Myth #1: The artisan food industry is too crowded for another new product to enter the fray.
The artisan market is crowded but the truth of the matter is that the
specialty food industry as a whole is seeing unprecedented growth. A
recent report by the Specialty Food Association (yes, there is such a
thing!) shows that specialty food sales exploded in 2012 with 14.3%
growth over 2011. That’s a whopping $85M spent on specialty food in the
US alone! Customers today actively seek out artisan food products and
are willing to pay a premium for food products they deem are crafted
with care and quality ingredients.
What if your dream is to start a food truck? There are some who would
argue that it’s impossible to start a food truck in the Seattle Metro
area today. Josh Henderson from Skillet argues differently, though. At
the 2012 University of Washington Entrepreneur Week, I had the honor of
moderating a food truck panel that included top Seattle mobile food
entrepreneurs. When asked whether they thought this city had reached its
capacity for food trucks these entrepreneurs all declared that Seattle,
a bigger city than Portland, hasn’t even come close to reaching the
number of food trucks that Portland has. What’s more, they said, food
trucks that can consistently deliver great product will always have a
place in this market.
Myth #2: It’s too risky/expensive to start up a business in today’s economy.
That may be true for some businesses (biotech doesn’t seem like a
cheap endeavor for instance!) but if a food business is what you dream
of building, then there’s really never been a better time here in
Washington. Recent changes in our laws now make it possible to start
some food businesses from your own home kitchen, which can cut down
immensely on your startup costs. If that’s not an option for you, there
are also a number of kitchen ‘incubators’ in the area that enable you to
essentially sublease a commercial kitchen space for a certain number of
hours every week rather than having to find or build a kitchen of your
own. Be it a home kitchen or a kitchen incubator, both of these provide
you with a way to cost effectively start your business small and grow it
from there.
Starting a food business also doesn’t mean you necessarily need to
give up your day job or put the kids in full-time daycare. It is not
only possible to start a part-time food business, but you can actually
build a successful and profitable business this way that you could later
move into full-time or simply keep part-time as a way to make a little
extra money.
Food trucks differ a little from this in that if you’re going to
commit to a food truck then you likely need to be willing to put more
money upfront to get it started. That being said, it is possible to
start a food truck for as little as $5000 if you’re willing to put the
elbow grease into fixing up a truck yourself.
By starting an artisan food business you are in no way guaranteed a
life of riches, gold, and ample leisure, but if making and selling your
specialty food product brings you happiness, makes your heart sing, and
can be turned into a viable part-time or full-time business, then isn’t
it worthwhile to give it a shot?
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