Selling a food item

[rizbit]

I want to sell some food items. Similar to say packet of nuts or pasta.

But to make the food myself would take time...

I want to hire a manufacturer to make the food item. I have the recipe.

So the idea would be them to manufacture, package, label and send me the food in packets.

I would then sell these. But with exclusivity, only I can sell them.

Would this work

Would I have to sign a NDA with the manufacturer, how would I be able to maintain exclusivity?

If this is possible does anyone have any idea where you would start

 

[fisicx]

It could work. But how are you going to sell the item? Your marketing costs could be far higher than the cost of production. And the factory that produces the product will be asking for a MOQ of hundreds of thousands to make it viable.

 

[Mark T Jones]

As @fisicx says, you will need to be talking substantial volumes to sub-contract manufacture

Do you have any customers or distributors?

 

[WaveJumper]

Unless you have customers or distributors lined up or a totally new and wonderful product which is not already sitting on supermarket shelves its a very very tough market to break into (you only need to watch Dragons Den to learn that) Who is going to be your target market and have you set aside enough for marketing.

 

[Paul Norman]

This is very possible - it is a matter of negotiation, and then contract, between you and your chosen manufacturer. Employ a good solicitor, because you do need that contract to be watertight.

To agree to exclusivity, though, the manufacturer is going to want you to agree to minimum (and maximum) production volumes. You will need to agree these volumes in advance, and will have to commit to taking their entire output. Even if sales are disappointing.

That means having a very decent marketing operation going on.

 

[rizbit]

thanks for replies.
I know my product is unique and could sell well.
But it would be a startup venture in a new teritory and the idea of having to order hundreds of thousands of packets does not appeal but makes sense in terms of their costing.

As an example:
Say you wanted to start a burger joint selling unique burger patties, but this burger recipe was unique... you could make it yourself at home but it would take too much time and maybe it took like a full day to make enough for the next day....
So you need someone who can make these and supply you, so you can cook/sell them.
But you cant order thousands due to lack of storage and not sure if you could sell them all before say an expiry date.
Whats could you do?

I suppose you could hire or employ people to make these, but if they say made these at home, youd have all the health and safety issues, having to make sure they are compliant.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Are you saying that you plan is to sell it yourself?

In many cases the starting point is either your own kitchen (which needs to be certified acceptible) or potentially rent a pub kitchen or similar on the days they are closed

 

[rizbit]

sell myself yes