Your opinion on new business venture

Cardar1

Hi folks, I'm currently working on a business venture to produce and sell good quality, great tasting homemade jam, marmaldes and dressings and I would love to get peoples opinion on whether this is a good idea or not. Are people happy with the crappy jams and marmalades that are mass produced and sold in supermarkets and shops or would people pay that little extra for homemade produce? Do you think house calling with these products would work?

D.W

Hi Cardar1,
your first problem could be health and safety if you are talking about producing your products at home but perhaps you already are aware of this pitfall.

I do know in my own area-Wexford quite a few people/companies do already professionally produce these cottage industry type products and appear to do well-but although they are relativly small set ups they are well run and have taken time to get established. Not sure a door to door approach would be worth the effort to be honest.

Cardar1

Thanks for the reply DW,
Yeah I'm aware of the H&S side of it alright and thanks for your opinion on the door to door sales. Can I ask, do you think people would prefer the homemade products as opposed to the supermarket brands even if they had to pay that little bit extra (even though we are in a recession)??

Peanut

It sounds like a very competitive market. I'm not sure that big a % of customers would care enough about it tasting better.

Probably a good idea to go into health food shops or places like Fallon & Byrne in Dublin to get a feel for what's currently on the market, in terms of the 'premium' section.

I think to make this work, you would need a strong way to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Considering the forum, are you thinking of selling this over the net, maybe internationally?

Cardar1

Thanks for the reply Peanut,
Yes, that's definitely part of the plan. When I googled home made irish jams the little chip brand came up and I felt that there might be a market for real home made jams over the net and internationally

Gambler

There's a few threads about setting up a catering\food business in the Entrepreneurial forum if you do a search that might be of use:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=106

Cardar1

Thanks Gambler, appreciated.

Truss

Your success with your business will depend on what your goal is with the business - how much do you plan to make with this? Live off of it?

I do not mean to be negative but to be honest I can't see you living off door to door sales of jams and marmalades - it may be worth a once off to get the name out there but to continue door to door is tricky, are you going to do it 5 days a week? Calling to same estates/houses once a month? I have delivered leaflets in my college days and carrying jams around with you to sell would wear you down - could put them in car though.

I personally would not buy jam off someone calling to my house - when would you do it? During the day you're cutting out people at work (though there are less of them now) or do it in evening you are getting people around dinner and I know people HATE anyone selling anything calling at that time, sales door to door are difficult but no harm as a starting point.

As far as pay that little bit extra - I personally wouldn't, jam and marmalade are not a particular concern to me or I would say a lot of people right now.

Source your competitors doing homemade stuff, how do they get their product out there?

Are there any fairs you could set up a stall? Also at your local shopping centres - could you set up stall there either? Market places around your county? Surrounding counties?

Hope I wasn't overly negative!

Best of luck with it though!

p

Cardar1 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply DW,
Yeah I'm aware of the H&S side of it alright and thanks for your opinion on the door to door sales. Can I ask, do you think people would prefer the homemade products as opposed to the supermarket brands even if they had to pay that little bit extra (even though we are in a recession)??

Why don't you put on a shirt, go make some samples of jam and go ask people. Much better to actually give someone a taste of some jam and ask if people would pay a premium for it.

No point wasting time second guessing people when you can ask them directly.