Cold calling/Door to Door Fresh Food Business

Lloyd Xmas wrote: »

The best way to find out if this'll work, is to simply forget about HACCP, insurance etc... and just go at it for a trial period of one weekday and one Saturday.

Make the exact amount of your intended product that you need to sell on either day in order to turn over a suitable profit.

Choose the number of hours you're going to work on both days, and stick to it. At the end of each day, you'll have a fair idea of whether or not this is going to work.

There's no point doing all the hard work and slaving away with regulation, websites, materials etc... only to quickly find out that it ain't viable.

I personally think that you could do well out of it if you package your product nicely, and it tastes good of course!

Why not maybe choose a particular area like Blackrock perhaps; where there's a truckload of "Desperate Housewives" who don't work and who have a few quid for niche stuff like this

On your first day, bring your product along to sell; but also bring along tiny samples of the real thing, just to offer people a bitesize before they buy. You'll know right there and then if its a runner or not.

I think the fact that your Irish and your getting up of your ar$e to give something a go, will go down well with people also.

You could also try getting it into a couple of the small shops in Blackrock Village while your there... no formal arrangement, just a "see how we go" setup from both parties!

I wish you the very best of luck with it.

That is an excellent idea, however tho only problem with it is that my product needs a refrigerated van to transport it in and in my area I can only find a transit sized van for rental at €180 per day which is too expensive for me at the minute. I could do it with a refrigerated box I suppose but then the whole look of my operation would be very amateurish and could damage my reputation as being a serious business.
Thanks again to everybody for their comments, I have taken something from them all, as I mentioned in another post I did not know how to go about doing market research for this idea other than actually knocking on doors but this thread has given me a small idea of what the market could be like.
I know I am being a bit vague about the product but I just dont want to give too much away at this stage but here is as good a description as I can give.

The product will be handmade, including some ingredients that are almost 100% factory/bulk produced in competitors products. I will use only natural, possibly organic ingredients if organic is the way to go, I am not a fan of organic myself, I feel it is a buzzword that allows you to charge more while adding little to the product. It will be perishable with a shelf life of about 5 days. It is something most people like and there will be a variety to suit peoples tastes.
It will be delivered in a clean refrigerated van with an attractive logo and a basic but catchy name. I will wear a uniform of sorts, not decided on what but something carrying the name and logo, I wont be just landing to the door in jeans and a tshirt.
I will go for a website as I can do it for free and I feel it will also add a modern twist to an old fashioned system of selling. The website can give a good description of the product that I would not be able to fit on a door to door flyer, of which there will be a semi regular delivery if affordable. Although the website may not bring me loads of business it may encourage some repeat business if anyone actually checks it out. It will also add to the professional look of the business.
As mentioned, there will be flyer delivery with a full listing of the product varieties available, I am wondering about the possibility of doing deliveries on order like a takeaway, that is just an idea in my head at the minute( as is the rest I suppose).
I am also toying of the idea of asking my friend to come in with me on it. He is also a chef and is single/no kids so he has loads of time and less distractions than me. It would free up a lot of my time saving me working 12 hour days, six days a week. I know what people would say about going into partnership with a friend and I know he would drive me mad at times but it would be nice to have a bit of craic while I am doing all this and he might also get me up off my arse to actually do this if I can get him onboard, plus he would have to bring in some of the start up cash. I would only ask him for 40% so I could still retain control in the direction of the business, I have put too much time and thought into this to just give control away. I will give him 50% of the business but the final decision has to be mine, not sure how to get this point across without making it sound like I am going to be his boss.

I understand what you mean by starting small and not investing too much at the start but my start up costs are quite low except for the refrigerated van that is absolutely necessary to do anything, farmers markets, door to door, deliveries etc.
Without the van I can do nothing, this requires an initial investment and there is no way around this. I have had one priced at €6500, after that all I need is ingredients, diesel and a bit of advertising. They cost about €800 to rent for a week. The business partner would make it easier to get this and half my losses if it came to nothing. Even then we could sell it and make some of the money back, or use it for some other business idea we might come up with to make use of a refrigerated van.
As some people have said on this thread they would not buy from just anybody landing at their door selling food, that is why I would like to make it look like a serious operation from the start.
The partner would also allow me to increase the number of hours that the product can be sold as I can only do so much work myself.