Ideas on how to start homemade food business

[greenmonkey]

Hi, since the covid situation both my wife and I find ourselves jobless with little money coming in and I am seeking some advice on the following.

 

We have been mulling over the idea of starting some kind of food business from our home in Nonthaburi and delivering to local households. We came up with a few dishes and have tested them out with friends, family and local paying residents in our village. The feedback has been very good - we are offering them something that cannot be purchased in this area.

 

So now I am looking at how we can harness this idea and reach a larger audience in our local area. I have seen these apps and food delivery services such as wongnai, foodpanda, Line Man etc but never paid much attention to them. So does anyone have any experience and advice of using these for the type of business I want to do? Can anyone provide alternatives or advice in general on how we might want to proceed?

 

Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanking you in advance!

[worgeordie]

Put a leaflet in every letterbox in your area,

with all products you offer and prices,delivery

charge ?, or not.

That would be the easiest,quickest,and cheapest

way to get started,the product needs to be good

to get repeat orders.good luck

regards Worgeordie 

[Yankeesvsredsox]

Buy or try to buy only local fresh ingredients from the market and advertize it like "locale fresh foods to the table"

This is a great incentive for the younger and middle aged falangs and Thais

[frequentatore]

What kind of food?

 

[lopburi3]

33 minutes ago, greenmonkey said:

The feedback has been very good - we are offering them something that cannot be purchased in this area.

The only real test of that is repeat customers - nobody is going to say something is so-so.  And in most cases such business do quickly fail as everyone believe themselves a cook but very few are.  Most such shops here in Bangkok delivered themselves in a local area prior to COVID - now deliver is mostly from chain stores or larger restaurants that can not serve.  This is a very competitive field but if you are unique and good it does not require much to give it a try.  Good luck.  If you can use own MC to deliver so much the better.  Printed page with phone to local mailbox seems to be the most effective method of starting. 

[NiwPix]

This topic may help you out a bit.

 

[jvs]

Sell basic food for a cheap price,does not need to be a large menu.

In days to come people will be looking for good quality cheap food.

 

[KaputtAlreadyNa]

Set up a Line Group in your Moo Baan and advertise on it. Describe your food as unique and you buy from your local market. Best of luck. 

Warmest 

[Yankeesvsredsox]

Promotions are big! Two other tips Expect to lose money the first year .Enough can't be said for working capital!

[cornishcarlos]

Deliver it yourselves... Foodpanda etc is extra overheads you don't need. Buy a cheap 2nd hand scooter if you don't have one. 

Facebook page is an easy way to advertise these days on all the local groups.

A picture says 1000 words, especially when it comes to food... 

Start small, don't expect Amazon type revenue and hopefully grow into something that can support you both.

 

Good luck

[kingofthemountain]

1 hour ago, worgeordie said:

Put a leaflet in every letterbox in your area,

with all products you offer and prices,delivery

charge ?, or not.

That would be the easiest,quickest,and cheapest

way to get started,the product needs to be good

to get repeat orders.good luck

I totaly agree

plus the Thais love the promotions and discounts

if you put a coupon with for example 10 bahts rewards on 

every purchase of more than 100 bahts, you can have more

customers and also know how much returns you have on your

advertising campaign with the coupons handed back at you.

You can also do fidelity cards, with one stamp for each 100 bahts purchase

when the 10 cases are stamped, you offer a 100 bahts note in return.

It's only 10% but this way you can have regulars customers and also know if

they are back or not, 

If they not come back, something is wrong in your business

good luck

[greenmonkey]

Thank you everyone for your advice. I started already with the village line group, managed to get 3 or 4 houses ordering and they have all come back to me with triple sized orders so it looks promising. I know its not gonna make me a million but just paying the bills would be good enough. Gonna look into some of the other suggestions that you made.

 

Thanks once again!

[wombat]

On 5/9/2020 at 12:00 PM, cornishcarlos said:

Deliver it yourselves... Foodpanda etc is extra overheads you don't need. Buy a cheap 2nd hand scooter if you don't have one. 

 

 

Good luck

there must be a relation that would deliver

[SS1]

16 hours ago, greenmonkey said:

Thank you everyone for your advice. I started already with the village line group, managed to get 3 or 4 houses ordering and they have all come back to me with triple sized orders so it looks promising. I know its not gonna make me a million but just paying the bills would be good enough. Gonna look into some of the other suggestions that you made.

 

Thanks once again!

I would still research all the delivery apps: Foodpanda, Grab and Lineman and list your products there as well, but mark up the prices to cover their fees. Personally, I have found lots of restaurants this way that I otherwise didn't know even existed. You can also create a FB page/LINE for direct orders (for example within a max. distance) with cheaper prices and own delivery. This way, your loyal customers will eventually find your own page and order direct instead of using the apps. 

Good tip about the discounts as well - even if they're nominal, the restaurants with special promotions always pop up first in the delivery apps. 

Good luck! 

Edited May 10, 2020 by SS1

[NightSky]

Don’t get caught out as the foreigner working without a work permit.

 

You never know who’s watching. 

[kingofthemountain]

6 minutes ago, NightSky said:

Don’t get caught out as the foreigner working without a work permit.

 

You never know who’s watching. 

True

especially if the business is a success

 

 

[tandor]

i hope it goes well for you mate..steady as she goes.

[scorecard]

On 5/9/2020 at 2:35 PM, lopburi3 said:

The only real test of that is repeat customers - nobody is going to say something is so-so.  And in most cases such business do quickly fail as everyone believe themselves a cook but very few are.  Most such shops here in Bangkok delivered themselves in a local area prior to COVID - now deliver is mostly from chain stores or larger restaurants that can not serve.  This is a very competitive field but if you are unique and good it does not require much to give it a try.  Good luck.  If you can use own MC to deliver so much the better.  Printed page with phone to local mailbox seems to be the most effective method of starting. 

