Qualifications for opening a health food shop

cog in the machine

Do you need to have a qualification to open a health food shop , something like a qualification in nutrition or diet.
have a interest in this with a while and just curious to know.

ch750536

Nothing whatsoever. Just need a giddy sense of being better than thou really.

kneemos

The ability to spout any old guff as gospel.

mrsoundie

ch750536 wrote: »

Nothing whatsoever. Just need a giddy sense of being better than thou really.

ROFL

El_Dangeroso

Nope, no more so than you'd need a qualification to open any retail outlet.

I have to get in and out of my local healthfood shop quickly as to not overhear any of (in some cases dangerous) 'advice' being doled out by the shop assistants.

alltacht

You don't need any. If you would like to be part of the Irish Association of Health Food Stores, they offer courses on the basics for supplements and ethics/codes of practice. It's also very easy to find 'nutritionist' courses. I've worked in a variety of health food shops for about 8 years. While I've got some qualifications for the craic or if they were offered, they're generally outdated and downright false. Knowing your stuff and giving real solid up to date advice will set you apart from the crowd. I cringe at some of things my 'highly qualified' colleagues say. It's an area of knowledge that is always expanding and changing and where fads come and go. Just find your niche I guess, it's quite a saturated market but with a bit of passion and something different there's always room. Best of luck!
..And as with any retail business, having the personality and ability to engage and sell is more than half the battle when it comes to making money.

Dtp1979

No qualifications needed.
True story, I went into my local health shop and asked " do you sell fish oils here"
She replied.." I'm sorry sir, we don't sell fish here"