How to Start a Food Business for Profit at a Kitchen Incubator

Do you make delicious homemade food?
Have your friends told you that you should sell your food for profit?

Are you not able to make food in your home because of FDA regulations, or local rules?

Look into a Kitchen Incubator in your local area. They are gaining popularity and you may find one to help your small business grown.

Good luck.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Your food specialty (and all ingredients)
• List of the rules at your incubator
• Business plan

1. YOUR SPECIALTY
   
   Decide what is your specialty. If you're "Really Great" at pound cakes and "Pretty Good" at German Chocolate Cake - start with marketing the item you are "really great" at.
   
   Call your local kitchen incubator and find out what you need to do to set up to make your specialty in their kitchen.
   
   On your first visit - have a set amount of food you want to prepare, have all of your ingredients and time yourself to see what you can accomplish.

2. YOUR PLACE - THE COSTS
   
   Each incubator is different.
   *Most will charge you a flat hourly rate. Lowest prices researched is $20 - the highest was $60.
   
   
   These fees may include your storage space in a walk in cooler and freezer, or you may have to pay extra.
   
   Some incubators offer you a "space" to put your dry goods.
   
   Ask the facilitator what they will offer so that you can prepare your food just like you do at home.
   
   Copy and paste this link to see what is available in western North Carolina:
   http://www.advantagewest.com/content.cfm/content_id/147/section/food

3. KITCHEN INCUBATORS - What they do
   
   *Most kitchen incubators will have you schedule your time - you should get a clean kitchen to prepare your food.
   *They should make sure the food prepared there is FDA approved and you should be able to re-sale items prepared there.
   *Local community colleges may be involved and able to provide you information on how to market your products.

4. KITCHEN INCUBATORS - Your Step to a Small Business
   
   *You will be responsible for a business license and liability insurance on your products.
   *You will be able to market and sell your food if it is packaged and labeled properly.
   *You will NOT have to prepare your home for a health inspection, or have an increase in untility bills. The expense should be worth the opportunity.
   *You will NEED to be a good neighbor - and clean up after yourself, follow ALL RULES, no matter how tedious they seem - there are reasons.
   *Take advantage of the knowledge from other tennants.
   
   Good luck!!!

Tips & Warnings

• Type in keywords "Kitchen Incubator" and your region on Google.com to see what is available and close to you.
• If you rent space, make sure your items are secured. Once on the Food Network a person who used a kitchen co-op had all of her eggs stolen. She made cookies and had a huge order.

Resources

• eHow Article by Desula - Starting a Small Business, Use SCORE
• eHow Article by Desula - Start an At Home Chocolate Business
• eHow Article by Desula - Make Money Selling Chocolate
• eHow Article by Desula - Promote a Chocolate Business
• Business Week - Article about Kitchen Incubators
• Information from the Foodie Preneur

[foodiepreneur]

on 4/24/2009 Kitchen Incubators, or commercial kitchens are certainly growing in populations all across the country. There are sites that list where they are in your area as well. What a great way to start your food business on a relatively low budget. You can visit www.thefoodiepreneur.com/commercial_kitchens.html for sites that list kitchens and more information about using them.

[KMello]

on 1/20/2009 How interesting...I have never heard of this before but will certainly be researching it in my area.
Thanks
Karen

[arwen1964]

on 9/8/2008 I had no idea such a thing existed...