Thinking of offering a service; what are your thoughts?

Rubber Ducky

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 3:23 pm

amother wrote:

If you are marketing to frum people you would need a hechsher.

Not necessarily. Within your own circle this may not be an issue.

This sounds a product with only 2 or 3 ingredients. The cost of the hechscher could make this home-based microbusiness a non-starter. But do look into it as well as health regulations.

Cheiny

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 6:04 pm

amother wrote:

I'm thinking of ways to earn money, so that I can meet basic living expenses. I like to do things I'm good at. Don't laugh, but I'm good at making nut-milk. My children love it! I love it too! For small eaters, it's a great meal replacement on its own, and for regular eaters, it's a great boost when added to a protein shake.

I'm thinking to offer a service: I would go to people's homes and teach them how to make nut milk with their blender. Or, I'd make it in my home and deliver. Nut milk has a very short shelf life. It can be refrigerated for up to three days, no longer. In my home, a batch of nut milk never lasts that long. It's that tasty, it gets gobbled up in no time.

The nut milks that are currently sold in stores contain ingredients I'd rather not consume. The nut milk I make is made of nuts and water, nothing else. (Unless you want to add sweetener or flavors such as cinnamon, vanilla, etc.) We like ours plain.

What do you think of this idea? Hi

(Location: Brooklyn)

I don’t think it will ultimately be very successful, I don’t think there will be A big demand.

Raisin

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 6:16 pm

groovy1224 wrote:

In today's day, I wouldn't start a business without it. It is a great way to stay in contact with customers, get orders, and publicize your business without giving out your phone number. I think if you have instagram a website isn't necessary.

(You can also do giveaways to help get the business going)

I second (third?) the idea of following abbey wolin for her small biz advice.

I don't use instagram (have an account but don't really follow it) and find it extremely annoying when companies have facebook pages or instagram pages but don't have websites. I want to go to a place where I can see your products, prices, opening hours, phone number etc. Doesn't need to be a fancy website.

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 6:56 pm

InnerMe wrote:

You should probably compare it to grocery store versions of this, plus health food stores if there's any similar item and base it off that. You don't want the price to be too high, that people won't buy it. People must value it enough to be willing to pay $10 for a 16 oz bottle. Perhaps there's some kind of survey you can take.. and feel it out how much people would be willing to spend on this.

I checked two health food stores- all nut milks have stabilizers and other ingredients. Certainly not "pure" or "live" nut milk.

As for your last sentence, I wonder how much would ppl be willing to pay/contribute for the nut milk, which is essentially a "glorified tzedaka campaign" embarrassed

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:04 pm

amother wrote:

I don’t think too many people would be interested in this. If they are, it’s really not too hard to figure out. If need be there’s always google-
https://www.thekitchn.com/home.....43347

Is it not similar to buying takeout, when you can make the same dish at home for less $$$ ?

I think It's a convenience factor, no more no less. .

I had a child on scd a few years ago. I used to go to someone's home to pick up prepared soup, muffins, blintzes, etc.

Sure, I could have prepared the same dishes at a lower cost to me, but I was busy working, and caring for a sick child, and I was happy to pay for the convenience.

amother

Sienna

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:06 pm

amother wrote:

Thats the thing-it doesnt have any stabilizers, it was the first thing I checked. The only ingredient listed is the nut.
BH im not at that point where id be buying it for the SCD diet because we are hoping a new mcedication will work for my daughter, but theres a big market for pure nut milk on the SCD diet. I dont know about other people, but for myself I would really be looking for low price, especially since health food in general is so expensive. But it could be others would pay more! You never know... if you market it as a more high-end product...

ETA as im thinking about it, we know people who tried to launch a product, lets say flavored chocolate (want to protect their identity) and at first their friendly looking, reasoynably priced amazinglly delicious product wasnt bringing in enough business. Then after a few years of strugglhing with it they relaunched it under a much fancier name, fancier label, called it "artisian" or gourmet or whatever and its now a hot item flyitng off the shelves of manyJewish groceries. And its MUCH more expensive than it was.
Please dont trust me for business advice cuz I rly dont know anything about it, but maybe appealing to high end customers would help?