One of the factors in making money from food is of course producing meals which will market at an acceptable profit margin. Therefore the operator must know accurately what it cost to produce each specific meal. 

 

Then becoming very efficient with raw materials, or in more simple terms strongly controlling raw materials wastage and buying the raw materials at the lowest prices, which also means buying each raw materials item according to actual needs matched to menu items.

 

And I've heard of chefs who can always create personal from whatever is left over. 

 

In terms of advertising, right now you could have many competitors so you probably need some form of promotion to get locals to buy your meals to try. Another idea would be to give discounts plus a voucher in the delivery bag to entice customers to buy again.

 

One Thai lady in our moo baan started a 'home cooked Thai foods' business about 3 years back, she does all the buying and cooks the meals. She aims for customers from within the village from 11.00 am to 7.00 pm, and not outside and village rules prevent her from having customers come to her house.

 

Customers call her and order, her retired father uses the small family motorcycle  to deliver the finished food in the space under the seat to the customer and takes the money. After 4.00 pm her uni student son, same system, delivers to village customers.

 

The lady has a one page printed menu which is delivered with every meal, and because the lady can't speak English she put a big A against the first item on the menu, B against the next item and so one. A few farang send her an SMS with codes like: A A A B D etc., and the internal Soi no and house number or include the mobile no of someone in their house who speaks Thai, she calls that number to get the address. 

 

Food is excellent and fresh and reasonable price and they have many customers, their business has been operating for about 3 years so I guess they are making good money.

 

Good luck.

Edited May 10, 2020 by scorecard

[Ventenio]

problem with work permit happened to a friend in KK.  he sold food, and other people selling food got less orders.  police came and checked after people recorded him with their phone working.  anyhow, i won't ramble long about it.  it's been covered.

 

pick a good name.  like  Bangkok Bread.  or Thailand Treats.   There are no copyright or trademark issues here.....use a logo of anyone or anything.  maybe even a superhero.....i've seen hulk, superman, everyone selling food.  i'm sure they aren't paying Marvel.  

 

do facebook, LINE, etc..

 

maybe include a face mask in some orders, OR a little extra food as a "gift".  something.  and have drawings for prizes on facebook.   make sure it's in Thai as well.  

 

the key is giving more at the beginning.  you only have one chance

[Max69xl]

On 5/9/2020 at 11:41 AM, jvs said:

Sell basic food for a cheap price,does not need to be a large menu.

In days to come people will be looking for good quality cheap food.

 

You can buy good quality cheap food everywhere in Thailand. It isn't something people are actually waiting for to happen. The competition is hard in many locations.

[lopburi3]

12 hours ago, Max69xl said:

You can buy good quality cheap food everywhere in Thailand. It isn't something people are actually waiting for to happen. The competition is hard in many locations.

And a lot of not so good quality cheap food.

 

[innosiem]

A lot depends on your target customers.
i see some good advice and lots of bad advice in this thread
i was a head chef for a decade, 
first thing, Its always about the profit.
as someone pointed out, know your costs,
you should be calculating everything as much as possible
have set recipes, use scales for weights and portions etc.
this is more important when your budgets are tight.
also provides consistency in production
never waste, this is simple for any kitchen, never throw food in the bin,
find a use for it, even if just for stock.

on biz side
For a new biz, Discounts are bad, very bad
unless you want to aim for cheap cheap customers who only look for cheap cheap food
who will drop you as soon as they see something similar for a few baht less elsewhere
if you start with discounts, your customers will only expect further discount etc.
If you make quality products, you don't need discounts, special offers or gimmicks
big chains offer promotions constantly
as they always have waves of new customers due to locations
something you will not have
having said that
discounts for combo purchases can work,
but must be calculated correctly to benefit your biz the most
something like this should be used to clear old stock
rather than giving discount for the sake of giving discount

Grab etc.
these can be good to get some exposure
but 30% is a joke imo
you can add leaflets to any grab orders
so customers then order from you directly later
problem not using grab or foodpanda is you then need to sort out delivery and you get less exposure

For advertising (and another way to make discounts work for you)
offer discount for people sharing on facebook/instagram etc.
personally i would not offer a discount myself
but instead a free item with next order
as customer will see it as retail value
while you see the cost value
free items always trump cash discounts
you can switch up free items to clear stock, and you still receive the same revenue

Take care of regulars (clear old stock) who you will soon know by repeat orders

Remember, you can always give free stuff without advertising it, (think samples)
which means the customers received an order beyond their expectation
if it is advertised it is not really free, it is included, hence expected.
 

[scorecard]

On 5/10/2020 at 6:47 PM, kingofthemountain said:

True

especially if the business is a success

 

 

And beware of the innocent comments handed out by naive people who don't know they are giving away comments which could cause problems. 

[elgenon]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:00 PM, cornishcarlos said:

Deliver it yourselves... Foodpanda etc is extra overheads you don't need. Buy a cheap 2nd hand scooter if you don't have one. 

Facebook page is an easy way to advertise these days on all the local groups.

A picture says 1000 words, especially when it comes to food... 

Start small, don't expect Amazon type revenue and hopefully grow into something that can support you both.

 

Good luck

If you use photos (and you should) make sure they are high quality. Well presented, attractive, mouth watering, good color.

[elgenon]

Does the government want to get involved in such an undertaking?