Once you have discovered the joys of making homemade chocolate and you have caused your friends and family to gain weight with your constant gifts of homemade chocolate you might discover that you have a real passion for making homemade chocolate. If you are truly passionate about making homemade chocolate and you want to try and make a little extra money you could try selling your homemade chocolate.
The first thing that you need to do if you want to start selling your homemade chocolate is to find out what the licensing requirements are in your state to have a commercial kitchen and you will need to either have your kitchen inspected or rent a kitchen that has been inspected. Once you have a certificate saying that your kitchen is approved so you will be ready to start making homemade chocolate for sale.
Once you have the necessary paperwork to start selling homemade chocolate you’ll have to figure out what your niche market is. Who are you trying to sell homemade chocolates to? Are you going to make homemade chocolate wedding favors and other party favors or are you going to focus on making homemade chocolates for gifts or do you want to do it all and just make as many types of homemade chocolate as you can?
Sometimes people get started selling their homemade chocolates by selling them at craft fairs, church sales and other places where they are already known to most of the people that are attending. Getting family and friends to buy your homemade chocolate can be a great way to start a small side business selling your homemade chocolate.
If you decide to start selling your homemade chocolate then it’s a good idea to sit down and map out a basis business plan and set some goals for your business. Even if you just want to sell your homemade chocolate part time on the side it helps to have a business plan and some idea of what your expenses for the business are.
Once you’re ready to start taking orders you can set up a website where people can order homemade chocolates from you. Make sure that you do some research into the different types of shipping methods available and how much each one costs because each freight carrier will have their own set of rules about shipping food.
If you don’t want to bother with the hassles of shipping food you can also sell wholesale to local stores and bakeries. If you are making gourmet chocolate at home then local gourmet stores or your local food co-op might be interested in buying your locally produced homemade chocolate in bulk to sell in their stores. Local stores will also sometimes accept consignment sales where you pay them a percentage of what you make.
If you really love making homemade chocolate and you have developed a lot of your own special and unique recipes and you love coming up with new recipes then you might also want to think about selling homemade chocolate recipe books or starting a blog about your passion for homemade chocolate making.
Homemade chocolate making can be a great hobby, and it can make you some extra money too if you are willing to put the time and effort into making your business grow.
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