Boxed packaged goods: How to launch this
I’m going to give you 20 specific steps, and in this video, I’m going to give you the first five, and we’re going to get into it right now. All right? It’s Damian. And this is marketing food online. And if this is your first video on ” boxed packaged goods,” welcome to our channel. Make sure you hit the subscriber button and the bell. Notification. We teach everything about food entrepreneurship, from getting a food product into retail stores to starting that restaurant or that cafe or bakery—even getting your food truck up and running. So I’m going to give you five steps. Five of the 20—yeah, 20—different steps that I’m going to give you over the next four videos Each of the videos will have five specific steps. I don’t want to over-saturate you with information right off the bat, so I’m going to break it up into five different steps.
Piece of paper
Take out a pen and a piece of paper. Make sure you take some notes, and this will help you understand the numerous factors that come into play when you want to get boxed packaged goods into the marketplace. So let’s start off with the most basic. Number one, if you are going to produce, obviously, a food product and you’re going to become a business, you need to select a company name. You need to come up with something that’s very catchy, but don’t make it very long, because this day and age, with every type of business, there is some type of website or Internet presence, and you want to keep that as short and sweet as possible. What’s really the most valuable way to have a website name and domain name, as they’re called, is to have them very short. The shorter the better, believe it or not. And if that can convey your company’s name, fantastic.
As an example, if you were able to obtain Cindycookies.com and establish a company called Cindy’s Cookies, that would be a very short, sweet, and easy-to-remember name. Keep that in mind as well. When you build a brand and introduce a product, no matter what it is, whether it’s boxed packaged goods or anything in general, any type of physical product that you’re selling, and you want to build a brand around it, you want to make it super simple to remember and make it easy for people to find you online with that type of domain. So select your company name, sit down and kind of brainstorm, come up with some ideas, and figure out what is really catchy and what really conveys the type of product and brand that you are starting now. Number two, this may seem like an obvious thing, but a lot of the clients I’ve actually done consulting with are kind of confused, or maybe they’re in a situation where they’re not sure of what you’re going to do. Okay, now don’t ever limit yourself when you are creating a line of products.
Different Flavours
If you have an idea for, let’s say, a line of seasonal nuts and you’ve got five, six, or seven different flavours, you can always start with maybe one or two. But keep it in the back of your mind. Don’t ever stop yourself from trying to incorporate other flavors or even branching out to other products. But when you’re starting, try to stick to really one specific product that may have, let’s say, just a couple of flavour variations or maybe different size packaging. But basically, starting with the simplest individual item at a time is going to make it a lot easier for you to understand the market. And it’s going to make it easier and cost less for you to do that by having just one product as opposed to trying to introduce a full line right off the bat. Now there are a lot of you who are listening to this specific episode and probably making products from home.
Cottage Food Laws
So the Cottage Food Laws also kind of limit you in terms of what you can really make. So keep that in mind. Many, if not all, food businesses have really started at home, where you can perfect recipes for packaging and kind of work on your business before you get into a commercial setting. So coming up with a specific product is sometimes the most challenging part of starting a business because you have so many really great ideas, but you’re not sure which one to go with or if you should do two or three. Stick to one product and then keep a little idea book around. And if you’ve got ideas for different types of variations of your product, write them down.
Nobody says you can’t start elaborating on your product and creating a line of products with just simple flavour variations. So what are you going to make? That is step two, number three. Okay, so number three is going to be designing a logo. You want to get yourself a logo created. If you don’t know how to create something like that, you’re not a graphic designer or a logo designer, which is fine. You can get this done. And I actually had this done numerous times. I set up an account on Fiverr.com for a few of the items we have, and I’ll include a link in the description section. If you click on the description section below the video, there’s a link to Fiverr. I had several graphic designers create some really cool logos for us for some different boxed packaged goods and snack products. And it costs literally around $25, $30, maybe $40 without having to spend a fortune on a logo from someone who’s going to charge you $500.
You can get one made very easily and very simply. You answer a few questions, they’ll create the logo for you, and you’re up and running. Now, number four, you want to make sure you check the laws, permits, all that insurance, and all of the business aspects of your business, okay? Now some places are going to have business licences that you need to have. If you create an LLC or a corporation, you need to have a business licence where you are.
Commercial Business
This is going to be something that’s really a factor of where you’re going to start. If you’re doing this from home, you need to make sure that you’re following those cottage food laws for the tea, making sure that permits are purchased, and making sure that the health laws are followed if they have to have an inspection. Those are things you need to do on your own, along with some research. because starting a home food business is very different from starting a commercial business or working in a commercial setting. a completely different set of laws, licenses, and a completely different range of information.
Checking your product liability insurance and ensuring you have basic coverage insurance is similar to what we have here for a commercial facility. You also want to make sure that you have a licence if it’s needed or a boxed packaged goods producer’s licence if your state requires it. Some health departments have additional licences and permits aside from the business insurance and the business licence itself. They’ll have to have a permit in order for you to operate.
So, if you’re going to start with your home, make sure you’re following all of the health laws and permits for zoning and insurance. All right? Number five, if you are not going to be selling online immediately, you still need to have this. Social media plays a huge role in raising product awareness, getting brand recognition, and getting people to even know about who you are and what you’re selling. So on the social media aspects, you need to have a profile specifically dedicated to your business. You need to have that on all of the platforms. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest Pinterest is mind-blowing, by the way.
It’s amazing what Pinterest can do for your business. All of these different social media platforms need to have you on there with your product, okay? Because eventually, when you get an opportunity to sell online or start an online business, that social media presence is already established, and you can tap your website into that existing social media that you’ve got, okay? So once you then at that point create a website. If you do it yourself or maybe go to Fiverr and have someone make one for you, you can have a website that you can immediately tag into your social media presence that you’ve already established, okay? It’s going to be a huge plus for you. So with those five beginning aspects of a food product or food business, try those, check them out, and do a little research on all five of those aspects that I just mentioned. And in the next video, I’m going to give you five more steps.
Boxed packaged goods Video
It’s very simple, very easy, and very actionable. You can take action on these very easily. Look into them and get the ball rolling. Okay? So take those five. Number one, as I mentioned before, is to select your name. You want to get the name of the company. Decide what it is that you’re going to make. Create a logo. Get someone to make a logo for you. If you don’t do it, that’s fine. Have someone make one for you. You don’t have to create one yourself. Get a website, get some social media, and also figure out what you need specifically for insurance, permits, and laws that are in your area in regards to starting from home. And then I will see you on the next video. We’re going to have numbers six to ten, and we’re going to give you those 20 actionable, super simple steps to get your boxed packaged goods up and running. and I’ll see you on the next video.