Take it for what it's worth. This is just something fun for me, I'm being careful not to ruin my enjoyment for cooking, and I have a day job that I really enjoy, so I'm not trying to make a career of it. Hopefully some of this is helpful or interesting to someone.
Backstory
A few years ago, I caught wind of the 'smoked Cheezit' trend and had to give it a whirl. We enjoyed it, family and friends enjoyed it, and I decided to see if I could sell a few bags of the stuff. I had read a bit on the local rules for Cottage Law...and loosely followed those. My dad started taking them to his work and selling them to coworkers. I started with a basic rub (the one I use for pulled pork, and some additional garlic salt) and then requests started to come in. "hey, can you do a spicy version?" "What about a Parmesan?" A friend started raising my prices and telling people they cost more and more, and we hit a point that I was able to make enough to make it worth firing up the smoker to make a large batch or two.
Beyond the Backyard
Like many people here, I knew my love of cooking and BBQ, and of course had the daydreams of a food truck, etc. I often thought of the line so often seen here "of course people like your food when it's free, will they like it when they have to pay for it?" And…people were paying. This was a fun way to scratch that itch, without dumping tons of money into something custom.
Then you start to get the comments coming in "these would be a great bar snack" "you should sell these as giftmas samplers" etc. Then it’s "let’s see the next step" so I went to talk to the manager at the local farmer’s market. He said I'd need a health permit to sell them (which is odd, since the lady making cakes and cookies and jams doesn't need them...but whatever) so I started looking at that requirement and working backwards.
They would need a kitchen to inspect and certify. I think those have been covered here several times. Churches, VFW’s, Commissary Kitchens, I’ve even heard of a BBQ rub company that rented out the kitchen at a local gas station in their off hours. Time to start looking for something that was close.
The Rental
Kansas City has a few options for rental kitchens. I happen to live close to one that is housed in an old hospital and is owned by the city and the local school district. They have split up what used to be the hospital kitchen, into 6 different cooking spaces. The equipment varies in each kitchen, and you also have access to large appliances that you can 'check out' with your rental, such as a smoker, griddle, grill, tilt skillet, massive mixers, blast chillers, etc. To get signed up for the rental, they require you to get all the licenses and permits, and were insanely helpful in answering questions to help get all that started and pointing me to good sources for insurance, a bank for all of this, etc.
I think it took me 2-3 months to go from the ‘Market Meeting’ to my first cook in the rental.
The Market
Like I said at the start, I wanted this to still be fun. The first issue I had with the market, is that it opens at 7AM on Saturday. I’m barely up before 10 on a weekday. There was initial excitement and quickly some repeat customers. It was awesome to be part of the local community and see people each week. But it wasn’t strong sales, and the money made it hard to justify going. I'm not much for sales, generally quiet and reserved around new people, and with my day job-it was often a struggle to get new batches made, and I was always stressing about if I had enough variety, if I needed to change it, would I have enough of any given flavor, etc. I also found people wanted to buy the smaller bags which took significantly longer to package. So, it was quickly apparent that it wasn't really that fun, and it wasn't really that profitable. By the end of the season...I was barely even going.
Change of Plans
Right about this time last year, I was asked to start cooking meals by a family friend. She's a great cook but her husband travels Sunday-Thursday each week, and she was just over cooking for one person. I bought a 'meal prep' cookbook and started trying things out. She was giving me feedback on all the dishes and was good at being critical and providing positive and negative. I could figure out what dishes she really liked and look for ways to approve on others. To me this was a good use of time, because I’d end up with meals for myself as well, and find dishes that would freeze for later use, etc. Then her sister-in-law was interested. And then a few more friends. Suddenly, it looks like I’m a meal prep cook. I enjoy the variety of it, and not just cooking the same thing repeatedly. I’m still getting my own meals from this, so the time invested in cooking was provides me with lunches, food to travel with, etc. It doesn’t ‘feel like work’.
