Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Check out the Thomas Register to find a company to manufacture. Assuming you can find one, you're gonna' need some big bucks to make it worth their while to do a "Run" for you.

When you get THAT number, see if you are capitalized heavily enough to proceed before spending further time on a web site.

Rwhite has given you book and verse on the direct approach to the market through a major manufacturer.

I don't disagree with it (if I might make an observation - rwhite has only been on KHE a short time but has provided some extremely astute and well-founded advice that I have seen) - but I do have a suggestion for a slightly different approach that's a bit of an outside chance, but it it works, could be a lower cost option for you.

Have a look for social enterprises is your area that are making artisan-style products in a similar category, and see if they will make your product under licence for you. Social Enterprises are often funded through government programs or philanthropic foundations -or a combination of the two - and will have exactly the same standards of hygiene for food preparation, but different profit objectives. Their whole rationale is to create some social advantage - to benefit a segment of the community that is disadvantaged in some way.

You could search on Google and ask at your local Chamber of Commerce for leads towards SE organisations.

Clearly you have two issues: How to get the product manufactured, and how to get it to your target market.

Your website strategy is a small subset of the route to market.

You do need to be sure that your sauce fills some niche that currently is not being filled by any other product satisfactorily. Maybe one way to do this would be to make a test batch and trial it through a community event - with a feedback survey attached so you can get some qualitative and quantitative data on consumer reactions.

DO write that business plan - the process of writing the document will instill discipline into your thinking that you might otherwise miss. And get it reviewed by an independent business or marketing adviser who will take you to task over any gaps or blind leaps of faith in your assumptions.

Good luck.

ChrisB

Chris

I have a friend who did this with her grandfather's jiardenair (sp?). But...they were already selling a lot and she was making it in the kitchen.

So..don't jump out and find someone to do this until you can't handle the business.

Michael

As others have mentioned, don't (yet) worry about the website. Focus on the strategy/plan for selling the sauce. You'll no doubt need to contact a number of companies to get pricing/licensing information to determine your cost of goods (including shipping), and then you can begin to figure out your profit margin and see if what you're thinking of selling can be sold competitively.

Hi, Chris-

One more suggestion. I would start small. Tim is right- I am in the southeast and I see products like this all the time. One trick is to get some locally owned restaurants to carry your product and use it on the table for guests. Ditto for catering services and cooking schools. Then you will get some buzz going. Look at this one that I discovered at a cooking presentation done at my daughter's high school: https://www.notyomamasgourmet.com/. I'm not wild about the Web site, but the products are wonderful and I am seeing them in more and more places.

As for the Web site production, Phil is right that you may need 2 vendors here. I do content, and I work with a couple of web designers who do great work at a reasonable price, so it is not as outrageously priced as you might think. But do get the basics of a business and marketing plan nailed down first before you do your site. It is much more cost effective in the long run. Best of luck!

Polly