How to Start an Online Food Business
Do you want to start an online food business as a primary source of income? With the rise of online selling, it is much easier to build a business online, no need to worry about the lease of your store or cost for utility bills. If you are planning to start or relatively new to selling food online— then you are in the right place!
Know Your Skill
You should know what you are good and not so good at. When starting an online food business, you must think of the type of food you want to sell in the online market. With this kind of decision, you must discover the most prominent skill that you believe will translate well in the online food business industry. Two skills that are not mandatory but are an excellent headstart are cooking, baking.
With cooking, you could sell your “specialty dish” as your main or recommended dish in your menu. Have your friends and family taste-test your meal as well to get more feedback to improve your dish. Once you are satisfied with your product, test it out with packaging as well and see how long it lasts! When you are confident enough with your product, and have everything set-up, why not share and sell it online?
Baking, on the other hand, takes a lot more practice compared to cooking. However, the results of baking tasty treats are always rewarding! Just like cooking, it would be best to have your family and friends taste-test it so you can improve on your product more. If you are planning on selling a common pastry in the market, try adding your own twist to it. Cinnamon buns? Try adding a different kind of icing flavor. Cookies? Add a burst of flavors as a filling. The possibilities are endless! If you are confident about selling your pastries online, then go for it! Many online food sellers began this route with baking as either their hobby or passion.
Build your brand
When you build a brand, how do you stand out from the rest of the market? Being new to the online food business, you need differentiate yourself from your competitors. Creating a brand is like creating your idea for your product. After figuring out what product, meal or pastry you want to sell, it’s time to set yourself apart.
When creating a brand, start with your business name. Make it catchy or something your customers will remember! Your brand name could also be as simple as “ Cookies by” or something creative and out of the box. After coming up with your brand name, it’s time for the product look!
For your customers to identify your food business, creating a good logo that represents your brand is important. Not only your logo, but brand colors and packaging as well will make your business and product stand out among your competitors.
Ask assistance from professionals to help you capture your brand identity through creatives. Researching different designs, color theories and packaging will really help in bringing more life to your food business.
Promote Your Business
After building your food business’ look and feel. Your next step is to slowly start promoting and marketing it through different means. The fastest way to get your food business out there is through social media, in platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Promoting on these social media platforms can bring more brand awareness and potential customers to your product. Ask your friends, family and colleagues to support your social media pages and engage with your content!
Promoting your business is more effective when you know who your target market is. Who are you selling to? How do they think, talk and behave? Are they more found on Facebook, Instagram, or both? Determining who your customers are can help you create better ads and promotional materials that will cater specifically to your market.
Try content marketing! Content marketing such as articles, infographics, gifs and many more can help your business engage more with your market. Not only will customers be interested in your amazing dishes, but they will surely be captivated by the creative materials you have in store.
Determine Your Finances
When selling food online, you must be aware of all the finances that revolve around your business. Being aware of how much you spend to make your product will help you manage your finances better, especially if you are just starting your business. Another important tip when it comes to breaking down and managing your finances is to find alternatives. One way to lower cost and budget your finances is finding alternatives to your ingredients, packaging and different advertising. A cheaper ingredient does not always mean lower quality, there are many alternatives in the market that will give you quality that is just as good as the expensive ingredients.
Knowing and tracking how much you spend does not have to be a complicating task. Try keeping note of the different costs and fees by keeping grocery receipts, inputting the cost and sales in a notebook or an excel file.
Establish Delivery Partners
Delivery is essential when handling an online business. You could deliver it yourself, but it can be time-consuming and expensive in terms of gas cost. Partner up with delivery couriers of your such as Grab, FoodPanda, Lalamove. It is easy to book and faster to get your meals from point A to point B. Not only will you benefit from their delivery services, but it gives your business more exposure!
With the tips that we have given you, why not start your online food business with us? TippyMart can assist you when starting your online business for free! A virtual online store is immediately available, you can have your store name, have the freedom to sell any of your food products, assist you with any business questions, and we can handle your food delivery!