Jean's Blog

Sell Yourself: Cooking Up Profits

Posted by Arielle

Last week, we talked crafting.  But maybe you don’t know how to sew, aren’t a graphic designer by any means, or couldn’t knit if your life depended on it.  Maybe what you do really, really well is pie.  Or cookies.  Or fantastically decorated birthday cakes for friends and family members.

I have a good friend who falls into the cake category.  Her creations are incredible, and they pop up at every party.  She made a salted caramel layer cake for my birthday, and I haven’t gotten it out of my mind since.  She’s constructed robots, porcupines, even hamburgers out of cake, and I’ve nudged her to make it her career again and again.  The question is, can she sell these labors of love?  Can you sell yours?

Admittedly, with food, it gets a bit trickier.  There aren’t many health hazards associated with a handmade scarf, but baked goods, homemade jam, and anything else that comes out of your kitchen has the potential to make people sick, even if you’re as careful as can be.

So, while this is a bigger undertaking than setting up a simple Etsy shop, it’s certainly not out of reach, particularly if your goal is to dip a toe in the water before taking your cookie-making business full-time. A great place to start is Foodzie.

Foodzie is a relatively new site that lets small food producers, like you, sell their products direct to consumers.  You can buy cookies, breads, jams, nuts, spices, granola – you name it (just a word of warning – if you like food, as I do, it’s relatively dangerous.  I spent more time than I’d like to admit browsing while researching this post).

Applying to have your own shop will require a bit of an investment, as well as administrative hoop jumping for consumer protection, similar to what  stores would require to sell at retail level.  You must be licensed by your state, adhere to health regulations, and have $1 million dollars of general and product liability insurance.  The insurance coverage is cheaper than it sounds – $2 million of coverage will run you a few hundred dollars a year, says Susie Wyshak, Food Artisan Relations Manager for the site.  As for the state licensing requirement, the rules, well, vary by state.  You can generally find your state’s policy through either the Department of Agriculture or the Department of Health.  For example, New York’s requirements are here.  This site from the National Center for Home Food Preservation is also a good place to get started on your research.  And Foodzie is happy to lend a hand if you need additional resources.

Some states will require you to prepare your food in a licensed, commercial kitchen, which isn’t the deal breaker you may think it is, says Wyshak.  “It’s possible to get creative and rent space from existing licensed kitchens – such as in the off hours at a catering kitchen.”  Particularly in this economy, many businesses may be more than willing to strike a deal for a bit of extra income.

Once you’ve ironed out these details, you can submit your application to Foodzie.  If your shop is accepted, you may start listing your items.  There’s no cost to list, but you’ll pay a 20% commission on each sale and a fifty cent transaction fee.  Foodzie handles all the credit card processing and shipping label generation for you.

Sound like something that might work for you?  I asked veteran Foodzie seller and pastry chef Annie Baker (yes, that’s her real name) for her tips for building a successful shop.  Her story is inspiring if you’re considering a reinvention:  Baker spent ten years as an accountant in Chicago, and frequently brought her homemade, dough-like cookies into the office.  She was constantly told by co-workers that she was in the wrong business, and eventually took their advice, moving with her husband to Napa Valley, California to attend the Culinary Institute of America.  After graduation, she worked as a pastry chef, then started selling her cookies at various farmer’s markets.  She now sells five varieties of cookies on Foodzie, under the name Annie the Baker.  Here’s her advice to potential Foodzie sellers:

• Make your product unique.  Baker’s cookies aren’t your average Toll House variety.  They taste, literally, like cookie dough, but they also look different, which is important when you’re selling in an online format.  Hers are slightly mounded, more round than flat, and that, she says, intrigues people.
• Get personal.  All of Foodie’s shops look every similar, but you can upload an image of yourself or your business’s logo.  You can also  add press quotes and talk about your background – why your products are as good as they are, what your likes and dislikes are – so customers can relate to you.  Baker, for instance, talks about her love of cookie dough, which inspired her to produce a cookie with a similar texture.
• Create a presentation.  Sure, you can write a mouth-watering description, and you should.  But you should also take mouth-watering pictures to inspire sales.  When customers can’t see them in person, a picture is the next best thing.
• Spread the word.  Tell your friends and family members where they can purchase your products, and ask them to tell their friends. You don’t have – or, quite honestly, need – an advertising budget, but you should make sure people know about your new venture.
• Package it right.  It can be very hard – and expensive – to ship food, particularly perishable items.  You want to make your packaging attractive, but it also needs to get the goods there in perfect, fresh condition.  This might take a few trial runs – send some free cookies to your grandmother, or a friend across the country.  You should also provide excellent customer service, because there will be problems – they’re simply unavoidable.  Make sure customers know that you’ll issue a refund or replace products that don’t arrive as intended.
• Use social media.  I mentioned this in the Etsy post, but it’s applicable here as well.  Set up a Facebook page for your business, Twitter about your products, send samples to popular food bloggers for them to test and review on their sites. Anything you can do to spread the word beyond your immediate circle will come back to you in spades.