Lakota Hills
Case 2 – Lakota Hills
Challenges and advantages of developing a specialty food business:
The specialty food business can be rewarding and exciting, but it can also be a real struggle. Specialty foods can range from salad dressing to chocolate sauce to fragrant breads. If you can make it, you can sell it--provided you know how. The specialty food business is more about marketing than cooking, getting your product on the shelves and then off again into customers' shopping carts.
You can look at it in two ways, when some people go grocery shopping; they want not just a can of soup but something special. But other hand in an age when very few have the time to stay home and bake cookies, put up preserves or pickles, or spend hours over that simmering pot of soup or spaghetti sauce, most of us scan the supermarket shelves for take-home goodness. So if you're renowned among family and friends for your famous chili or killer brownies or champagne jelly, then the specialty foods business might be your piece of pie.
The advantages to this business are that it’s creative and challenging, and if you believe in your product, it can be extremely rewarding. Besides the ability to whip up a mean soufflé or sorbet, you'll need a working knowledge of safe food-handling practices, health regulations and product liability laws. A flair for food packaging is also a must--nobody's going to buy your delightful Danishes if they look dumpy.
Advantages:
Being your own boss.
Creating your own work environment: hours, flexibility, etc.
Doing something in which you believe
Reaping the benefits of hard work and long hours directly.
Variety, challenges, and opportunities for creativity, full use of knowledge
More open earning and growth potential
Satisfaction of a successful venture, a product well received
Empowerment
Disadvantages:
Risk of failure
Time Commitment — 60-70 hrs per week is normal
Financial strain as assets become tied to business start up and success
Strain
Challenges and advantages of developing a specialty food business:
The specialty food business can be rewarding and exciting, but it can also be a real struggle. Specialty foods can range from salad dressing to chocolate sauce to fragrant breads. If you can make it, you can sell it--provided you know how. The specialty food business is more about marketing than cooking, getting your product on the shelves and then off again into customers' shopping carts.
You can look at it in two ways, when some people go grocery shopping; they want not just a can of soup but something special. But other hand in an age when very few have the time to stay home and bake cookies, put up preserves or pickles, or spend hours over that simmering pot of soup or spaghetti sauce, most of us scan the supermarket shelves for take-home goodness. So if you're renowned among family and friends for your famous chili or killer brownies or champagne jelly, then the specialty foods business might be your piece of pie.
The advantages to this business are that it’s creative and challenging, and if you believe in your product, it can be extremely rewarding. Besides the ability to whip up a mean soufflé or sorbet, you'll need a working knowledge of safe food-handling practices, health regulations and product liability laws. A flair for food packaging is also a must--nobody's going to buy your delightful Danishes if they look dumpy.
Advantages:
Being your own boss.
Creating your own work environment: hours, flexibility, etc.
Doing something in which you believe
Reaping the benefits of hard work and long hours directly.
Variety, challenges, and opportunities for creativity, full use of knowledge
More open earning and growth potential
Satisfaction of a successful venture, a product well received
Empowerment
Disadvantages:
Risk of failure
Time Commitment — 60-70 hrs per week is normal
Financial strain as assets become tied to business start up and success
Strain