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Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - Psurfer - 03-04-2015
An idea popped into my head about something I'd like to see in the grocery store (a packaged snack food item I made). Has anyone here experience with this world, or know what I'll need to know?
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - WHiiP - 03-04-2015
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnlabeling/food-manufacturersindustry
Just the beginning.
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - dmann - 03-04-2015
I know a bit but have never brought a product to the marketplace from inception.
Many people start out by selling the item at farmer's markets and local coffee shops and cafes. It will give you a good idea about what your production time and actual costs may be. Will also give you an idea about interest and how much you can really charge vs what you think you can charge.
The local laws will vary about selling food items made at home so be sure to look into health laws.
There are MANY private label food packaging and manufacturing companies out there. Some do manufacturing and packaging and distribution and some only handle one or two of those things.
Your recipe for mass production will be different than what you make for small batch release.
To adhere with food safety labeling regulations (again, these vary) you may have to have your product sent to a lab for analysis and this can be very costly.
Your costs for raw materials will obviously vary in small batch vs big batch. If you find a special ingredient that you deem key to your production, make sure your supplier can handle the business.
Getting "shelf space" in a big supermarket chain is a tough business. Again, there are companies that specialize in this. If you have a local grocery store, start there. See if you can take the manager out for a cup of coffee and pick his/her brain. Some Whole Foods give opportunities to local merchants. You might want to explore that option as well.
This is a local company that has a product in national distribution now. The company they partnered with is on their website
http://www.kimandscotts.com/about/our-story/
Here's a story about another local company, SkinnyPop
http://www.ta.com/News/SkinnyPop-Press-Release.aspx
I'm sure I'll think of other things but these came to mind quickly.
DM
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - Psurfer - 03-04-2015
Thanks, the more info/paths etc I get exposed to in advance, the better armed I'll probably be. Planning to pitch the idea to someone I know w/the money to get it off the ground.
Disclosure: I just dreamed all this up over this weekend...
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - Dennis S - 03-04-2015
I talked to a grocery store manager and he said most likely you would need to use a distributor. (I had an idea for a seasoning product.) If you have an Academy sports store nearby, look at their grilling spices. They have some small brands there. Ask the manager what it would take to get into his store.
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - RAMd®d - 03-04-2015
tuqqer has marketed a beverage called brain toniq.
He might be of some help.
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - testcase - 03-04-2015
Make sure your ducks are in a row with whatever municipality you'll be producing in. All sorts of rules, regulation, hoops, quirks, nuances etc can come into play when you want to provide food to the public. Ask about rules that any distributor you choose to work with, might have to comply with, to keep things legal. Try and choose a location that will make compliance relatively painless. Some jurisdictions are really controlling to the point of being anal. A chat with an good insurance agent might be a wise expenditure of time.
As dmann suggested, starting small and local might be a very prudent way to test the waters.
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - mrbigstuff - 03-04-2015
in large supermarkets, you "buy" the space on the shelves. I believe this takes different forms depending on your product, but they often do not purchase from you directly, you are leased space to sell on their shelves. from what I understand, Whole Foods operates a little differently, in that they do purchase your product directly. we have a friend who began producing chocolates in her kitchen (all town approved and regulated (not as hard as one would think)) and sold them to Whole Foods. the margins and volume, however, were too low to sustain.
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - August West - 03-04-2015
RAMd®d wrote:
tuqqer has marketed a beverage called brain toniq.
He might be of some help.
Nice memory, have you been using it?
-D
Re: Anyone experienced or knowledgable in marketing food items? - SteveG - 03-04-2015
As opposed to advice you may see on this forum, expiration dates do matter.