The food blog: How to set up a food business

Food business mentor Monique Borst writes about how to turn a passion for food into a top-selling business.
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Monique Borst1 March 2013

London’s food business scene is in rude health. From fledgling ‘queso fresco’ (fresh cheese) makers, vegan cupcake bakers and street food vans to bigger stories like Neal’s Yard Dairy, Rococo chocolates and The Monmouth Coffee Company, there are examples everywhere of successful food business start-ups in this city.

Recent years have seen a sharp rise in food start-ups by ex-City, media and medical professionals who have become disillusioned with their career and want to follow their own dreams or spend their redundancy package on starting a food business, shrewdly aware of the momentum that is currently behind these. I know from experience that new entrepreneurs can spend a long time floundering and this is what prompted me last year to launch my ‘food business start-up boot camp’ helping them to generate ideas, draft business plans and develop marketing strategies.

One breakthrough foodpreneur who got off the corporate wheel to capture the zeitgeist is marketing and strategy consultant turned cheese maker Kristen Schnepp who set up ‘Gringa Dairy’ (gringadairy.com) in Peckham to supply authentic Mexican cheese to London’s growing band of Mexican restaurants. I met her in July 2012, she began making cheese in February 2013 and now has plans for a full range.

With an abundance of support from food hall and supermarket buyers - and also organisations like Start-up Britain, Smarta, Escape the City, Wayra which are encouraging entrepreneurship - who realise innovation is coming from kitchen tables and start-ups, there is an ever increasing number of food markets and events in London. This has made getting started as a foodpreneur much easier. A mobile venture means you have relatively low start-up costs and overheads compared with bricks-and-mortar, you are meeting customers and getting constant feedback. It also gives you the opportunity to test your ideas and, in doing so, ask yourself: 'do I really want to do this?'

It was thanks to a customer that Asif Walli’s products are now stocked in Fortnum & Mason. Having tried them elsewhere, someone called the department store asking if the Duke of Delhi (dukeofdelhi.com) Bombay mix-style snacks were stocked there. Intrigued, the shop set up a meeting and soon after began stocking his mixes. This was in December 2012. He has since sold out three times, selling 1000 tins in December alone.

But don't believe that an amazing product is all that you need to get the product sold: a realistic business plan and a marketing strategy to give your business the best chance of being seen and heard are critical, too, besides sheer bloody-minded conviction and determination.

To join Monique Borst’s Food Business Start-Up Boot Camp on March 23-24 in Covent Garden, visit moniqueborst.com for more details.

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