Post by mattmarion on Oct 22, 2012 15:43:10 GMT -5
Hello,
Has anyone started up a little chocolate selling business?
I want to start one up but there are laws preventing home cooking where I live which means if you want a food business you are obligated to pay rent. Rent means higher capacity right off the bat which means bigger machines and therefore much higher startup costs and the need to instantly have lots of customers. I am quite healthily broke so I was really hoping to build it up, get customers and grow as demand came in but laws prevent me from doing so.
Basically, I'm looking at the more medium sized machines and to get a winnower, grinder, melanger, conching and tempering machine will cost over $15,000. That doesn't count any of the rest of the things the place needs like sinks, bowls, etc. Then there's electricity and rent, etc.
I also need a dedicated space as my main goal is nut free chocolate since my son has peanut and other nut allergies. The only way to ensure an allergen free area is to control access to it, cleaning only does so much.
What I'm wondering is: Has anyone done this? Was it worth it? How long did it take to get enough customers to support enough capacity to do it as a business rather than a hobby? Has anyone gone from nothing to a decent little business (I have no aspirations to be a millionaire but would like to be able to replace my current $60k/year job with chocolate making...).
Mostly I'm scared I think. I have a very strong feeling that if I just jump in and do it it will be just fine but it would be really nice to hear from others. It would be even better if you were like me and broke.
Cheers,
Matt M
Has anyone started up a little chocolate selling business?
I want to start one up but there are laws preventing home cooking where I live which means if you want a food business you are obligated to pay rent. Rent means higher capacity right off the bat which means bigger machines and therefore much higher startup costs and the need to instantly have lots of customers. I am quite healthily broke so I was really hoping to build it up, get customers and grow as demand came in but laws prevent me from doing so.
Basically, I'm looking at the more medium sized machines and to get a winnower, grinder, melanger, conching and tempering machine will cost over $15,000. That doesn't count any of the rest of the things the place needs like sinks, bowls, etc. Then there's electricity and rent, etc.
I also need a dedicated space as my main goal is nut free chocolate since my son has peanut and other nut allergies. The only way to ensure an allergen free area is to control access to it, cleaning only does so much.
What I'm wondering is: Has anyone done this? Was it worth it? How long did it take to get enough customers to support enough capacity to do it as a business rather than a hobby? Has anyone gone from nothing to a decent little business (I have no aspirations to be a millionaire but would like to be able to replace my current $60k/year job with chocolate making...).
Mostly I'm scared I think. I have a very strong feeling that if I just jump in and do it it will be just fine but it would be really nice to hear from others. It would be even better if you were like me and broke.
Cheers,
Matt M