Who can help me to process, sell and distribute a product?

By Brad Sugars

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

I have an old family recipe that I would like to bottle and sell. I would like to know how I would go about contacting a company that would be willing to work with me to produce the product, bottle and distribute. I would begin small, locally, but would eventually like to sell the product throughout the country and especially in bulk to existing businesses. The product is used for sandwiches and salads. I do not want to have to sell the recipe.
You’ll probably have to go it alone at first, especially if you don’t want to sell the recipe. Find a local vendor who can produce it for you, then get a list of 20 or so retail businesses you’d want to sell to--and give them samples in some type of sales package.

Not everyone on your list will buy. It's a numbers game, in that sense--and the bigger your potential list, the more chances you'll have that one of your targeted retailers will buy the product.

Know also that retail is all about shelf space--so the more varieties and types of recipes you have to stock, the better chance you may have of getting on the shelves.

All the best.

Brad Sugars

Brad Sugars is the founder and chairman of ActionCOACH. As an entrepreneur, author and business coach, he has owned and operated more than two dozen companies including his main company, ActionCOACH, which has more than 1,000 offices in 34 countries.

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