If you’ve got a passion for food, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to see if you could turn it into a viable business. Turning your passion into a successful business can mean doing what you love for the rest of your days, as well as being your own boss.
Here’s some advice you can use to turn your passion for food into a viable business:
Pick Your Niche
First of all, you need to make sure you pick the right niche. There are all kinds of different niches you can go for, and this will depend on your area, what’s in demand, and the competition. For example, you could become a mythical cake baking company, creating mermaid cakes and unicorn cakes.
Perhaps you could become a company that makes vegan ready meals and delivers them door to door. See what there’s a gap in the market for in your area, and don’t be afraid to perform market research to ensure you’re doing the right thing. Make sure you know who you want to target, and don’t just do something because you think it could make you a lot of money. You need to be good at it, and you need to be passionate about it!
Look Into Your Competition
Looking into your competition in the area is a must. Not only so you can see what you’re up against, but so you can figure out how you’re going to differentiate yourself from your competition. This isn’t to say you have to make your business the exact opposite of your competition, but you do need to make sure there’s something different enough about your business that will make people order food from you rather than your competitor. Remember, it isn’t just your food that will swing the audience your way, but we’ll talk more about what else you need below.
Check Out Regulations And Laws In Your Area
There are going to be different regulations and laws in your area depending on where you’re setting up your business. For instance, people in Texas will need a food handler card to start up. Make sure you know what is required of you before you start up. Do as much research as you can; what documents do you need? Do you need to have any checks done on you/your home? Do you need any qualifications or certifications?
Make Sure Your Kitchen Is Up To Scratch
Starting your food business probably means you won’t be able to afford a big kitchen just yet unless you’re planning on getting a huge loan. It is possible to start in your own kitchen, but you need to make sure your kitchen has everything it needs, that it’s clean and that it’s safe to start making your culinary creations in. You will need to book a visit from a safety inspector to ensure your kitchen is hygienic enough to use. There are rules you need to adhere to even after the checks are done with, so make sure you keep your kitchen toa high standard.
Get On Social Media
Social media is a free and quick way to begin building your business. Starting out with a Facebook page is a good idea, and Instagram can be a great platform for showing off your food creations, sharing tips, and gaining followers. Just make sure that you can keep up with the platforms you build:
- Make sure you are active every day, posting fresh content at the relevant times
- Times are different for each platform, so look them up and stick to a schedule
- Don’t bombard your audience, but don’t let them forget about you either
- Use social media to be social. Have fun; create polls, ask questions, and create relationships with your audience
- Social media is not for the ‘hard sell’
- Run competitions on social media to get more followers and customers
Social media is one of the most effective ways to build your audience when you’re just starting out. Creating great competitions will help you to grow your business quickly, so don’t be afraid to give away some free stuff so you can grow.
Create A Website
Your business is going to need its own website. On your website, you’ll want to include what you can do, where you are based, your prices, and all of the other relevant information that will help people to figure out whether your service is for them or not. Make sure it looks professional, and use things like Adwords and SEO to help you to get results. SEO takes longer, but Adwords can get you faster results. Both should be used for a good marketing strategy.
Do Your Local SEO
Local SEO is essential when you’re hoping to target people in your area. This is where you target specific places in your market and focus on getting things like customer reviews to build your business reputation and get word of mouth reviews.
You can do some local SEO alone, but don’t be afraid to get outside help if you really want to improve your marketing strategy. There are many businesses out there who specialize in working with small companies, as well as food-based companies.
Offer Impeccable Customer Service
Finally, your customer service is going to make the biggest difference as to whether people come back to you again or not. Your food may be delicious, but if you seem rude and snippy, take an age to reply and don’t seem bothered about rectifying issues, you’re not going to do well.
You want people to be blown away by your service as a whole, so how can you go the extra mile for people? What will you do to fix any issues that they have? How will you make sure you get everybody talking? Making your customers feel important and special is bound to give your business an edge.
Use the above tips to turn your passion for food into a viable business. Don’t forget to do your research and write out a business plan so you can stay focused when things get chaotic!
