Sauce sales and licensing woes

[Brad-B-Q]

My state's dep't. of agriculture is telling me I need a license, which requires a mop sink and running hot water in my office, in order to receive cases of sauce from the co-packer and fill shipping orders as they come in online. They said "absolutely not" to keeping the cases at my house. Anybody run into this problem? Do I need to use a fulfillment center? The co-packer will not store the sauce (once bottled/cased), or ship orders to customers unless they are by the case. All 50 cases have to be shipped directly to me somewhere. What's the best way to receive the sauce, store it, and get it to my customers?

Thanks guys/gals!

-B

[landarc]

I have not heard of this, but, everyone I know has a fulfillment center, warehouse or restaurant. So this doesn't affect them in the way it seems to be hitting you.

[bizznessman]

Welcome to the world of Big Government Bureaucracy. Where well intentioned, or big business lobbied, rules and regulations strangle entrepreneurial efforts. This is a prime example of how laws/regs cannot be written to encompass every scenario and end up squelching small business. My cry to government is......Just Leave Us Alone.

OK, I am stepping down from my soap box now.

[landarc]

This one sounds more like someone got an idea for protecting the public, and got it wrong. So many of our protocols and codes out here are driven by big business, it is quite amazing how effective they are at preventing new small business from threatening them

[Smookey]

We have many fulfillment centers here in NJ that are focused only on food items. I think they charge something like $50/pallet/month and you need to have one year contract. They charge $20 per shipping order directly from them. But the good thing back then is that they put you in a catalogue for local distributor so they will know there is a new product in the market.

But your state agric is right. You can run in trouble with FDA and health when it comes to canned goods. I just wonder did you use any preservatives in that. How did you managed the SKU, the preservatives and Exp date or did I miss something?

[HBMTN]

Does Walmart have a sink and running water by the ketchup & sauce isle in your state? Are the transport trucks in your state also equipped with sinks & water? How about the USPS and UPS for shipping after you comply with the state, do they have these items? I'd ask them if the entire chain of delivery to the customer is not required then why will I be required.

[Brad-B-Q]

My office is an executive suite within a professional building. The building manager told me there is a mop sink in the janitor's closet and it has hot running water. She said I can have a key to it. I'm calling an inspector from the state agr. out next week to do an inspection. I'll let ya'll know if it passes. I spoke to a local fulfillment center about handling the sauce and they don't do food products. I gave him the number to the agriculture department. He called me back 10 minutes later after speaking to them. He said essentially, no way jose. Something about having to rearrange his toilets and sinks. Oh well. Mom and pop operations (the ones most likely to use better ingredients) can't keep up with all the regulations and red tape. Only big business can..the guys who buy sub-par ingredients in bulk. It's really not in the public's best interest.

[bizznessman]

Originally Posted by Brad-B-Q

My office is an executive suite within a professional building. The building manager told me there is a mop sink in the janitor's closet and it has hot running water. She said I can have a key to it. I'm calling an inspector from the state agr. out next week to do an inspection. I'll let ya'll know if it passes. I spoke to a local fulfillment center about handling the sauce and they don't do food products. I gave him the number to the agriculture department. He called me back 10 minutes later after speaking to them. He said essentially, no way jose. Something about having to rearrange his toilets and sinks. Oh well. Mom and pop operations (the ones most likely to use better ingredients) can't keep up with all the regulations and red tape. Only big business can..the guys who buy sub-par ingredients in bulk. It's really not in the public's best interest.

Sadly, it never has been. The regs are lobbied for, under the guise of Public Safety, by large corporations to squelch competition from smaller food producers. If it were truly about Public Safety the majority of large corporate food companies would be shut down permanently due to the unsanitary conditions within their operations. I have seen these conditions first hand. But they have the funds and attorneys to buy off the legislatures where "we" do not. If tort laws were adequately enforced 99.9% of all food regs would not be needed.

Okay, stepping down from the soap box once again.

[TailGateJoecom]

Originally Posted by Brad-B-Q

My state's dep't. of agriculture is telling me I need a license, which requires a mop sink and running hot water in my office, in order to receive cases of sauce from the co-packer and fill shipping orders as they come in online. They said "absolutely not" to keeping the cases at my house. Anybody run into this problem? Do I need to use a fulfillment center? The co-packer will not store the sauce (once bottled/cased), or ship orders to customers unless they are by the case. All 50 cases have to be shipped directly to me somewhere. What's the best way to receive the sauce, store it, and get it to my customers?

Thanks guys/gals!

-B

Lemme preface this buy saying, I am not a lawyer, lol.

I would have 2 corps, one is your sauce company, the other is a wholesale/retail bbq rub/sauce/accessory company. Your sauce company dropships from the copacker straight to your distro company which can really be a storage shed.

Just spitballin' there.

[DaveAlvarado]

Amazon does this.

http://services.amazon.com/content/f...-by-amazon.htm