What to know-opening up a shop.

[AmyCaaaaakes]

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!

[JeanneCake]

I can share some of my journey with you, although my road is dessert/cakes while yours is chocolate .  I started 25 years ago, first exploring the possibility of a residential kitchen (not allowed back then) to sharing kitchen space (at churches or niche caterers - like a breakfast place or dinner only place).  It wasn't easy, no one really wanted to share.  I got lucky by picking up an order of corned beef for St Patrick's Day and went into the wrong door of a huge venue that did social events as well as having a restaurant space.  As I walked through the basement of the building, following the owner, I blurted out "do you ever rent kitchen space?"  and I was able to rent space there for a few years and then continued sharing various kitchens with caterers over the years until I finally got into my own space (no sharing!).  

 

Since you aren't going to do retail, I would start by looking into incubator kitchens in your area; they are much more prevalent now. All you need is a commissary space to produce your goods.  There may also be businesses (caterers, country clubs, cafeterias) or churches that have space they are willing to share.  You should be prepared by having your ServSafe certification (proves you know how you should behave in a kitchen LOL) and liability insurance (so the landlord doesn't get sued for something they aren't liable for).  Then you'll have to get an operating permit from the Board of Health (or other agency that handles food served to the public).  You could even reach out to the Health Dept and ask if they know of anyone who might be willing to share space.  After you've shared space for a while (a year, two years, five years) then branch out on your own if the business has sufficiently grown to support itself.

 

By renting/sharing space, the bulk of the expense of building/maintaining (trash collection, pest control, utilities and general maintenance) the space is not on you - which allows you to focus on your product and building a market share.  

 

Figure out what  your core product(s) will be and build from there.  That will help you figure out your equipment needs as well as packaging.  keep it simple.  Don't try to offer 100 different things.  Do your homework about how much  you need to sell in order to pay your bills and yourself.  Take your time, don't rush into anything.

 

Go to the eG chocolate workshop - what you learn there will be worth it's weight in gold.

 

And, take us along for the adventure! (by posting your journey)

[Kerry Beal]

Welcome @AmyCaaaaakes. Here's a link to the index to a lot of pastry and chocolate topics you might want to explore - index

 

 

[pastrygirl]

I agree with Jeanne on the commissary/shared space, that's where I started as well.  Shared spaces can be challenging for pastry/chocolate items that are more sensitive to heat and odors but still beats building out your own commercial kitchen before you're established.

 

I've never done ServSafe, my county health dept's food handlers permit has always been enough.  If you're not doing a retail store/cafe then get licensed as a food producer with your state dept of Agriculture.

 

Is the goal to eventually quit your day. job? 

 

On 12/31/2024 at 10:43 AM, AmyCaaaaakes said:

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?

 

How do you "normally" temper?  A couple of melters and an EZ temper will get you off to a good start while you're part time.

[AmyCaaaaakes]

On 1/1/2025 at 7:50 PM, pastrygirl said:

I agree with Jeanne on the commissary/shared space, that's where I started as well.  Shared spaces can be challenging for pastry/chocolate items that are more sensitive to heat and odors but still beats building out your own commercial kitchen before you're established.

 

I've never done ServSafe, my county health dept's food handlers permit has always been enough.  If you're not doing a retail store/cafe then get licensed as a food producer with your state dept of Agriculture.

 

Is the goal to eventually quit your day. job? 

 

 

How do you "normally" temper?  A couple of melters and an EZ temper will get you off to a good start while you're part time.

I think I would quit my day job if this takes off and I open up my own shop. If things go well that is. I normally just temper 1200g batches at a time using a ban marie and seeding method. Ill look into those options. Thanks.:)

[pastrygirl]

12 hours ago, AmyCaaaaakes said:

I normally just temper 1200g batches at a time using a ban marie and seeding method.

 

Nothing wrong with that! 

 

On 12/31/2024 at 10:43 AM, AmyCaaaaakes said:

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,

 

You can't hold chocolate for too long once it's tempered - well you can but it'll continue to crystallize and thicken even at 90F. If I'm working from a melter, I'll turn it up while I'm filling the bonbons then re-temper later for the bottoms. 

 

I also have a Selmi and it has saved so much time.  If you're going full time and need to sell $100k+ to make a living, look at continuous tempering machines. 

 

[BrianKosterChocolates]

For reference, I am in the cusp of starting my own business and in the process of figuring out what I need before going to a lender (if I need to). I also have a full time job and make chocolates a couple days per month (as a side gig).

 

One thing I've been implementing in my business strategy is incorporating a postmortem into my ventures. What that entails is giving myself a timeline, then I reflect on what happened, writing it down, then continue with revisions (if any) or discontinue.

 

So far, I am making chocolates in my apartment while testing these business ideas. Chocolates go out mostly to friends, but I've gotten to the point of needing to make a tough decision (buy more molds, spend more time making chocos, or increase flavors given) because of an increase of people willing to buy my chocolates. And yes I'm scared of asking a lender for a large sum of money on a business plan with an unknown outcome. (It feels wrong to ask local chocolatiers their revenues, how much they pay for rent, and other business practices.)

[Alleguede]

After a few years here is my few main mistakes:

 

1 - start of strong on marketing if you can’t do it find someone to do it online presence/branding is key.

No need for fancy expensive packaging but branding, is key

 

2 - don’t start small minded. It’s better to push to sell then to not have enough. 
im referring to equipment, material, supplies. I bought some equipment that in 3 months were too small. Or quantities that limited me in growth (molds,rings…)

 

3 - accounting is super important.

 

4 - keep track of your SOP, processes, system,…

 

5 - surround yourself with the skills you don’t have. You wont have time to learn as much as an expert does. But pick the right expert you are comfortable with

[pastrygirl]

On 2/2/2025 at 10:34 AM, BrianKosterChocolates said:

And yes I'm scared of asking a lender for a large sum of money on a business plan with an unknown outcome.

 

Borrow money in this economy???  That is a rational fear.

 

Rent is easy enough to figure out, just look at your local commercial real estate listings or talk to an agent.  You already know your ingredient & packaging cost.  Where are you?

 

I agree that marketing is huge.  You can make the best product but people need to know it exists before they can buy it.

[paulraphael]

On 2/22/2025 at 7:53 AM, Alleguede said:

After a few years here is my few main mistakes:

 

1 - start of strong on marketing if you can’t do it find someone to do it online presence/branding is key.

No need for fancy expensive packaging but branding, is key

 

While I think the quality of your product is what will keep you in business, the branding is going to be key to getting you started. Simply because there are so many companies (big, small, tiny) doing things that are essentially similar. People need a reason to take a risk on on a newcomer. 

 

My instinct is that your marketing / branding should be decidedly un-fancy. The idea isn't to invent a story or an image, but to to use your actual story. You hinted at it ... from Texas and from all over, landed in small town midwest, working by yourself, making these exquisite looking things in your kitchen far from any culinary capitol, etc..   I think you can find a story in there that's true to who you are, that's appealing, and that distinguishes you from the competition. It could be the difference between creating momentum and being dead in the water.

 

Since professional marketing is expensive, you might be able to higher someone more as a consultant, for guidance. You can do most of the work yourself (a blog! Written by the actual chocolate maker. Excerpts from you on social. People love that). 

 

One piece of advice from someone who's done branding for startups: don't do too much up front. You don't want to rigidly define yourself now, because you want the freedom to adapt to the market as you grow. The business idea as you're imagining it might stagnate, but a subtle or not-so-subtle variation might be a hit. Don't let your early branding paint you into a corner.