Starting a Part-time Food Business: Everything You Need to Know to Turn Your Love for Food Into a Successful Business Without Necessarily Quitting Your Day Job [Paperback]

Jennifer Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2011

Whether you're slaving away in a cubicle dreaming of turning your mother's secret jam recipe into the next 'it' food or wish you could turn your flare for flan into a moneymaking venture that doesn't conflict with your stay-at-home parenting responsibilities, it's possible to start and run a successful part-time food business.

Written for anyone who wants to start a small part-time or full-time food business on a limited budget, this comprehensive book provides the roadmap to help you realize your dream. Each chapter takes you step-by-step through everything you'll need to get your small food business up and running including:

• Building a business plan that will guide decision making and set you up for success;
• Obtaining the necessary business licenses, registering your business, and securing commercial kitchen space that meets health code requirements;
• Determining which sales channels will work best for you based on the detailed pros and cons outlined for each option;
• Understanding your true product costs and how to price your products in a way that will make you money;
• The role marketing and branding play in customer loyalty and how it can help you succeed; and
• Developing a system to help you keep track of business finances and detailed worksheets that walk you through the financial side of the business.

This book also chronicles the stories of seven entrepreneurs who started their own small food businesses in their limited free time using minimal resources. Each of the 'How They Got Their Start' stories shares the mistakes and triumphs these entrepreneurs experienced in their first few years of business. From all walks of life, these stories include a twenty-something with modest savings who started a successful artisan ice cream company; a mother of toddlers who not only worked a full-time job but also started a whimsical cake company on the side; and a newly unemployed construction worker who decided to turn the bad economy into his good fortune by starting a meat jerky company.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Nominated for the 2012 Small Business Books Awards by Small Business Trends

About the Author

A culinary professional who spent years working as a professional pastry chef for a luxury hotel chain, Jennifer Lewis founded her own small food company in 2006. In addition to a culinary degree, Jennifer also holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Finance. A part-time entrepreneur herself, Jennifer splits her time between running her business and working for a nonprofit organization.

Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Rabbit Ranch Publishing (February 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0615437648
• ISBN-13: 978-0615437644
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A culinary professional who spent years working as a professional pastry chef for a luxury hotel chain, Jennifer Lewis founded her own small food company in 2006. In addition to a culinary degree, Jennifer also holds an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Finance.

When not working in the kitchen, Jennifer tries to stay closely connected to her local food business community. She also loves running with her husband and dogs and dreams about the Wyoming ranch she hopes to one day buy. She loves nothing more then talking about food and entrepreneurship and encourages readers to join the conversation at www.smallfoodbiz.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Elementary July 7, 2012

By Matt

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

If you are someone who appreciates a properly written book with commas and correct word usage, then this book is not for you. Coming from a seemingly educated author who has a master's degree, one would expect this writer to be much more skilled at writing. This book is literally written at what seems to be a middle school reading level at best, which in my opinion was offensive for the price I paid. Entrepreneurs deserve more in a book that is supposed to help one's business venture prosper.

This book really doesn't tell you much, which is a shame because I have only found a couple other books along this same genre. Only a few of the templates provided in the back of the book are worthwhile. The individual success stories were the best part about this book, whereas everything else is so superficial that it seems to be written more for people who have zero business knowhow and who are extremely rural folks. Also, the entire book mostly revolves around baking, which does not help as much for someone who is trying to make BBQ sauce or other food products. Also, only a handful of the Web resources were useful. It would have been nice to see more research on packaging because that represents a majority of your product costs. I have performed much research in the past month and have found many better places to find packaging and label printing (e.g. containerandpackaging.com or ebottles.com or psprint.com). Furthermore, the book should have provided a lot more information on constructing a proper formal business plan.

I don't typically write bad reviews, but I would suggest even to the most novice beginner that YOU SHOULD FIND ANOTHER BOOK! Try to find something local first that explains the laws of the region in which you live because that is where the journey really begins. Without knowing what the local laws allow, you cannot even begin to understand whether your idea will work. Overall, this book has inspired me to perhaps write my own book on the topic.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Focused, Clear and Solid February 11, 2011

By zbartlett

Format:Paperback

If you only read one book while contemplating starting a food business, make it THIS book. The step by step approach the author takes helps the reader to understand each component of the business and why it is important. The book easily prepares the reader to apply the thinking to their own concept avoiding costly mistakes from the start. Different from other general business planning books or start up books, it focuses on the necessary elements specific to food. Among the most important aspects of this book are the real life scenarios, tips and easy conversions and formulas to figure out food costs and realistic examples of the necessary financial statements. This book covers the A to Z steps any food entrepreneur will need. And, it provides valuable sourcing for product and localized state information. I highly recommend this book.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very helpful! February 28, 2011

By Lucky Dog

Format:Paperback

This book arrived in my life at the perfect time. I've wanted to start some kind of food business for the last several years, but can't wrap my head around leaving my very good full time job. I've been mulling over starting a food stand at our local Farmer's Market and came home to find this book waiting for me.

The advice and tips given are thoughful, practical and concise. I'm not a person who is enjoys business plans or number crunching, but Ms. Lewis lays out how to tackle these parts of business so it doesn't seem so overwhelming. The section on how to price your product was very helpful as well.

The personal storties of people who have successfuly started businesses was fun and inspiring.

Since reading the book, I've started the first few steps to get my business going and I'm sure I'll refer back to the book as a guide.