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Resources For Starting Your Food Business [Archive] - The Hot Pepper

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thehotpepper.com
09-27-2006, 01:48 AM
Resources you will need when taking your homemade sauces to the next level.


Getting Started

FDA - Starting a Food Business (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Ecomm/foodbiz.html)

FDA - Small Business Guide (http://www.fda.gov/ora/fed_state/Small_Business/sb_guide/default.htm)


Manufacturing

Cooperatives and Kitchens by State (http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/business/starting_business.html)

Northeast Co-packers (http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/necfe/CoPackerKitchen/index.html)

FDA - Acified and Low-Acid Canned Foods (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Ecomm/lacf-toc.html)

Good Manufacturing Practice (http://www-seafood.ucdavis.edu/GUIDELINES/gmps.htm)


Safety

General Food Safety (http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/freeform/UC_GAPs/documents/Food_Safety_Concepts_for_Novel_Foods3108.pdf)

Basic Food Safety - Microbiology (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/microbiologybasic.PDF)

What Is pH? (http://www.hach.com/fmmimghach?/CODE:LG0045861|1//true)

FDA - pH Control (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/ph-cntrl.html)

Approximate pH of Foods (http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/lacf-phs.html)

pH Chart (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Emow/app3a.html)

CDC - Botulism (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/botulism_g.htm)

Listeria (http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/foodsci/ext/pubs/listeria.PDF)

Cleaning/Sanitizing (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/FS077)


Labeling

FDA - Labeling Guide (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/flg-toc.html)


Farmers Markets

Farmers Markets (http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/farmmrkt.html)


Insurance

Your food business will need food liability insurance, in the form of a $1 million or $2 million policy, in order to be carried in most stores. The firms listed below can be contacted by any local or private insurance agency to discuss the writing of a food product liability policy. However, they will require several specific pieces of information concerning the product and the business (annual sales, annual payroll, etc.) in order to provide a premium quote and they may require that the request be made by an insurance agency rather than the business owner.
Insurance Placement Center
1-800-532-1002
Sedgewick & James
(423) 584-9101
Southern Insurance
Manager
(615) 356-2900

chuk hell
09-27-2006, 05:25 PM
Wow! Just what I needed all in one place....thanks for posting those!

marcosauces
09-27-2006, 08:54 PM
Chuck,
we'll see you in 3 months..!!! :)

DevilDuck
09-28-2006, 05:35 PM
Thatr's really cool!! ...and after I looked all of it up on my own.

DevilDuck
11-14-2007, 01:19 PM
Ugh...this research is killing me!

I'm getting way too many requests to do this out of my kitchen anymore!

bentalphanerd
11-14-2007, 08:11 PM
how much do you make in a single batch DD?

texas blues
11-14-2007, 10:28 PM
I imagine I would have to do all that for my smoked salmon as well. What a nightmare! I just started making my own hot sauce. But like the salmon thang', it too is a hit at work and people want to pay $$ for it. Now I see all the apparatchik bs for FDA, also linked to NSA...no such agency..oh the pain! Do you love me? Kill me! Please!
Cheers, TB.

bentalphanerd
11-15-2007, 01:56 AM
What about a card with all the info attached to the neck of a sauce bottle - i've seen a few like that & didn't see it mentioned in the links?

DevilDuck
11-15-2007, 08:49 AM
how much do you make in a single batch DD?

My current batches are tiny (5 bottles). But that's mostly because of my kitchen tool limitations. Also, anything more than that, and I'll have to reheat the sauce due to cool down when bottling.

huvason
11-15-2007, 04:09 PM
My current batches are tiny (5 bottles). But that's mostly because of my kitchen tool limitations. Also, anything more than that, and I'll have to reheat the sauce due to cool down when bottling.

When I was making it at home\experimenting with new batches, I cook it in a LARGE pot, and then use a 6oz ladle into the bottles. That way it is always heating on the stove, and you are filling HOT. The 6oz ladle is a good size as you will actaully fill about 5.5oz ino the bottle (2/3 up the neck I do, it will settle as it cools).

DevilDuck
11-15-2007, 06:40 PM
I cook in a large pot as well, but my blender is kinda small. I've done a double batch before, but that's a pain because even duplicating the recipe EXACTLY, the flavors get off a bit and you have to adjust on the fly.

Oh...and my ladle must be 3oz. I need to scoop twice to fill a (hot) bottle.

The other problem I have here at home is that my stovetop is on a small island with little or no workspace. So I grab a bottle, make a 180* turn and fill it, cap and invert...x5.

So...I either need to find a commercial kitchen (my old contact quit the biz) or a co-packer.

Oh but wait...there's more!

Federal and State tax ID
Business registration (Local, State, Fed)
Registering business structure (Inc., LLC, etc...)
FDA regulations and guidelines
Locating produce and spice suppliers
Finding bottles under $16/case (is this the going rate?)
Perfecting graphics for labels
Getting said labels approved by FDA
Sending samples to NMSU for nutrition information ($100 per recipe? What's up with that?)
Registering web domain / set up website
Set up PayPal (easy, but it's a step)
Set up Business bank account (Same as above)
Buy Accounting software (QuickBooks, etc...)
Buy Business and Product Liability Insurance (minimum of $3 million ?!?!?)

I'm sure I missed a few, that was off the top of my head. The most frustrating part is how damn difficult and expensive it is to start a hot sauce business. I'm getting to the point of saying F#$% it, but... it's my current "clients" that keep spreading word of mouth...literally... to their friends. I'm suddenly getting e-mails from people I don't know wanting to buy my sauces, and I can't sell it to them! I can send "free samples", but that gets expensive and I'm not seeing anything other than one more satisfied customer.

I wouldn't think about starting a business because of the hoops I need to jump through, but I think I have a viable product in this industry. I'm not planning on getting rich...that's a fluke in this line of work. I just enjoy making a quality sauce that I can share with everyone, and possibly pocket a few bucks for my efforts.


....oh and to have a booth across from DEFCON at FFS '10. Cold beer anyone?

cyotefishing
01-13-2008, 01:13 PM
I hear ya. The locals love my hot pepper sauce. I have 4 different heat levels, kinda hot, sorta hot, really hot and awfully hot. I've been told the labal is pretty cool too. But to go thru all the red tape and expense of going commercial boggles the mind. I will continue this summer and fall making it. Call me law breaker.