Home Business... would like your input..
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Home Business... would like your input..
| Wed, 08-03-2005 - 4:44am |
I just had a thought about a home business, that I think would work, especially since I only have time on Saturdays. Remember that I told you I wanted to make cookie dough put it in a jar and give it to people for gifts. What if I make the cookie dough and the cookies and sell it to those that I know (to start out selling it to unknown people would be a lot of hassle, because of health stipulations, but no one can get me, if I do a friend a favor, or even their friends favors.... etc). I could get cute jars in different sizes at a whole saler and sell them filled with yummy cookie dough and also bake muffins and stuff (American stuff sells well here).... let me know what you think, especially Jordis input would be awesome.
Sushi

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I'm not Jordis, but I think it's a great idea. Sounds like the start-up costs would be minimal, and the success probable. Sounds like you know your market and should do well.
One thought, though--make sure you research carefully the cost of your ingredients and keep very careful accounts. The thing about a business of selling products is that if you don't price carefully, you can actually lose money on sales. Of course, you also don't want to price it so high that nobody wants to buy it. But, on the other hand, you want to price high enough that people perceive a good value (ironically, when items are priced too low, people tend to perceive their value as also being low--you get what you pay for kind of thing).
But, once you figure out pricing and make the initial effort, it sounds like a great idea.
Good luck!!
Heather
Hello Heather....
reason I wanted Jordis input is, cause she is in Germany too :). I was calculating, playing around a little, you know production cost vs. sales profit... and I figure if I spend 5 Euros on ingredients, and get about 6 jars for 5 a piece out of it, then I made a profit of 25 Euros. I don't know if I would get 5 jars out of it though, I'd have to try that out and if the size jar justifies a 5 Euro value. But then... no one makes Neimann Marcus cookies (yes, the urban legend online cookie) like me. We had a bakesale at church and 2 ladies from church bought the whole batch.
I could also sell apple pies, premade and ready for baking in the oven (but only if I get orders for them). Carrot cakes and cup-cakes would be an idea too... the possibilites are limitless. If I couple that with craft items (like I show a potential customer my brandnew counted cross-stitch sampler, crochet afghan or quilt) who knows... and that works the other way around too. If I advertize crafts for sale at the infoboards in grocery-stores and I get potential customer to come by, I bake a pie and, "oh hello, please do come in and look at this fabulous quilt. Would you like to try a piece of apple-pie, fresh baked, which I incidently sell as well" well you get the idea.... what do you think? (I don't know about the health department though. If I tell the potential customer that the quantity of pies I sell is not enough to involve the health-department, I could probably get by.)
What do you think?
Sushi
I have a home business (antiques). It's small, but I have done it for nearly 10 years. It takes a lot of time and money.
For the type of business you are thinking of, I have the following suggestions:
Be sure you are able to price well (40-50% of the price should be profit for you, without the price being unrealistically high). For example, if you charge $7.99 for a jar, make sure you didn't spend more than $4 on the supplies. Of course, this doesn't take into account your time--but if you are enjoying yourself and turning $25 into $50 or $50 into $100, you might just be able to think of it as a lucrative hobby.
Ask for 50-60% of the money up front (to pay for your supplies). This way you will not have a cash flow problem, AND if your customer backs out of the sale-even friends and family are sometimes not exempt from this behavior!-you will not be in the hole :)
Think of one thing that makes your product really special and sets you apart from all others. Some little added touch like a mini cookie cutter or a really special ingredient or an unusual jar.
Hope this helps a little
BK
Hello BK,
thank you for your fabulous ideas. I have already thought about it and like I said, I played around a little and figured that I could make 5 or 6 jars of cookie dough for 5 Euros + 5 Euros for 6 glas jars (I saw something like that the other day, but it could be less too, if I get them wholesale, I would have to check). All in all I have 10 Euro production cost and would get 5 to 6 jars out of it which I would sell for 3 to 5 euros a jar, depending on size. So I think I have a pretty good profit-margin here. The idea of asking for a down-payment is great. Production cost on the apple-pies are pretty close to non-existant, because I get the apples out of my mother's yard :). So that leaves the home-made pie crust and the pie-dishes (which are more like pizza-dishes 5 for 2.20) so if I ask 5 to 7.5 per pie, I should come out ahead as well. I would have to write a business plan and figure out production cost and such, before I submerge myself in it.
I think what I have here is a novel idea. I don't know of anyone who sells American baked goods, much less ready to bake, or prebaked, whichever the customer prefers, or custom-made American crafts. I think it may just work out. I just want to do it part-time, to have a little extra income a month. We'll see how it goes.
Thanks for your advice.
Sushi
Sounds great, Sushi! How cool that you get apples out of your Mom's yard. I love when I get boxes of too-ripe apples for next to nothing at the farmer's market. I juice them with my Champion juicer, along with a clove or two of garlic (which you can barely taste, adds a pleasant bite to the juice), and it keeps us healthy and mosquito-free. I swear by three cloves of RAW garlic to cure any infection or illness, especially anything involving the respiratory system (sinuses, colds, etc.). And fresh-juiced apples is the most palatable way I know of to get three cloves of raw garlic down.
I also freeze the apples for pies, and I'd like to learn to make apple jelly for canning. I would love a source of free apples like that!
Anyway, your plan sounds terrific. My only caution is to be careful not to overwhelm yourself with too many projects at once. Keep your focus on one or two items, and get really good at that. Then expand your offerings as you feel able. Although it's tempting to want to do everything, feeling that you don't want to miss any possible market, it's too easy to get overwhelmed and you aren't able to focus on getting really good at any one thing.
But overall I love the idea and wish you the best of luck with it.
Blessings,
Heather
Hello Sushi,
I don't know much about the health department in Germany, but when I was in France, I have bought lots of prepared food from a "farmers' market" in the outskirts of Paris. They have duck stew, soup, in jars and I doubt if they are all inspected by the health department. Depends on how consistent the laws are in the EU, it may be similar in Germany so your small scale production of cookie dough could be O.K. The only difference I can think of is these people who sell stew and soup in jars are farmers and farmers have a lot of political clout in France (therefore they may be exempt from certain regulations).
Also, instead of spending a lot of money for a crafts and baked goodies business, you may want to focus on one thing first and test the market a bit. Otherwise just buy 5 or 10 jars first (even if the cost per jar will be higher than buying 50 jars at once). See how well they sell before committing yourself to ordering supplies wholesale. You may also have to spend a little money up front and give out free samples. Many years ago I had a sideline business of making wedding cakes and birthday cakes and cookies. I would make cupcake-size wedding cakes and miniture cookies and give them to friends before they actually ordered.
cindylee
Thank you all for your advice. Maybe I did get a little carried away... I'm gonna think it over and then start small, like you said. I was thinking cookies first. Also, instead of glass-jars, I could get plastic containers (you know the ones you get at the deli). I could get those wholesale for roughly 5 Euros for 50, I would say. So that way I could sell the cookies cheaper... I definitely have to develop a plan for all of this.... keep the ideas coming....
thank you all
Sushi
Oh!--but what if you combined the 2 things (crafts and food)?
I don't know what kind of crafting you enjoy, but I'm thinking of something along the lines of cross-stitching simple designs onto paper canvas tags for your jars?
This is fun :)
oooohhh that is a cute idea. Where would I get paper-canvas though being in Germany. That creates a problem, but I have a lot of regular canvas scraps :). got to think about that one. I could make the picture of a cookie and specify what kind of dough it is. I do enjoy cross stitching, that is for sure.
Sushi
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