I have a sweet idea, should I try taking it to the next level?

Over the past few months I have been making a lot of Peanut Butter frosting for people. Recently I modified the Betty Crocker recipe I had been using and added a bit of flair to it. People who REALLY liked the other frosting WENT NUTS for the new frosting. I logged the recipe and put it in the box. Two weeks ago I made a Strawberry Frosting and got similar response. To make sure that I wasn't just getting the "It's John and he's had a rough year" pity responses I threw in a store bought batch and everyone hated it. I made up for the processed food with a very good Cherry frosting.

So all of a sudden I have a non automotive gift. I am pretty certain that I have a knack for making cakes and brownies better, but what do I do with it? I have 10 unique all natural recipes, they seem to all be pretty good. Do I consider running a test batch and seeing if I can market any of these? I realize that this would be a niche and a low volume, low yield venture and I wouldn't be retiring with the profits, but it would be a good source of challenge type hobby funds.

Do I just keep having fun with this, do I start investigating the next level? What say ye, impart thine wisdom!

Start your own cooking show! .

BTW, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Absolutely run with it. To start, talk with a couple of local stores about some test runs. They may hold you over a barrel initially while awaiting the initial results, but, if the product is good, folks will buy it and the stores will therefore be interested.

Another angle would be farmers markets. We have one in our neighborhood every Saturday morning and there are always folks selling good, homemade products. I'm not sure what they charge vendors (if anything), but it can't be much.

You're in Michigan, right? They passed a Cottage Foods bill a few years ago that allows people to sell foods prepared in home kitchens without licensing. Only non-perishable items are allowed and you can't sell more than $20K per year (IIRC).

Found a link!

Since you'll be actually selling food, you'll want to look into any laws regarding it. I have no idea what they are, so there ya go.

(EDIT) Good call nervousdog.

You could alway try it out at craft shows and farmers markets like stated above to test out how much you spend per batch vs what people will pay to see what kind of money there is in it

+1 on the Farmers market. It's a low-risk way of testing your idea, and you're directly dealing with the folks who would be most interested. Get a Square or other credit card taking device - you want to make it as easy as possible for people to give you their money.

A quick browse of the Cottage Foods list says that perishables are not allowed. Frosting uses butter or creme cheese and had a defined shelf life of 2 months frozen and 2 weeks refrigerated.

Farmers markets. Lots of people high on pot with the munchies.

I'd say, go for it!

Start small and maybe look into what it would take to get into some local farmer markets or fairs. Just need a folding table, a table cloth, some samples (pretzel sticks or bits of angel cake with toothpicks) with perhaps an EZ-up if a covered space isn't available/provided. Maybe even some bake sales for your kids school, etc. You might even see if there is someone who is selling baked goods that might be interested in using your frosting on their products?

If those all go well, set up a basic website and print out some cards with your info, maybe even get a business license and a PO box so you might do internet orders and to help with tax write offs for supplies and expenses.

Depending on the requirements needed to get into the larger markets/sales, you may need to rent space in a commercial kitchen or commissary to meet health codes if you take off at all. Having a business license and a tax ID can help you next year when the tax man cometh.

If it takes off or if it doesn't, then you know the answer and can adjust accordingly. Nothing wrong with just keeping it low-key and doing it because you enjoy it and want to share it with friends and family.

If you truly want to pursue the path, then maybe look into taking some cooking courses to fill in some gaps in your skills and knowledge and maybe pick up some new ideas. Since you're the creative person, try to feed that part of you and work towards being able to hand off the basic production work to others. Having the recipes written (put a date stamp on it) down goes a long way towards that. Finding trusted people to help make stuff will help with the "production" side so you can focus on the "creative" side.

All that said, sometimes taking a passion and making it a "job" can either be the most rewarding thing you've ever done, or the hardest and most miserable. Like relationships, it is always worth trying. You don't want to have regrets later in life for not trying.

Another vote for Farmer's Market! Foodies, and folks who are sick of the crap that Big Bizness has been peddling as food will love you!

I only wanted to add that I've had a hard time finding any kind of frosting around here with decent ingredients. My local grocery stores carry tons of organic, natural, Gluten free, you name it options. But when it comes to frosting, everything is processed garbage. From that perspective, I would say DO IT. You might find something of a niche!

You will need to look into what it would cost to fit your local food prep laws - or if there's some sort of contract private label food company that could make it for you and you market it. Farmer's markets and craft shows could be good ways to sell it - although it sounds like the requirements are strict enough for making frosting that you'd have something that could legally be sold through local grocery stores too.

Quasi Mofo wrote: A quick browse of the Cottage Foods list says that perishables are not allowed. Frosting uses butter or creme cheese and had a defined shelf life of 2 months frozen and 2 weeks refrigerated.

Darn! Well, check out what you might need to be able to sell it. If you want to make it you'll probably need commercial kitchen space. There are professional kitchen spaces for rent but churches and small restaurants often will rent their kitchens out too.

Also, you don't have to make it all by yourself. Finding a co-packer that already has an approved facility will take care of a lot of regulation red tape.

Careful with trying to sell or license your creations to a bakery or something. Recipes aren't patentable so you don't have much protection if someone recreates it after tasting it.

Make cakes for the 2014 Challenge.

Rent a fully licensed and FDA approved kitchen in Bowling Green, OH and gain assitance from their knowledge.
http://ciftinnovation.org/cift-news-list

Born out of northwest Ohio's rich tradition in fruit and vegetable production and food processing, the Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen (NOCK) focuses on the development and production of specialty, value added foods.

The kitchen facility maintains a baking and canning license and is approved by both the Wood County Health Department and the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Therefore, most of the foods produced in the kitchen can be marketed and sold in local, regional, and national markets.

Willy's Salsa is made there and it is darn good.

First order of business, send us all samples so we can determine if you truly have a knack for baking

Cupcake shop. My wife goes NUTS over $2.50 cupcakes that the local hipster cupcake shop sells. Make only a few kinds a day, post pictures of today's batch on whatever social media outlet hipsters are using this week, and make bank. You could possibly make a good bit by wholesaling them to small restaurants and coffee shops that want to cash in on them, but don't want to make them on their own.

In reply to Derick Freese:

This!

JohnRW1621 wrote: Rent a fully licensed and FDA approved kitchen in Bowling Green, OH and gain assitance from their knowledge. http://ciftinnovation.org/cift-news-list Born out of northwest Ohio's rich tradition in fruit and vegetable production and food processing, the Northwest Ohio Cooperative Kitchen (NOCK) focuses on the development and production of specialty, value added foods. The NOCK is a nonprofit commercial kitchen facility designed to assist entrepreneurial efforts and expand current food-related businesses. The kitchen facility assists new and growing businesses by providing access to a commercially licensed kitchen, networking opportunities with other like entities and technical assistance. The kitchen incubator's services and resources bridge the gap between an idea and reality. It is costly to start a small-scale food manufacturing operation when exploring a food based venture. However, new and growing businesses can avoid this initial expenditure by utilizing the commercial kitchen until the business is viable and ready to graduate to its own manufacturing facility. The kitchen facility maintains a baking and canning license and is approved by both the Wood County Health Department and the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Therefore, most of the foods produced in the kitchen can be marketed and sold in local, regional, and national markets.

Holy crap, that's really cool. That seems like a slam dunk....