Tuesday 5 March 2013

Starting Up A Food-Based Mail Order Business

By Keren Kipfer


If you want to open up your own mail order food business, there are many steps that you need to take before you start taking orders. Here are a few quick tips that can help you get organized and ready to tackle the world of owning your own business.

Your first step should be to create a solid business plan. This will include a general mission statement as well as a ton of details, from listing what products you will sell to where they will be produced to how many employees you will need, as well as your goals. Typically, it is best to start small by selling just one or two excellent products and slowly expanding.

When it comes to food, you really need to think about packaging. An attractive package makes your food item look much more palatable, so unless you are a very gifted artist, hire someone else to create the design for the labels and packages. Unless you build websites for a living, you also will need to hire someone to build a website, and it needs to include a shopping cart so that consumers can easily make purchases.

All of this costs money, so unless you have a huge amount of disposable income, you will need to obtain a bank loan or perhaps encourage people to invest in your business. Before you meet with any potential investor, you need to create a presentation package that includes your business plan, goals, packaging mock-ups, and it wouldn't hurt to offer a sample of the product. In addition, each state requires a business license, so you need to look into what that entails based upon your local laws.

Whatever type of food item you sell will need to be imprinted with a product id. This id will list information such as a specific batch number, serial numbers, and date and time coding. To do this you will need a special type of printer, which is also called a coder. These words can be used interchangeably. The coders can be either continuous inkjet (CIJ) or drop-on-demand (DOD) printers, and there are many brands, including Maxima, Altima, Domino and more. These coders can print on glass, plastic, cardboard and all other types of packaging and even directly on foods such as eggs.

While purchasing a coder is an expense, there are several product id companies that sell refurbished and new models at lower prices than you could find directly from a manufacturer. In addition to the lower priced printers, find a firm that also sells ink and all the necessary make-up fluid at discounted prices. This is a far less expensive option than purchasing ink and other supplies directly from the manufacturer of your printer.




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