Anyone successfully launch a food product?

Shaun @ Tru6 · 01-17-2009, 10:22 AM

I have a friend with a new take on a comfort food that she thinks will sell well in a time of recession. Cheap to make, super delicious, easy to heat and eat, and can be easily packaged and portaged. Food coma satisfying.

She wants to start locally with specialty food stores and is checking with state and federal regulations on licenses, preparation, packaging, etc.

Anyone ever brought a food to market? or investigated the process? I imagine it to be quite daunting.

126coupe · 126coupe's Garage

Food sold to the public must be prepared in a Health Department approve commercial kitchen

Oh Haha · 01-17-2009, 10:40 AM

No advice but the regulations are very specific and may be daunting. Good luck to your friend.

Heaven forbid the product has peanuts in it. The hysteria over the Salmonella outbreak has people freaking out about ALL items with peanuts.

svandamme · svandamme's Garage

Salmonella spreads via peanuts??? i thought it was eggs and poultry as the prime risk foods for that bug

cgarr · cgarr's Garage

It really depends on what type of food it is? We are in the peanut and tree nut processing which is rather easy compared to things such as meats, dairy etc. I have set up several locations for food processing, AIB approved etc. Get to know your local state inspector, they can guide you thought it very well too. They are not all pricks!

Shaun @ Tru6 · 10:50 AM

the nice thing about the product is that is has multiple variations on the preparation technique, think soup, or ice cream, so nuts can be in or out depending on the flavor, and to some degree, mood of the country, difficulty in preparing something that may cause an allergic reaction, as with nuts. Good point Wayne.

126. yeah, that's got to be the daunting part. Not only creating the kitchen to what are surely serious hoops to jump through, but also getting health department to show up on your schedule. I could see her ready to go in 1-2 months, but then the Health Department says we'll see you in August.

Edit: thanks Craig, good know the details like getting to know the inspector. I may end up subletting her space here at LT World Headquarters and perhaps we can get him/her to come and look at the proposed space. It's zoned commercial, but I'm just getting my silkscreen operation up and running in an adjacent room. Can't imagine that would go over well.

Oh Haha · 01-17-2009, 10:48 AM

We had an outbreak and SOMEHOW it was traced to a peanut butter manufacturer.

We ended up having to pull a specific item from our vending machines. Now, consumers will stay away from ANY item that has peanuts in the blend.

Salmonella outbreak, and your affinity for the PB&J

VaSteve · 01-17-2009, 10:50 AM

I have "launched" many a food product. Many more alcohol products.

Porsche-O-Phile · Porsche-O-Phile's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by 126coupe

Food sold to the public must be prepared in a Health Department approve commercial kitchen

+1

Check with your local health department. If it's anything like the ones here in CA (particularly LA County) hold onto your shorts 'cause they're gonna' bend you over and get it in you deep.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 01-17-2009, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VaSteve

I have "launched" many a food product. Many more alcohol products.

Can you elaborate a little on bringing one of them to market? that is, getting it into stores. are there trade shows to attend?

Shaun @ Tru6 · 01-17-2009, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgarr

It really depends on what type of food it is? We are in the peanut and tree nut processing which is rather easy compared to things such as meats, dairy etc. I have set up several locations for food processing, AIB approved etc. Get to know your local state inspector, they can guide you thought it very well too. They are not all pricks!

This product, depending on the flavor, can have 2 to all of the major food groups. What are some of the high cost items that will be needed to comply with specs? To prepare, she'll need refrigerator, oven, burner, preparation stations and then, and this I think is the most difficult and most expensive, a complete packaging set-up with (guessing) vacuum sealing.

I've cooked professionally before, but that was over 20 years ago and the kitchens weren't all that special. and then it was just a restaurant. no packaging, storage, delivery, etc. was needed.

Oh Haha · 01-17-2009, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Can you elaborate a little on bringing one of them to market? that is, getting it into stores. are there trade shows to attend?

Uh, I think he means actually launching the products as in projectile vomiting.

I could be wrong, of course.

VaSteve · 01-17-2009, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oh Haha

Uh, I think he means actually launching the products as in projectile vomiting.

I could be wrong, of course.

No, you are correct. I'm trapped in the house and a little stir crazy.

Oh Haha · 01-17-2009, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by VaSteve

No, you are correct. I'm trapped in the house and a little stir crazy.

me too. I've had a bug the last 24 hours. Can't be too far away from a bathroom.

At least I've got the Pelican gang to keep me company.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 01-17-2009, 11:31 AM

Ok, that's funny guys. sorry to hear you are sick.

MysticLlama · 01-17-2009, 01:11 PM

You may not actually want to do the production.

The company I work for has multiple resturants, and we even make our own cheese, but we have a local producer do some of our packaged items. They are better set up to do it, we just do test runs with our recipes to make sure they scale properly (which usually takes a few shots) and then let them take care of the mass production.

This leaves us with available time to do marketing of existing products and development of new products instead of trying to manage production.

Zeke · 01-17-2009, 01:37 PM

I built a deli in the 80's for a guy that was successfully packaging and wholesaling dried Italian spices to markets. The key for him was getting in with one of the major food wholesalers. he still had to do a ton of work, they just took a nice markup. He provided POP displays and did some of the product stocking. They did take him a lot farther and wider that he could have done on his own.

The deli failed within months and wiped out all of his spice business. Part of it was under capitalization and part of that was unexpected start up expenses related to the deli and the health dept. Where he was once getting off easily with nothing buy dry foods, he introduced wet condiments and the HD saw things quite differently. Think NASA clean room.

My grandfather (and father) was in the advertising business in the post WWI ear up to the 70's. They did quite a bit with foods. The statistics are bad for a complete success. If you get too big, someone like Nabisco will come calling, Either to suck you up or see you down the drain. You don't mess with the big boys.

Something like Famous Amos cookies is a real anomaly. It's like hitting it big with the Pet Rock. Right time, right place and right identity. Also really good PR and advertising. Not a path I would choose.

The smartest businessman I ever worked with told me to find something that is successful and beat them at their own game. Kinda like Pelican's model against Performance.

Shaun @ Tru6 · 01-18-2009, 09:16 AM

thanks for your help everyone. The plan is to contact any of the local Armenian bakeries and kitchens down the street from me and see if they will rent out some time to my friend.

varmint · 01-18-2009, 09:25 AM

does it count if we used a surgical tubing slingshot?

the · 01-18-2009, 09:40 AM

I saw on the Food Channel a piece on this grandma who made great chicken soup. She started just selling it to people, then started a website and is apparently now a huge business.

She apparently just makes the stuff in her kitchen, puts it in bottles and ships it out. There didn't seem to be much regulation involved.

http://www.grandmaschickensoup.com/