There are two types of people in the food industry:
Those who buy it.
Those who make it.
Ultimately, every food lover is left wondering whether they could bring something new to the market. It’s easy to consider a small food business when you are passionate about ingredients, recipes, and sharing them with people. Food trucks are a common place to start, but there are other options. You could start your food venture as a recipe specialist, preparing only a handful of ingredients for the market. Alternatively, you could also address a gap in your local market, in terms of food offering. Here are some of the things you want to consider to differentiate your food side hustle.
#1. Get familiar with market data
Starting a food business is as much about enjoying quality ingredients as understanding the Food Services industry data. Having a blast in the kitchen isn’t enough to make your venture relevant. You need to gain a full understanding of the current market trends and expectations.
#2. Vary cooking equipment
There’s the idea of doing only one thing well, such as Five Guys and its inimitable burger business. However, when you start a small venture, you need to prepare for a variety of situations. For instance, a lot of small food businesses prefer to work extensively with seasonal market ingredients to keep their costs low. However, this means that you need to be able to vary your cooking style – and therefore equipment – to make the most of each ingredient. Soft and tender asparagus tips, for instance, can be sauteed to perfection. Yet toward the end of the season, asparagus can get hard and woody. You would need to bake them into a souffle, for example, to enhance their texture and flavors.
#3. Consider smart packaging solutions
Are you going to sell your food on the high street? Smart packaging is the way to go. Yet, you can turn your packaging into a marketing campaign. A wooden box for your wine bottles could become a birdhouse, for example. Or you can make the packaging part of the end product, such as making sure customers can keep their fingers clean when grabbing a slice of pizza.
#4. Make it easy to order online
If you are tempted by the food truck sector, why not make it easy for your customers to order food. Not everyone wants to wait outside while their food is being cooked. But you can publish your menu on UberEats or use another app that keeps food at their fingertips!
#5. Have good portion sizes
If you are familiar with restaurants, you’ve probably noticed how dull the kid’s menu can be. Adults can choose between dozens of delicious dishes, but kids often have a simple choice between steak and fries or pasta. It’s unfair to ignore young foodies! Many children love to try new flavors. Rather than differentiating by age, why not create a menu that offers different portions? Kids and light eaters could pick the small portions without missing out on the tasty experience.
Are you ready to launch your food business? With the food market constantly growing, there’s plenty of room for newcomers, as long as they can bring new and exciting ideas. From offering a seasonally changing menu to making your packaging work harder, it only takes one brilliant idea to get noticed!
