This seems like a stupid thought, but does anyone know about the salad dressing industry?

I make 2-3 salad dressings that people swear I could sell.

Can't imagine it would be easy to get off the ground.

Do most restaurants make their own salad dressings?

Would be interesting to run the numbers on how much you would have to sell to be profitable. Try to get it on the shelves of HEB, Kroger, etc (which I assume is nearly impossibly).

Then also have a business segment that provides the dressings nationwide to nice restaurants. Maybe you could make a deal with the restaurants that you won't provide your dressing to more than 2 restaurants in a 30 mile radius and more than 1 in a 10 mile radius.

Marketing, development, utilization of brokers and aquisition of shelf space as you might suspect are factors not easily dealt with. On the manufacturing side,there are also licensing issues, labeling legality, food safety issues, registration w/ the city, state and FDA (depending on size and distribution) To be safe you should consult a "process authority" such as Dr. Al Wagner at TAMU.

Ninnyhow, the bit of food tecchie wisdom I'd like to share is that there is a federal standard identity for salad dressing (url below). Things most people call salad dressings cannot be labeled as such. I believe Kraft petitioned the FDA for a temporary permit to deviate from the standard, but I checked the fridge and Kraft has been using terms such as: Sun Dried Tomato - Anything Dressing. The key phrase in the regulations is: "Salad dressing contains not less than 30 percent by weight of vegetable oil and not less egg yolk-containing ingredient than is equivalent in egg yolk solids content to 4 percent by weight of liquid egg yolks."

Good Luck

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?CFRPart=169&showFR=1&subpartNode=21:2.0.1.1.41.2

I know nothing about the food industry. So having said that, in the spirit of the internet I'm going to give advice like I know what I'm talking about.

Considering you probably are making this in town, try a farmer's market. Seems like prepared food items are half of the stalls there. You should be in the spirit of the place as you are controlling all the ingredients that are going into it.

I live in Houston and both Katz's Coffee and Revival Market had a stall at Urban Harvest before moving on to larger operations. This seems like a good way to see the public's reaction to your product while minimizing your risk. A track record will go a long way to proving to a grocery manager that they should take a chance on your product.

That being said, I don't think you can operate out of a residential kitchen in Houston.

My .02¢

For restaurants, your market would be local mom and pops, I would think. Higher end/chef driven restaurants tend to make their own (I want control of my flavor profile.) I dont think I would ever purchase an outside dressing....if something came in, and was truly unique, it would likely inspire me to create it myself and add my own twist to fit a particular dish. . I have never seen a dressing manufacture come in a back door with samples, like I have with meat and produce suppliers.

For the mom and pops you would competing with Ben E Kieth, Sysco, Ken's and other comodity "brands"/lines. It will be very hard to compete with their scale/price point, which is already on the shelves at mom and pops. They are known for being slow adapters.

The big guys (Chilis, Olive Garden, similar chains) have thier own manufactures and supply chain, doubt you could break into them from the outside. That doesnt mean you shouldnt try.

Your competetive advantage would be flavor and quality, can you make it cost effective for the mom and pop?


The farmers market could be a good outlet, especially if you are in a bigger city with multiple markets. Those people are willing to pay more for craft products.

You would need a food manufactures permit, inspected "kitchen" and, i think, a special canning license, and a HACCP plan. There are less labeling "issues" if you stay at farmers markets, but getting in can be difficult.

You would have to be accepted by the market and some of them have special rules (has to be an agricultural product -grow your own veg-, approval of workspace by the market, relative geography to said market, etc) All is doable, just make sure you research.

Another outlet could be small speciality shops/Craft grocery like Bolsa Mercado, Jimmys Food Store, etc. It's an easier pitch to the owner rather than a major grocery store executive.

Go for it! How can we help?

_______________________________________________________
Bacon: The duct tape of the kitchen.

[This message has been edited by bonfirewillburn (edited 6/20/2013 10:41a).]

Like Farmer John, I have no experience in this but I did see a friend successfully navigate the waters of the BBQ sauce industry so now I'm an expert.

He rented time at commercial bottling kitchen to make it. He started out at farmers markets in Denver and once proved himself successful, managed to get shelf space at Whole Foods. Unfortunately he realized his margins weren't big enough and he wasn't willing to make it a full time job so he quit.