<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
You would need to start by either finding a facility that could be cleared by your county HD for food production, or farm out the production to a packager,
as it is highly unlikely you could get approval to manufacture in a residence. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is very true! Some states/counties will let you manufacture 'dry' ingredients in your home, once approved by a local authority and inspected every 6 months.
After you find a co-packer there are several other things I HIGHLY suggest.
#1. Become an LLC, this protects you and your family's personal assets, you can do this locally or through
www.legalzoom.com. Locally it will cost less, through Legal Zoom, around $400. I used Legal Zoom and it took about a week to get everything done and was a very painless process.
#2. GET INSURANCE, $1M minimum, we live in a 'Sue Happy Society', protect yourself! Insurance will run you depending on the company, less than $400 annually! If you have a hard time finding a provider, check out The Hartford, that's who I used.
#3. You will need to get nutritional analysis done on your product and depending on who you go through can vary in pricing. I used
The American Association of Meat Processors and it ran $89 per recipe and was very fast and they give you a jpg to manipulate onto your current label theme.
#4. Next if you plan on marketing your products in retail stores, you will need UPC's labels to place on your bottles, go
HERE for more information.
#5. Unless you have the ability to create, manipulate and print your own labels, you will need someone to produce your labels. I used
Frontier Labels. They do fantastic work, customer service is top notch, they're relatively inexpensive and they do not require a 2-3 thousand minimum as some label makers do.
There is alot involved in getting started and alot of work involved after you get started, so be prepared.
