Sellling food made at home

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bitesoftwarecom

bitesoftwarecom

Free Member
Jan 9, 2007
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1
  • #1
    Hi, I would like to start selling homemade food to shops and direct to customers but my Dad has put me off by explaining its very difficult and I need to hire out a unit! I saw on TV recently a story about a boy who started off selling jam made at home.

    Can you advise what things does someone need to sell food made at home?

    Many thanks,
     
    deniser

    deniser

    Free Member
    Jun 3, 2008
    8,081
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    London
  • #2
    The lady who ran the coffee shop next to mine used to do all her baking at home and then bring the finished products to her cafe to sell. I do know that she had to have her kitchen at home checked out by the Environmental Health department - presumbly they issue a licence permitting you to sell food cooked on certain premises. You will have to operate the same level of hygiene in terms of work surfaces, refrigeration, animals etc as a commercial kitchen so some improvements may have to be made.

    If you have a specific area set aside for business use then there are also issues of planning permission, business rates, building regulations consent, fires safety etc but I can't imagine these apply if it is a domestic kitchen used as such.

    Contact the Environmental Health department of your local council who shoud be able to help.
     
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    B

    Boccabar

  • #3
    Hi I run a coffee and sandwich bar and we prepare lots of the fillings, bake cakes etc at home.

    Its really simple - contact your local council and tell them what you want to do. They will send someone round to assess your kitchen / prep area. You do not need stainless steel or anything like that. It just needs to be clean and you need all the correct cleaning stuff and procedures in place for food storage etc

    We had to do a food safety level 2 course before we opened the shop so you may need to do that also. This course was offered by the council also so maybe ask them about that at the same time.

    I think you should go for it and do contact your local shops to see if you can supply them anything. We would personally jump at the chance to have someone supply us with homemade cakes etc on a regular basis

    PM me if you want any more info
     
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    KidsBeeHappy

    KidsBeeHappy

    Free Member
    Oct 9, 2007
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    Sunny Troon
  • #5
    The biggy is labeling, you need to be able to label up your products for resale, which show ingredients, and if there's meat involved you need to be able to trace the batches of the food back to the source meat/farms etc.

    Trading standards are very hot on this, and they will pull up any shop selling your product if not properly labelled and will be round to your door within a couple of weeks.
     
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    D

    droach75

    Free Member
    Dec 24, 2008
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    0
  • #6
    Boccabar said:
    Hi I run a coffee and sandwich bar and we prepare lots of the fillings, bake cakes etc at home.

    Its really simple - contact your local council and tell them what you want to do. They will send someone round to assess your kitchen / prep area. You do not need stainless steel or anything like that. It just needs to be clean and you need all the correct cleaning stuff and procedures in place for food storage etc

    We had to do a food safety level 2 course before we opened the shop so you may need to do that also. This course was offered by the council also so maybe ask them about that at the same time.

    I think you should go for it and do contact your local shops to see if you can supply them anything. We would personally jump at the chance to have someone supply us with homemade cakes etc on a regular basis

    PM me if you want any more info
    Click to expand...


    I heard there might be a problem,,cooking from home, if there was a dog in the house. that kind of sounds sensible,,,,but is it true.
     
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    M

    Merchant UK

  • #9
    AbcRP said:
    Hi - please can you tell me what the environmental health people check for when they inspect your kitchen. Thank you.
    Click to expand...

    I suppose theywould ckeck that its clean, the worktops are suitable and not dirty, they would check that your using the coorect chopping boards for different foods etc...

    also where your going to be storing foodstuff. Making sure that you store them in the right place in the fridge etc..

    The best bet as explained earlier is to go on a food training course, then you'll have an insite as to what is required
     
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    M

    mit74

    Free Member
    Jun 4, 2010
    2,463
    447
  • #10
    AbcRP said:
    Hi - please can you tell me what the environmental health people check for when they inspect your kitchen. Thank you.
    Click to expand...


    I worked in a kitchen when I was younger and the health people always checked cleanliness (crumbs etc in cupboards in a definate no no), evidence of rodent activity, correct chopping boards for meat, cooked, non-cooked foods etc (coloured is best), freezer and fridge storage (advise getting temp gauges) and correct storage of food, chemical storage, your clothing (hats and hairnets where required) and sell by dates (important you never keep anything over sell by date).
     
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    M

    Mash100

    Free Member
    Jul 11, 2012
    1
    0
  • #13
    PearlExquisiteCakes said:
    Hello,

    I have just read your post about wanting to buy cakes, I know this was a 2008 post but are you still interested in this? The advice you given was very useful and I am lookin to set myself up.

    Regards

    Shaunille
    Click to expand...
    Hi Shaunille,
    I'm interested to know how easy to start up a baking business from own home using domestic kitchen to bake vegetarian Pizza and pies ect.., and sell these home made products to local shops. Is it easy to get a licence after doing safety course, as you mentioned before that you will be starting you own baking business so would like to get your advice please, Many Thanks, Mash
     
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