Starting a Food Business in the Los Angeles Area

Starting a food business is a good way to take a family recipe and turn it into cash. Be prepared to obtain the proper permits and licenses to adhere to state and local regulations for food safety and be prepared for plenty of hard work.

Ingredients

Starting a food business requires having a taste or flavor that competes well on the open marketplace. Select the ingredients that make the product distinct. Melissa Marks of Sis Meliss Family Recipes makes salad dressings based on a family recipe. She used extra virgin olive oil among the ingredients to differentiate it from other salad dressings.

Gerard Turbush of Chef Gerard and Chuck's Green Stuff Salsa is the red salsa with the "green stuff." It's also based on a family recipe that was in demand. Chef Gerard uses no tomatillos in his salsa.

Food Safety

Take a food safety course and get a certification through the Food Safety Institute of America. There is a food handler training to meet California requirements for $15 and Los Angeles County for $75.

For a complete guide to food safety in California, log on to the California Department of Public Health Food Safety Program. There are 11 different specific food programs covered.

Facilities

Rent a commercial kitchen space and check for an available co-packing facility to mix the ingredients. Design labels and check the types of packaging available. Chef Gerard says his salsa is one of the only fresh all-natural salas available in glass jars. It has a nine month shelf life. Melissa Marks uses a co-packer in Fullerton.

Farmers' Markets

Contact a local farmers' market for a display permit and exhibit space. Melissa Marks said she made loyal customers at the local farmers' market starting in Silverlake and found it was a great place for research and immediate customer feedback. For a list of certified farmer's markets around the Los Angeles area log on to Farmernet.com.

Once a steady income is made through farmers' markets and the comments are positive, then check with a store like Whole Foods, Lassen's or the Green Frog for the local vendor program. Have a store manager sample the product and ask to connect you.

Selling through local restaurants is another way to test a market. Chef Gerard sold his salsa through a brother's restaurant near Frazier Park, California, north of Los Angeles and discovered that customers came back to request the product for purchase.

Contests

Enter contests and send the product to a food reviewer. Gerard Turbush had national food product reviewer Phil Lempert review his product and it received a high rating.

Local Vendor

Don't expect to flood the shelves. Shelf space is a premium. You may occupy one of the lower shelves for Whole Foods and have two or three rows of products. It may take two to three shifts each week of up to three hours or four hours to do in-store demos and promote the product.

Market Research

As sales continue from in-store and local outlets, do more formal market research to determine how to take the product regionally or nationally. Jim Cooper of Conscientia Research in Monrovia, California, says market research can help determine why packaging should have a certain shape or what flavors may sell best in a crowded marketplace. The data can aid a small business owner in making cost-effective decisions in order to make sales in a niche market.

Set Expectations

Set realistic expectations for starting a food business. Plan start-up costs carefully, use year one as a test phase, year two to make adjustments, and year three to start increasing sales. Expansion of the product from a local food product to a regional or national one may take five to seven years.

For additional information log on to www.sismeliss.com and www.farmernet.com for a listing of farmers' markets.