Good luck and enjoy — the best to all of you!
— Mimi
1
Location and Space
The first step in starting a home-based food business is deciding whether your kitchen is up to the task. You may already be aware that you need to find a bigger kitchen to do your work. This chapter will help you decide what will work best for you and how to utilize the space you have.
1. Start Your Business in Your Kitchen
Most home kitchens have the basics — hot and cold running water, a decent floor with solid walls — which can be used for home-based food production. Even a tiny apartment-sized kitchen can work well enough to get you started. (See section 1.1 for how to work in a small space.) If you don’t have a good working stove or refrigerator, it’s still possible to start a business with a product that needs no appliances. Chapter 2 has suggestions to get you started.
I strongly suggest that if you have no food service background but are interested in starting this enterprise, start by using your existing kitchen. Don’t remodel until”1.1 Storage and work space in your home” you are sure that starting a home-based food business is what you want to do.
It’s wonderful to have the ability to earn income just by using your kitchen. Just make sure that you, or anyone else using the kitchen, understand that business foods must be handled differently than personal foods. For example, dipping a finger into the chocolate filling may be tempting, but spreading germs and bacteria can adversely affect your customers. One sick customer can make you a target for the health department and put you out of business.
1.1 Storage and work space in your home
If you have a lot of storage space in your home, your biggest problem may be organization. Designate and label certain areas or shelves as “Business.” Everything should be dated and labeled with contents.
Let anyone using the kitchen know your rules — this includes guests who might wander in while you’re not around and help themselves to the rolls and salad you’ve just prepared for the next day’s delivery.
If you don’t have enough storage, look around your home for creative ways to turn unused space into business space. Your health inspector visits many other home-based food businesses, and might have suggestions for unusual storage ideas he or she has observed.
Nonfood items such as packaging materials can be stored anywhere. Perhaps the dining room can hold a cabinet or shelves; use the top shelf in a linen closet; or keep a few things on a shelf under your table. Food that’s been opened needs to stay in the kitchen, pantry, or dining room, but unopened bags and boxes of ingredients can be left in their original containers and stored elsewhere. Be careful that you don’t forget what you have and buy too much; an inventory list can be helpful but you must remember to keep it updated or it won’t be of any help.
It is also important that you do not store food near moisture or in unsanitary surroundings, even if the packages are sealed. I walked into a friend’s bathroom and saw five bags of sugar in her bathtub. She said there’d never been a problem but the potential is there. Note that a health inspector would not approve of this situation, so it’s not a good idea to store food products in the bathroom.
Never store food directly on the floor; it’s unsanitary and a health code violation in every locality I’m aware of. Check with your health inspector to see how many inches of clearance above the floor is needed and make or buy small pallets on which to stack your goods. Then you can easily clean under the pallets with a broom or vacuum without having to move everything. Garden centers and discount stores have plant trolleys that can be used as pallets. They roll, can hold a lot of weight, and work well for small spaces.
Preferably, keep all your small baking equipment (e.g., measuring cups, spoons, spatulas) in a central basket or tub. Do the same with the small cans, jars, and boxes of ingredients such as salt, baking powder, baking soda, and extracts. When you’re ready to work, all you do is take out the tub or basket of tools and the container for equipment.
Having lots of work and storage space is ideal but if you have only a small place, you must be creative. Think about the kinds of foods you can produce that take up less production space. If counter and table space is tight, get a folding table or two. If the refrigerator is small, stay away from recipes requiring refrigeration of ingredients, or substitute shelf-stable ingredients. Instead of whole milk, use the less expensive powdered milk; buttermilk also comes in powdered form; or use water, coffee, juices, or teas. Limit your product line to items that use the same basic ingredients to save space. See Chapter 11, section 4., for more information about multifunctional recipes.
2. Finding a Kitchen Outside Your Home
You can still have a home-based food business even if you must use another location for production. Your home can be used as the business base, from where you conduct your business, keep your books, and correspond with clients and suppliers. If you find the laws regulating homemade food production in your locality prohibit you from pursuing work in your own kitchen, there are some ways to deal with your particular problems without having the expense of renovation or renting a retail storefront. (For more information on laws and zoning, see Chapter 4.)
When you are looking for a work space outside your home, you will need to consider what the place offers you. Each facility will be set up differently; the place you decide on should have the basic equipment and work space sufficient for your needs.
If you are going to leave any supplies at the site, it’s advisable to have a locked storage area to prevent both theft and contamination. If you cannot safely store your items there, you will need to transport these items each time you go to the production site. Don’t rely on your memory. Make a master list of all your supplies and check everything off before you go, and again when you leave the site.
The following sections discuss options for the use of a kitchen outside your home.
2.1 Kitchen incubators and shared kitchens
Small food businesses are a growing trend. To accommodate these entrepreneurial start-ups, a relatively new business model is developing. Centers known by various names — small business development centers, food innovation centers, kitchen incubators, food ventures, or shared kitchens — are being created to help support new (or young and growing) food businesses. These places are licensed facilities and are equipped for commercial production. Most of these centers also offer business guidance.
Each facility is different and has its own rules and prerequisites. Some expect you to have a business certificate before signing up; some offer a complete package of business and production help; and some let users sign up for only the services they need. These facilities used to be found only in large cities or were associated with universities or nonprofit organizations. But new ones continue to open, and many are now private, for-profit businesses.
In the Resources in Appendix III you will find a list of such facilities in the US and in Canada. You can also do an Internet search for any new facilities which continue to open.
For entrepreneurs without the expertise or money to invest in a full-scale business, using an incubator kitchen is a wonderful way to start, especially since many of these centers offer basic business and production help. It can be just the support you need to be successful.
If using an incubator kitchen interests you, be aware that it will involve fees. While this is less expensive than renting a storefront, you will need some capital to go this route.
If you are kitchen savvy (perhaps you’ve already worked in commercial food service or have a culinary degree), there might be a facility near you