Next Step
By that point, I’m realizing that I have an expanding group of interested parties. I know I need to get into the Rental to be protected. Having done this for a while, I had learned that it was a variety of cooking supplies that I’d need. Then I set out to buy basically an entire kitchen. The rental provides the space, and they have all the large stuff like the stoves and ovens etc., but you must bring your own pots and pans and utensils and all the little stuff. The kitchen auctions seemed to either have things in bulk (no, I don’t need 25 sets of tongs) or that were very beat up. After a ton of back and forth and debating, I picked a line of pots and pans that I liked from WebRestaurantStore. It can be an odd site to comb through, and it’s weird when you are thinking “I Just want a frickin spatula” and they give you 432 different ‘turners’ to pick from. I’ve made several orders from them. The packing sometimes leaves a bit to be desired, but when I have had issues-they were super quick to make things right. It’s among the best customer service I’ve received anywhere-it’s just a bummer that shipping can cost so much, and it's never ‘be there in 2 days.’
Currently
Small customer base. Covers the expenses of the kitchen and the permits and everything, and it’s paid for all the supplies and such that I’ve wanted to get. I now go in Friday evenings and cook late. Since I’m already used to being up, it was the easy option for me. I don’t think I’ll miss a ton by using that night to cook, but they are flexible with an online booking system. I know I’m flying to San Diego Monday-Friday in a few weeks, so I’ll change that one to a Saturday booking and cook that day. The other people that use the kitchen space have been super friendly so far. I’ve started talking with a salsa company that has a large customer base and they are interested in offering my meals in some capacity. I do spend a lot of my free time looking at recipes and building out weekly menus. I don’t like to eat the same thing on repeat, and I don’t like to cook the same things either. The variety has, so far, kept it from feeling like a job. Any meal prep recipe is something I’ve tested at home and then can adjust for the customers-no more ‘cook it and ship it’. I’ve learned a lot about tweaking recipes around to fit the needs that I have, or just putting a grilled/smoked twist on it. The most fun is people that they do like things that are Thai or Korean or Mediterranean.
Backstory
A few years ago, I caught wind of the 'smoked Cheezit' trend and had to give it a whirl. We enjoyed it, family and friends enjoyed it, and I decided to see if I could sell a few bags of the stuff. I had read a bit on the local rules for Cottage Law...and loosely followed those. My dad started taking them to his work and selling them to coworkers. I started with a basic rub (the one I use for pulled pork, and some additional garlic salt) and then requests started to come in. "hey, can you do a spicy version?" "What about a Parmesan?" A friend started raising my prices and telling people they cost more and more, and we hit a point that I was able to make enough to make it worth firing up the smoker to make a large batch or two.
Beyond the Backyard
Like many people here, I knew my love of cooking and BBQ, and of course had the daydreams of a food truck, etc. I often thought of the line so often seen here "of course people like your food when it's free, will they like it when they have to pay for it?" And…people were paying. This was a fun way to scratch that itch, without dumping tons of money into something custom.
Then you start to get the comments coming in "these would be a great bar snack" "you should sell these as giftmas samplers" etc. Then it’s "let’s see the next step" so I went to talk to the manager at the local farmer’s market. He said I'd need a health permit to sell them (which is odd, since the lady making cakes and cookies and jams doesn't need them...but whatever) so I started looking at that requirement and working backwards.
They would need a kitchen to inspect and certify. I think those have been covered here several times. Churches, VFW’s, Commissary Kitchens, I’ve even heard of a BBQ rub company that rented out the kitchen at a local gas station in their off hours. Time to start looking for something that was close.
The Rental
Kansas City has a few options for rental kitchens. I happen to live close to one that is housed in an old hospital and is owned by the city and the local school district. They have split up what used to be the hospital kitchen, into 6 different cooking spaces. The equipment varies in each kitchen, and you also have access to large appliances that you can 'check out' with your rental, such as a smoker, griddle, grill, tilt skillet, massive mixers, blast chillers, etc. To get signed up for the rental, they require you to get all the licenses and permits, and were insanely helpful in answering questions to help get all that started and pointing me to good sources for insurance, a bank for all of this, etc.
