Cooks to market - what to do next?

mini cooper

This T.V. programme was shown on sky living last year. Did anyone see it?

Cooks to Market gives amateur cooks the chance to turn their homemade food products into a life changing business. Following in the footsteps of companies like Innocent Smoothies and Ben and Jerry’s, which both started life on a market stall, the show will help turn a culinary passion into a successful business venture. Each episode will feature two pairs of cooks who will go head to head, working against the clock as they try to sell their products and make the highest profit. The pair who succeeds will then be given the opportunity to pitch their products in front of a line-up of industry of buyers.

My question here today is regarding a very nice unique tasting Christmas pudding recipe i have & wish to bring to market. How do I go about this without me having to become a business myself?

I would require someone who is all-ready established as a baker or cook/chef to become interested in acquiring the tried & tested recipe from me & for them to make themselves under their own brand & for me to receive a small % of sales for all puddings sold.

As an amateur cook & as a seasonal hobby only, I make these for family & friends on request, & also sell them at local Christmas craft fairs, I do have a good customer base & would like to see it become a business some day for someone.
I had a great Christmas in 2013 and sold out of everything again, I could not keep up with requests, for all products. as I am doing everything on my own it makes it very hard to keep up to speed....not a bad complaint.

I have the original recipe, a gluten& wheat & dairy free version also.

I have an egg free version also, I have a recipe for Christmas pudding cheesecake also using the above puddings, a Christmas pudding ice-cream recipe & Christmas pudding cake-pops recipe again using the above puddings.

It has an appeal to all customer types, the young the old, those with food allergies.

Any ideas anyone? as I don't think I am going to get noticed on cooks to market (Irish version) as I don't think R.T.E. or T.V. 3 or TG4 are ever going to make it?

Gloomtastic!

mini cooper wrote: »

How do I go about this without me having to become a business myself?

Why don't you want to become a business?

mini cooper

I do not wish to become a business as I am lucky enough thank god to have a full time office job, cooking is just a very enjoyable hobby to me that I am quite passionate about.

Graham

You hope to trade/sell your recipe in return for a royalty payment for every pudding sold?

mini cooper

yes something like that, or someone might have another idea? might be good for someone looking for tried & tested recipes
starting up an Artisan bakery or small Artisan food company.

Atomico

mini cooper wrote: »

yes something like that, or someone might have another idea? might be good for someone looking for tried & tested recipes
starting up an Artisan bakery or small Artisan food company.

Seriously doubt this could work! I don't know much about the area but I am guessing if you give your recipe to someone they will just modify it slightly and make it their own and keep 100% of all their earnings.

It doesn't seem to make sense to me. If I had a great recipe which everyone loved, I wouldn't really expect someone else to take it and give me a cut of each sale in return for doing nothing! It's not like a software product or piece of technology that can be patented or licensed.

Also I don't see the connection between Cooks to Market and your proposal?

mini cooper

sometimes people are lucky enough to turn their hobby's/passions into something that someone else can see some real potential in even if they have to let go of it for someone to give it life.

Like people who do this for their everyday livelihood, cooking that is. I am lucky to have a full time office job & love to experiment in the kitchen in my free time, just looking for some guidance & ideas in-case anyone is interested?

If an Irish T.V. producer was to do a cooks to market type show here, then I might try to bring it to someone's attention that way, I am just putting out a feeler of how I should proceed with my idea? so if I don't become a business I can not proceed in anyway?

I have to keep it real here & keep my regular job that pays the bills all year round not just for the 2 months people think about & buy Christmas puddings, you wouldn't be getting rich off it anyway I don't think. It's just a nice recipe that people seam to like & has many uses.

Gloomtastic!

Christmas puds last for months. Make them in your spare time throughout the year and sell them in December. Or get someone else to sell them. You'll probably need a professional kitchen though.

Peterdalkey

OP, you are absolutely right to keep the day job, this is not a busienss opportunity for you or anyone else. If I were a Plum Pud maker and Rachael or Nevin or Nigella were interested in a a recipe/branding deal, I could be very interested in a tie up. A No-name = No value!

mini cooper

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Christmas puds last for months. Make them in your spare time throughout the year and sell them in December. Or get someone else to sell them. You'll probably need a professional kitchen though.

Hi thanks for positive reply, however I don't think I could do it that way,

The pudding is a stout/beer based flavored pudding and I don't think it would last for months at a time it is not the same as using spirits as a preserve,

most Christmas cakes & puddings are either dowsed in whisky, brandy, rum, ect, ect every few weeks (feeding it) and yes this type will last the 12 months of the year.
However the same people who come back year after year to me are looking for the beer/stout based pudding taste & it's not the ingredient listing either that makes my puddings any different to anyone else's I think it's the method of how its put together that makes it a little different.

I have not seen this method done any where else on recipes. It makes a moist, flavorsome taste that lingers in your mouth long after you have eaten it. It's a handed down recipe from a family member.

mini cooper

Peterdalkey wrote: »

OP, you are absolutely right to keep the day job, this is not a busienss opportunity for you or anyone else. If I were a Plum Pud maker and Rachael or Nevin or Nigella were interested in a a recipe/branding deal, I could be very interested in a tie up. A No-name = No value!

