How to Start Food Business?

Business ideas are usually born out of passions or hobbies. In food business, those who feel they are being supplanted by a new product are often just beaten at the same old game by better players. It is important to balance your passion and analytical skills. So to help you better understand the basics of starting a food business, we have listed the Six essential steps involved in the process below:

Ideation

To enter as a business into one of the most high risk spaces thinking avant grade helps tremendously. The first step involves brainstorming and identifying at least three ideas as prospective product.

Capital Clarity

In the initial stage, there would be lot of expenses before you start generating revenue. Hence it is essential to identify and plan if you need financing. This involves figuring out the money you would require to set up plant, purchase machinery, land, and raw ingredients, source human capital and for marketing activities.

Prototype Development

The most important stage of the whole process is building the product prototype. You can hire the experts to formulate and develop the product. This process is iterated until the desired results are achieved.

Market Survey

Market survey provides an opportunity to pick the brains of the people to understand what works and what doesn’t. It communicates the target market’s level of interest. Choose your preferred method of survey (online survey, paper survey, face to face conversation) and draft the questionnaire which includes open ended and close ended questions. If a comprehensive study is not possible, run a small scale test within your group of friends, family and colleagues.  The feedback helps you to evaluate the price, packaging and gustatory perception.

Finalize Concept

Once the market survey is completed, process and analyze the results. This would help you to identify risk factors. At this stage, remove the less attractive, unfeasible ideas from the list and work to develop the concept which is finalized.

Business Plan and Fund Raising

The next step is to draft the business plan; it is essential if you need financial support, to convince investors of your overall business strategy and financial outlook. Start up process entails complex procedures, so make sure that the business plan is flexible to overcome the challenges that arise in the process. Raise funding, look for the subsidies and schemes implemented by government and keep a check on the work as it progresses.