Hello all! My name is Amy, and this is my first time posting in here other than my intro. I am a high school culinary arts teacher in Portage, Indiana. Originally from Corpus Christi Texas (actually from a lot of different places but to keep it short, I am from Texas). I started my chocolate business in January/February of this year and have sold a whopping four boxes. I am now in the heartbreaking process of giving away my product to my friends and family since everything cannot be sold. I am giving it another go and trying to update my whole business model and ideas and flavors. I am also working with a company in Denver Colorado by creating fun flavor recipes for mushroom gummies and the owner is giving me an opportunity to sell my chocolates through them. The main issue here is that I work out of my home, and it is illegal to sell wholesale through a home business. So, my idea is to open a store, but not have it open to the public, just a space for me to make my products and ship them. My first request is for any advice on this process, if any of you have had the same experience opening up a store and what your process was, any advice would be amazing. Also, if anyone would be willing to rattle off some equipment that you purchased that made your life easier, please let me know. I am thinking that I could temper my chocolate as I normally do but buy a holding well to keep the chocolate at the right temperature, what do you think? I need to have a really good list of what I will need to bring to the bank when asking for a loan. I also have an issue with the health department not allowing cream in ganache, so I have to use alternative products with not much great success as far as shelf life. I know that I will be able to use cream when I open up my store but for the mean time I am wondering if anyone has used a cream alternative with good shelf life and what you did would be much appreciated! I will provide some pictures for tax. Thank you all!