE - This will be a GIANT learning curve for me, but I am open and ready for the next chapter of my business! Thank you!
-Jake / Newks Hot Sauce
www.newkssauces.com
www.instagram.com/newks_hot_sauce