That's a good idea thanks, but all celeb chef's/cooks have their own recipes that they lend their names to for use in supermarkets ect,
So I don't quite know about that..i did try to bring it to some of their attentions by e-mail with no response...I did try.

sawdoubters

your market is too small Christmas pudding is about 1 week maybe 2


cost of ingredients,will kill you,the big companies buy for 25% of your price


how much better can your product be than any one elses

a better line would be birthday cakes,cheaper ingredients a whole year market or wedding cakes


https://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=christmas-pudding


http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-christmas-pudding.html


http://recipewise.co.uk/christmas-pudding-traditional-recipe

Graham

The product is almost irrelevant here. The chances of another chef buying someone's recipe are about zero, a food production company would have a laboratory kitchen where they would develop their own recipe.

mini cooper

sawdoubters wrote: »

your market is too small Christmas pudding is about 1 week maybe 2


cost of ingredients,will kill you,the big companies buy for 25% of your price


how much better can your product be than any one elses

a better line would be birthday cakes,cheaper ingredients a whole year market or wedding cakes


https://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=christmas-pudding


http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-christmas-pudding.html


http://recipewise.co.uk/christmas-pudding-traditional-recipe

Not saying it is better than anyone else's just saying the people want it & are pre-paired to pay for it at craft fairs, it is growing out of the hobby stage, so what do I do walk away or try to make some thing some how when the interest in it grows year by year,

Graham

mini cooper wrote: »

it is growing out of the hobby stage

So stop treating it like a hobby and do something with it or walk away. Nobody is going to pay you to do it for you which appears to be what you're hoping for.

Gloomtastic!

So we've established that you don't want to go forward with this yourself and that it would be highly unusual for someone to pay you for your recipe. Have you got kids in primary/secondary school OP?

Donate your recipe to the fundraising committee. Show them the figures, let them do the donkey work, feel good about yourself.

(ps If they don't want it, please send me a PM. I have a school FR committee that would jump at this!)

Peterdalkey

Great idea, and perhaps a prize.. a free child!!

mini cooper

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

So we've established that you don't want to go forward with this yourself and that it would be highly unusual for someone to pay you for your recipe. Have you got kids in primary/secondary school OP?

Donate your recipe to the fundraising committee. Show them the figures, let them do the donkey work, feel good about yourself.

(ps If they don't want it, please send me a PM. I have a school FR committee that would jump at this!)

No kids- As my wife has a rare immune system illness that can at times be life threating, so that's another reason I can not pursue this idea myself as a full time or part-time business it is just not possible, so in my free time I experiment in the kitchen as it is something I am passionate about & if I was to donate this idea on for someone else to benefit from. I would really like it to be a sheltered employment scheme for adults with learning disability's like the Rehab group or some where like that, they some times have jam making or bakery enterprise units set up around the country & yes that would me feel good about myself, it would be a cooks to market idea that could work.

Gloomtastic!

mini cooper wrote: »

No kids- As my wife has a rare immune system illness that can at times be life threating, so that's another reason I can not pursue this idea myself as a full time or part-time business it is just not possible, so in my free time I experiment in the kitchen as it is something I am passionate about & if I was to donate this idea on for someone else to benefit from. I would really like it to be a sheltered employment scheme for adults with learning disability's like the Rehab group or some where like that, they some times have jam making or bakery enterprise units set up around the country & yes that would me feel good about myself, it would be a cooks to market idea that could work.

Sorry to hear that OP. ( Another swallow-me-up online moment from The Gloomster!)

A charity pud is a great idea, go for it!

lucky john

There's a very good food company in the midlands that have food products very much aimed at the Christmas marked. They have started to branch out into luxury single serving deserts lately supplying supermarkets here and in the UK. I know they have there own product development people but a company like this might be a better option than a celebrity cook. I have no idea if they would be interested in your idea's or not but if you think its worth a shot I can pm you their details.

mini cooper

Hi Lucky John

Thanks a million for your suggestion, yes it is worth me e-mailing them with my idea early on in the year, as you say I have no idea if they will be interested or not but as they have their own product development in place it might be a good idea to talk with them.

yes please send me their details by P.M.

Thank you for reading & for your interest

Best regards mini cooper

Peterdalkey

My post about a celebrity chef appears to have been somewhat misunderstood. I was suggesting that the endoresment/acknowledged recipe of a celebrity chef would have a value and that one from a noname would have none. Clearly, no celebrity chef would be interested in a recipe from someone else!

lucky john

mini cooper wrote: »

Hi Lucky John

Thanks a million for your suggestion, yes it is worth me e-mailing them with my idea early on in the year, as you say I have no idea if they will be interested or not but as they have their own product development in place it might be a good idea to talk with them.

yes please send me their details by P.M.

Thank you for reading & for your interest

Best regards mini cooper

PM sent.