Small commercial kitchen setup on a shoestring budget

[StoneySauce]

I want to start selling my hot sauce commercially. I live in Orlando, FL.
I was going to test market my product at a local flea market and was told that I would have to obtain a license from the Florida Department of Agriculture. $170.00. Then I would need an inspection by the health department of the facilities where the sauce was being made. It cannot be produced in a residence for commercial sale. Or at least that's how I interpret their legalese.
I am considering renting an out-building such as a small detached garage and converting it into a sauce kitchen.
I do realize there are a billion different brands on the market, but after giving out only a few samples I already have two seperate requests for a case each in Texas and a case request in New Smyrna Beach FL and I don't even have a proper label design yet. It really is that good.
Use it or lose it, right?

If you had very little start-up capital, and I mean very little, how would you recommend the most efficient approach to starting up a small scale commercial kitchen?

 

[NatGreenMeds]

If you had very little start-up capital, and I mean very little, how would you recommend the most efficient approach to starting up a small scale commercial kitchen?

You could investigate having the sauce made at a place that already makes sauces. You deliver the ingredients already measured and mixed for cooking. Pay them to do the rest.

That way, you don't have the setup costs and if it makes it, you can roll your profits into your own kitchen then. If it flops for one reason or another, you haven't lost anything but time and some bucks.

With this down turn in the economy all over the world, I imagine that there are some places looking for new business for reasonable rates.

The FDA, XYZ and EFG are all their problem that way, also. You pay your licence fee, they see the other guys kitchen and equipment and you sell your sauce.

 

[StoneySauce]

You could investigate having the sauce made at a place that already makes sauces.

I considered that, very briefly. I read a post about co-packing here and it just doesn't seem right. What's to stop them from just taking my recipe and calling it their own? To hell with them. They would probably just screw it up anyway and I would be left paying for patent attorneys and their ilk.
Maybe I'm just old school like Colonel Sanders. My herbs and spices are secret and should remain that way. I will gladly disclose any ingredients that may cause allergic reactions, but not exact amounts.
Maybe I should learn more about co-packing, but to be honest I am sick of doing all the work and seeing some chump get a fat cut for nothing.
I have been a salesman for my entire adult life and have never made more than 12% of net profit when it's all said and done. I deserve to be on the 88% side for a change.

 

[POTAWIE]

I think you'd have less liability issues with a co-packer but you'd still be best to have good insurance and lawyers which might soak up a lot of money. You may be able to test your product at local farmer's markets but even they can sometimes be strict on processed foods. Maybe you can look into renting a commercial kitchen.

 

[StoneySauce]

I slept on it. Maybe co-packing isn't such a bad idea.
Hopefully someone here who has tried both can give me some deeper insight on the pros and cons of each approach. Obviously I'd rather have complete control of everything, but I don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

 

[NatGreenMeds]

I didn't see your Post #5 until after posting this one myself:

What's to stop them from just taking my recipe and calling it their own?

What I said in my first post, or, if that's not allowed for some other health factor, you could mix them there yourself in large batches.

You deliver the ingredients already measured and mixed for cooking. Pay them to do the rest.

You'd be paying them to do nothing but cook the delivered, pre-measured, pre-mixed ingredients and then bottling the end result.

Sure, it'd be better to do it all yourself, but that's not what you asked. You asked how to set up a kitchen on the least capital. If you're going to restrict your setup and operating capital, then you have to restrict your wish for a perfect operation and highest profits.

To maximize your profits and to also maximize your security, you have to have your own kitchen and process team that is divided into sections making only part of the sauces. It has to be divided up as a process so that no significant amount of the creation of the final product is known to anyone but you. If so much as one of your own people is in on the entire process, you've failed security again and you're back to "What's to stop them from just taking my recipe and calling it their own?". Non-disclosure statements are an absolute in this type of business. If NDS's are not used, then you severely limit your own protection and the protection of your product. NDS's make it clear to each employee that you will put their butt in prison if they steal your recipe. Combining that practice with a secure process is what is necessary to arrive safely at the marketplace.

"This ain't Kansas anymore"

People will rip you off for nothing but practice.

Hell, SPOUSES rip each other off when it comes to large amounts of money. Some guy stirring pepper sauce in a kitchen somewhere won't even think twice about ripping you off if you give him a chance and don't make it clear UP FRONT that you will put his butt in jail if he tries.

Good luck man. Selling items privately on a group like this and selling them in the world marketplace are two very different things.

Study each step and then step wisely. CYA is the only way to go.

 

[StoneySauce]

I found an excellent article breaking down the pros and cons of co-packing.
I have a lot of homework to do in the coming weeks.

• Choosing and Using a Copacker

Whether I decide to do it or not I will still like to sit down with a local company just to see what they have to offer.

 

[DEFCON Creator]

Making a couple of cases of product is easy. If your stuff takes off, what are your plans?

Your slamming of using a co-packer is quite unfounded, and honestly, sounded more like paranoid delusion. No offense meant, but you should really look into something before you fire a rocket launcher at it.

 

[StoneySauce]

Your slamming of using a co-packer is quite unfounded, and honestly, sounded more like paranoid delusion.

I really didn't mean to slam anyone. I apologize if it came across that way, I guess I'm just jaded and cynical in my old age.
I guess I should take a "don't knock it till you try it" approach. After all, that's what I tell skeptical people about my sauce...lol

 

[mfm]

Working with farmer's markets is often like a crap shoot. Take some of your product to one, rent a booth and sell your goods until they tell you to stop. Often that doesn't ever happen. The market's I've been to don't have any regulatory people, require certification, or any other legal stuff. If they do, then a copacker may be your option.

 

[Sickmont]

I really didn't mean to slam anyone. I apologize if it came across that way, I guess I'm just jaded and cynical in my old age.
I guess I should take a "don't knock it till you try it" approach. After all, that's what I tell skeptical people about my sauce...lol

You ought to go down to Clearwater and visit Bodine Etc. Specialty Foods. I'd be willing to bet a chat with them and maybe a tour of the facility would change your mind.

http://bobarosa.stores.yahoo.net/info.html

They're the closest one i can think of for you.

 

[StoneySauce]

You ought to go down to Clearwater and visit Bodine Etc. Specialty Foods.

Thanks Sickmont. I got a tip about them yesterday. I live a few blocks off of I-4 and I mapped it. It's a straight 80 mile shot. I will definitely contact them and arrange a visit.

Plus, the best shrimp plate I ever had was in Clearwater. A platter of those big ol' honkin' prawns will easily make it worth the drive.