I think it took me 2-3 months to go from the ‘Market Meeting’ to my first cook in the rental.
The Market
Like I said at the start, I wanted this to still be fun. The first issue I had with the market, is that it opens at 7AM on Saturday. I’m barely up before 10 on a weekday. There was initial excitement and quickly some repeat customers. It was awesome to be part of the local community and see people each week. But it wasn’t strong sales, and the money made it hard to justify going. I'm not much for sales, generally quiet and reserved around new people, and with my day job-it was often a struggle to get new batches made, and I was always stressing about if I had enough variety, if I needed to change it, would I have enough of any given flavor, etc. I also found people wanted to buy the smaller bags which took significantly longer to package. So, it was quickly apparent that it wasn't really that fun, and it wasn't really that profitable. By the end of the season...I was barely even going.
Change of Plans
Right about this time last year, I was asked to start cooking meals by a family friend. She's a great cook but her husband travels Sunday-Thursday each week, and she was just over cooking for one person. I bought a 'meal prep' cookbook and started trying things out. She was giving me feedback on all the dishes and was good at being critical and providing positive and negative. I could figure out what dishes she really liked and look for ways to approve on others. To me this was a good use of time, because I’d end up with meals for myself as well, and find dishes that would freeze for later use, etc. Then her sister-in-law was interested. And then a few more friends. Suddenly, it looks like I’m a meal prep cook. I enjoy the variety of it, and not just cooking the same thing repeatedly. I’m still getting my own meals from this, so the time invested in cooking was provides me with lunches, food to travel with, etc. It doesn’t ‘feel like work’.
Next Step
By that point, I’m realizing that I have an expanding group of interested parties. I know I need to get into the Rental to be protected. Having done this for a while, I had learned that it was a variety of cooking supplies that I’d need. Then I set out to buy basically an entire kitchen. The rental provides the space, and they have all the large stuff like the stoves and ovens etc., but you must bring your own pots and pans and utensils and all the little stuff. The kitchen auctions seemed to either have things in bulk (no, I don’t need 25 sets of tongs) or that were very beat up. After a ton of back and forth and debating, I picked a line of pots and pans that I liked from WebRestaurantStore. It can be an odd site to comb through, and it’s weird when you are thinking “I Just want a frickin spatula” and they give you 432 different ‘turners’ to pick from. I’ve made several orders from them. The packing sometimes leaves a bit to be desired, but when I have had issues-they were super quick to make things right. It’s among the best customer service I’ve received anywhere-it’s just a bummer that shipping can cost so much, and it's never ‘be there in 2 days.’
Currently
Small customer base. Covers the expenses of the kitchen and the permits and everything, and it’s paid for all the supplies and such that I’ve wanted to get. I now go in Friday evenings and cook late. Since I’m already used to being up, it was the easy option for me. I don’t think I’ll miss a ton by using that night to cook, but they are flexible with an online booking system. I know I’m flying to San Diego Monday-Friday in a few weeks, so I’ll change that one to a Saturday booking and cook that day. The other people that use the kitchen space have been super friendly so far. I’ve started talking with a salsa company that has a large customer base and they are interested in offering my meals in some capacity. I do spend a lot of my free time looking at recipes and building out weekly menus. I don’t like to eat the same thing on repeat, and I don’t like to cook the same things either. The variety has, so far, kept it from feeling like a job. Any meal prep recipe is something I’ve tested at home and then can adjust for the customers-no more ‘cook it and ship it’. I’ve learned a lot about tweaking recipes around to fit the needs that I have, or just putting a grilled/smoked twist on it. The most fun is people that they do like things that are Thai or Korean or Mediterranean.