Don't want to derail the thread but hope this another sees it
As a 20 something with 3 autoimmune diseases and medication that manages it - please put your daughter on a good diet anyways. Gut health is so important and medications can stop working. It's hard but worth it. I'm doing a stricter version of paleo which is basically only vegetables and meat.

To the op, good luck! I can't have nuts but I would buy something like this. Homemade sauerkraut or other fermented foods like someone said.

amother

Ivory

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:16 pm

There is a person in Monroe that sells goat milk. She has a hechsher. People call her and once or twice a week she makes deliveries. She became big I think through people telling each other. She now also has once a week delivery to Monsey and Brooklyn.
I think your idea of selling nut milk is really good.

amother

Red

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:20 pm

amother wrote:

Where does she get the milk from? Does she have a goat?

33055

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 7:23 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

I could see having a group of women come over and pay for a class.

Personally, I'd love to know more about making sauerkraut with live cultures, how to make Indian paneer, and other types of cheese making. Learning how to do canning safely would be a good one, too.

There are a lot of food prep skills that our grandmothers knew, and we're losing that knowledge base. With global warming, pesticides, GMO, drought, and all the rest of stuff that's going on in the world, I think we're going to be seeing a lot more backyard gardeners and "back to earth" movements, like in the 70's

As an aside, thanks for the idea of making paneer. I tried it this morning. It is super easy. You can't buy plain CY paneer AFAIK. I am enjoying saag paneer now!!

amother

Chocolate

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 9:46 pm

Sebastian wrote:

OP I looked up Elmhurst it had sugar salt and natural flavorings. Cheiny you should see what high prices some health food items have and ppl buy it. You need to market yourself properly

No it doesnt- you need to look for the unsweetened one. Look it up again, its on their website. Look for "unsweetened milked almonds." Its just almonds and water.

amother

Seafoam

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 10:04 pm

amother wrote:

https://www.amazon.com/Elmhurst-Milked-Unsweetened-Almond-Milk/dp/B078WX942B

This is the product im talking about. Ingredients are almonds and water and wesley kosher in monsey started selling it recently for 4.38 for 32 oz

Hm. Very interesting. This had to have been pasteurized in order to make it shelf stable. And 7-10 days in the fridge? Idunno, mine go bad after three days.

The food production industry is quite an interesting one Wink

amother

Fuchsia

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 10:14 pm

1. It's hard for me to imagine a big market. I think that people who are so careful about not wanting a single additive in their food are already making so much of their own food from scratch, that nut milk is no big deal. Let's be real, it's super quick and easy to make (I do it).

2. Then you have to consider that to people who are used to the shelf stable stuff, yours might actually not taste better at all. It's like people who are so used to Duncan Hines that to them it tastes better than any homemade cake. Their tastes have been so altered, they actually prefer the cr*p.

3. Even if you are desperate for a way to make money, you have to stop saying that this is a tzedaka. You yourself have to see it and approach it as a business if you want to have any success. The tzeddaka line will get you a few pity customers, and that's about all.

4. Like someone else said, I think you will do better if you offer a few products. Maybe some nut milks and also some natural homemade nut butters. I make it and give it to friends and family who can't get enough of it. It is so much better than any you can buy in a store, that I think people would be willing to really spend on that. The question is if you can get nuts cheap so that you actually make money on this. You can vary your offerings so that once week you're making almond milk and almond butter and another week you're doing pistachio or pecan or cashew or macadamia.

Good luck.

Sebastian

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 10:21 pm

amother chocolate, there are salt, sugar and "natural flavors" added as well.

I know someone who sells a "healthy" baking mix for $8 in the health food store. People buy it. You can probably get something similar for $4 but people want her brand of baking mix since they trust her or like her brand.

I know someone else who sells homemade granola for $9 a small bag. You can get store bought for $2-$3. People still buy it b/c her's tastes better.

amother

Chocolate

Thu, Oct 04 2018, 10:49 pm

Sebastian wrote:

amother chocolate, there are salt, sugar and "natural flavors" added as well..

No no youre looking at the wrong product! Lol.
The plain "milked almonds" has all of that, but the "unsweetened milked almonds" only has 2 ingredients: almonds and water. Look at the amazon link. Ive seen this with my own eyes in the store. .