Ep. 216 – What to Do Before You Start a Food Business with Sari Kimbell, Consultant and owner of Food Business Success

Sari Kimbell is a food business consultant who helps people from the idea stage to getting into retail channels. She runs the website, food business success.

Sari's experience being a broker at Whole Foods and running a commissary kitchen makes her an expert in understanding the challenges and needs to starting a food business so I ask her some pretty real questions.

I try to ask super blunt question like how much money do you need to start and Sari does an excellent job really honing in on the endgame, or goal.

We take a dive deep into maximizing margins before even launching your product, sell sheets and price sheets and how to use them properly, and things like that.

A disclaimer is that this interview is before the pandemic and we talk about ecommerce! Though the game has changed, I think Sari’s advice is still very valid. Perhaps the only outdated thing is something I’ve said. There’s a comment that I don’t buy food online and IT’S STILL TRUE. I might have bought maybe a couple of food items from Amazon, but that’s all.

If you want to know more about Sari’s offerings, check out our shownotes for this episode

About Sari

Sari Kimbell has held just about every position in the CPG food industry from grocery buyer to selling local produce wholesale into stores, running a commissary kitchen to starting her own food business and helping food brands get off the shelves as the Marketing Director at Whole Foods Market.

In 2015 she launched Sari Kimbell Consulting with a mission to help packaged food and beverage entrepreneurs start and scale profitable businesses. When she isn’t working on pricing and projection spreadsheets or go-to-market strategies, her passion is to help the “I just have an idea” entrepreneurs navigate the tricky food industry. This includes a number of women and English as a second language entrepreneurs wanting to bring their delicious ideas to life.

As a consultant at her local Small Business Development Center,  Sari explored their pain points and built up a bank of resources for those who were committed to bootstrapping their business (ie: figuring it out themselves).  Her goal is to help more startups launch and scale up, and in 2019 Sari introduced Food Business Success™ that provides online courses and accelerators that combine self-directed learning with one-on-one business strategy sessions or group calls to answer specific questions and provide accountability to help this early stage entrepreneur.

Food Business Success has a ton of great resources you should check out if you're considering starting a food business. Including a Free Masterclass for Farmer’s markets and a 21 week accelerator program.

Sponsor for the Episode: WeStock

Grocery is changing daily due to the current environment and we know it is an uncertain time for your brand. At WeStock we are working to help our brand partners continue to grow even now. WeStock streamlines the request process providing your brand with consistent retail leads and gives you the insights needed to grow your business. Learn more at WeStock.io and use promo code MyFoodJobRocks for 25% off your first year.

Show Notes

Alli Ball Consulting We’re similar but we have different niches. Sari focuses before you start, Ali is later in the game What's your history?: I was a whole foods market buyer, vendor onboarding. I found my passion to help really early stage entrepreneurs. I then managed a commissary kitchen Food Business Success What would you tell someone who has an idea?: Really focus on why you want to do it. Do you really have a  deep drive or conviction of doing this? What should your budget be in starting a food business?: Depends on the goal. Farmers market or national push? Cottage Food Laws Questions to ask: What’s your launch strategy? Avery Labels Online Labels.com Uline Packaging Do you have any success stories on people working in stores?: You kind of see what people are made of. You have to plan well in advanced for those capital needs. Numbers don’t lie. They hurt, but they don’t lie. I have a Pricing for Profitability course COGS – Cost of Goods For workshops, I generally throw a number on when you should pay yourself: $250,000 dollars. People are aghast when you hear the numbers. Unfortunately, profitability is small competition is high How do you convince a store how to take on your product?: What’s in it for your buyer? Sell Sheets – a professional sell sheet is super important It usually takes 9-12 months for a buyer to re-evaluate a category in a big store Sell-sheet Price sheet Online Retail Market Goldbelly Bubble Thrive Market People generally don’t buy from people’s websites. When was the last time you do? (answer for me is never) Wholesale: FAIR and Hubba Expo West was canceled When should you go to a trade show?: Go beforehand and walk it. Most food shows have the same structure Eat Colorado Food Show Some tricks: Have a private party in a suite or a booth Connections in the industry are also super important. Not just buyers For more awesome content Food Business SuccessOr Sari Kimbell Consulting Youtube Channel Instagram @FoodBizSuccess

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices