So you want to start a food business?
Do you dream of starting your own food and drink business? All you need is a good idea
Hands up if you’ve ever thought, “I’d love to set up an artisanal pickle-making operation, with an organic smoothie bar on one side; and on the other, a row of rehabilitated ex-prisoners making sustainable baby food from local ingredients…” and then gently drifted off into a daydream?
As someone who’s obsessed with food as well as all things entrepreneurial, I’m always cooking up original (ahem, sometimes too original) food and drink-related business ideas, as I’m sure many of you have – especially after watching an episode of The Apprentice or theDragons’ Den.
Give up the rat race
I hear about more and more people leaving high-flying careers in finance, law and other prestigious and well-paid sectors to set up in the food and drink industry. Freedom from the boss or office politics, working the hours that suit, having an opportunity to express one’s creative abilities and genuinely wanting to provide a service where there’s a gap in the market are all deciding factors.
Of the very many food and drink businesses that I’ve heard about in recent months, it’s the unique and innovative housebites,designmynight and My Secret Kitchen that immediately caught my attention, and got me excited and curious.
Housebites
The aim of this new web business is to revolutionise the takeaway market. You order just like a normal home delivery, and chefs in your local area cook the food and deliver it to your door. Exciting yet simple – why has nobody thought of it before?
The chefs are carefully vetted, and are either experienced, enthusiastic home cooks or people who’ve worked in top restaurant kitchens. For instance, in my area, on the day that I checked, I could order beetroot carpaccio with goat’s cheese and pomegranate dressing, or Persian saffron ice cream. Not your standard takeaway then.
Housebites’ CEO Simon Prockter and his co-founders were behind successful websites like Bebo and SpeedDater. What inspired them to come up with this ambitious idea? “A very bad experience from a market leading company,” says Prockter. “My order was delivered by a motorcycle courier with the helmet still on, who clearly had no part in the process and was walking away before I’d barely opened the door. The food itself was ok, although was clearly re-heated.”
“It set me thinking about many of the problems with takeaway”, continues Prockter. “You don’t really know who’s cooking your food or how good they are… You rarely… have a say in how the menu could be improved. And service is questionable if something goes wrong. After a long weekend of looking into the solutions to these problems, housebites was born.”
Housebites has only just launched in London. More areas are added every week, and the business will go nationwide in early 2012. If you’re a great cook, you can apply to be a chef.
Designmynight
Set up at the end of 2010, this is London’s first price comparison website for pubs, bars and clubs. Designmynight gives you the insider track on new and established drinking venues – with a particular emphasis on budget-friendly places – including special offers, happy hours and guest lists. A free concierge service can provide personalised help with organising that extra-special night out.
Easy to navigate and kept continuously up to date, it’s no wonder the site has been enthusiastically received by customers. Co-founder Nick Telson explains, “Getting emails from our users has been the best part… It is this positive feedback that makes the job worthwhile.”
As for the future, he says, “There are a lot of plans afoot… Once we have perfected the model, we aim to take the site nationally and internationally… We are also launching designmynight deals in November… No… fish pedicures, waxing and teeth whitening; only deals on restaurants, bars, clubs… etc.”
My Secret Kitchen
Established in 2007, this award-winning business is “the UK’s first nationwide food tasting company”. It sells its own range of condiments, dips, sauces and baking ingredients through tasting events (and also its website). The wide selection includes imaginative products like beer bread mixes, artichoke pesto, oak-smoked rapeseed oil and Great Taste Award-winning balsamic reduction.
You can host tastings in your own home by inviting your friends along, providing a few drinks and getting a party atmosphere going, while their trained consultants prepare all the food and share several recipe ideas for each of the products. If you enjoy being a host, you could even go a step further and become a consultant. It’s the culinary equivalent of a tupperware party, a ‘try before you buy’ idea with a twist.
Co-founder Phil Moran says: “People in the UK are linking good food with good health, and {an interest in} food provenance is creating more and more home fruit and vegetable growers, and the downturn in the economic climate has meant ‘dining in’ is the new ‘dining out’. With all this in mind, it is a great time to be involved in the food and drink industry, particularly with artisan, unique products.”
A good idea
Inspiring words indeed. Speaking to friends, there seems to be no shortage of business ideas – from a telephone helpline that guides you through every stage of the cooking process, to a bespoke spice-blending service, someone, somewhere is thinking about it.
So, what is YOUR fantasy food and drink business idea? What delicious venture would you like to see become reality? And most importantly, are you brave enough to take the plunge?
Also worth your attention:
A cocktail crawl around London town
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