Getting started selling

Faith

I'm a reasonably good baker - people seem to enjoy what I make, anyway! So I've been half-thinking for a long time of starting to sell things to the public. Markets and car boot sales have been suggested, but I'm just wondering if anyone can offer any advice? Do you need a licence or anything to sell food at car boot sales etc?

Acoshla

Hi Faith,

First of all if you want to sell you have to be HSE Registered, well, you should be, a lot of people aren't but I think it's a must. This is easily done, contact your local Environmental Health Officer and tell them what you want to do, they will come out and inspect your kitchen, tell you what procedures need to be put in place and if there's anything else you need.

You need a market licence to trade at markets I think, a lot of them also ask for public liability insurance, but some have umbrella insurance that you can pay towards. If in a while you decided to do a lot of selling you should get product liability insurance too, again really you should have this from the start but I know how it is, you don't want to fork out a lot until you know whether or not you will be continuing to do it. I don't know anything about car boot sales though, sorry.

nesbitt

My Mother's local shop in a North Dublin suburb sells home made apple tarts supplied by a lady in Co. Meath. She has an agreement with the shop owner. They sell out each Thursday..... This might be worth investigating in your area. Could you sell at the local shops/sports club/GAA club/kids football?

Just a thought:)

muckety

I'm in a similar situation - looking into selling at the farmers market. Advice i was given was that farmers markets and country markets have a different requirement to selling from, say, a shop. You still need to be passed by the HSE, but their requirement is much less stringent for this purpose (home kitchen OK but if selling through a shop you need to meet the full commercial requirements, ie stainless steel surfaces etc).

I understood Public liability insurance is either a pre-req by the market or recommended as otherwise if someone sues you, you won't have cover and may be liable for a huge payout... or both!

What are you planning to bake? I'm interested to work out what a) sells well and b) gives a good profit (I'm in a different part of the country so we won' tbe in competition!). My initial ideas are - chocolate tarts or tartlets; lemon tarts; iced buns (aka cupcakes but i hate calling them that); fruit/cream pavlova (not sure how to package though).

Acoshla

A friend of mine sells to various shops and cafe's and works from a HSE registered domestic kitchen.

phormium

Pavlova would be a no no unless you are just selling the meringue case. Fresh cream carries more stringent regulations and refrigeration requirements.

Faith

This all sounds very complicated for a hobby . I may just have to sell to friends!