How To Start A Candy Business

How To Start A Candy Business - Background Info:

Did you know you could start a profitable business from selling homemade candy? Yes, candy! The all time favorite sweet that is well loved around the world.

People of all ages and of all ethnicities simply love candy. And if you are a home person who can make best quality candy, then you are sitting on a treasure trove.

Make good use of your talent, become a home entrepreneur. You could do this business on a part-time basis, earn extra income, and have enough time for your family! What a wonderful arrangement that sounds.

Make that dream a reality. It's not as hard as you think. Just imagine there are loads of people out there who buy and gift candy everyday.
That's your market potential. Just like your family and friends love your candy, they will too. Give them rich, high quality, home made candy, and they will come to you again and again. Make sure your customers will be able to taste the difference! And you will have yourself a neat little profit making enterprise.

In the candy making Business, create a variety of sweets that can be the foundation of your business! Candy is something that most people enjoy. Sugar is something which we have been taught to love and as a result, we all enjoy buying and eating candy. Knowing this, you can set up a candy making business and make quite a profit.

If you decide to get involved in starting a candy making business, you may want to decide what different types of candy you would like to may. You may be very good at making one type of candy, but you should market a wide offering of candy with your candy making business.

This business is not just for moms who stay at home, so if you are a dad who loves to bake or create these sweet treats, then go for it! Candy making may just be the calling you have been looking for to sweeten up your career.

The possibility of this 'small home business' turning into a successful enterprise is based on the quality and overall appearance of your product that your customers receive. Your number one job is to always deliver rich, unique candy that is of high quality and high expectations so that people will spread the word about your service and not only return to use you again, but refer other people to you.

If you buy some candy making books or even attend candy making classes, you can learn more about candy making. From there, you will want to make a few batches of different types of candy and to give them out as free samples.

This will get people interested in your candy making business and will keep you in mind for their future buying. After this, they will come back to you to buy. Additionally, you may want to talk to local shops to try to get them to sell your candy in their store. This can help expand your exposure and popularity.

If you're considering a home candy business, chocolate candy business, cotton candy business, or a combination of all of them this page will help you get the information need to get started

How To Start A Candy Business - Tasks And Skills Needed:

Business Specific Tasks:

If you are planning to do all the business tasks or hiring or subcontracting tasks, here's a list of tasks that need to be attended to when it comes to the business side of running a candy making business:

Bookkeeping

General office

Record keeping/Accounting

Customer Service/Order taking

Industry Specific Tasks:

Same as above if you plan to do everything yourself or get help, here are some of the tasks necessary to operate a candy making business:

Stay current on types of specialty candy

Take courses on candy-making to be up on the latest techniques

Create candy recipes and test

Package and ship candy

Take part in craft fairs, etc. to sell candy

Have a storefront and/or run the candy business as an offshoot of an existing business

How To Start A Candy Business - Approximate Daily Hours Needed:

General Hours of Operation: - When your business is open - You will want to make sure that you spend enough time making the candy to perfection, but you can set your own hours.

If you are a candy making business that takes orders, however, you will want to have a business number which is open during normal business hours, from 9AM through 5PM or so.

Hours Needed to Prepare - Before Opening and After Hours Activities - Additionally, if you are going to stores to have them sell your candy, you will want to visit them on a regular schedule.

Number of Employees Needed To Run This Business:

Minimum Number of Employees -During the Start Up Phase: You can start this business yourself on a full-time basis.

Number of Employees - Once Your Business is Up and Running Successfully:

Website maintenance

Record/Bookkeeping

General office

Customer Service

Shipping

Candy makers

Skill Requirements for This Business:

Good cooking/candy-making skills

Good with marketing and promotion

Great people skills

Creativity

Attention to detail with temperatures, ingredient amounts

Licenses:

If you are starting out small, you do not need any special requirements. Once you decide to start marketing your candy, however, you will need any local licensing which is required to own and run a business. You may also need health inspections by the food safety board to determine whether your kitchen conditions are safe and healthy.

You'll probably also be required to have a certified food safety professional. For a small business like you, that probably means taking a class.

Your town probably has restrictions where you can do manufacturing, so you may have to take that into account when you set up your location.

Getting tax IDs, licenses and legal business licensing requirements

Approximate Minimum Start up Cost:

Bare essential: - This depends on the type of candy that you want to make as this will affect the candy making supplies that you need. At the very least, you can expect to put a few hundred dollars into your candy making business between the free samples that you need to give out as well as the first batches that you need to make to sell.

Necessary Equipment to Run this Business:

Necessary Start-Up Equipment & Supplies:

Computer

Printer

Cell phone

Website

Cooking thermometer

Various sizes and types of candy molds

Waxed paper

Kitchen utensils such as wooden spoons and mixing bowls

Various sizes of baking sheets

Pots and pans of various sizes

Supplementary Equipment: - Equipment or helpful products that you can acquire to once your business is off and running:

You should also invest in plenty of boxes of different shapes and sizes to sell your candy in. Most candy will also be found wrapped in wax paper to help preserve it. If you are selling things like lollipops, you will want bags to wrap them in along with twist ties to seal them off.

Molds or trays for shaping candy, the chocolate, lollipop sticks, wrap bags, twist ties for lollipops, squeeze bottles, and so forth.

Monthly Expenses To Consider:

Wages
Phone/cell phone
Internet access
Permits
Advertising/Marketing
Electricity
Water

Special Requirements and Considerations For This Business:

Find out all you can about the trends in the industry. Know your competition, in particular, their strengths and weaknesses. This will help you identify your competitive advantage. In other words, this will help you figure out what you can give your customers that they're not getting from the other businesses. And keep from emulating the competition's strategy. Instead, make the most of your own advantage points.
Starting a business is a huge undertaking, and there are a lot more factors than I can to into in the space of a single answer.
You start with all the basic questions of starting any small business (loans, income, expenses, accounting, labor, taxes, etc).
Since you want to sell food, you've got a whole other set of problems to deal with. The details will vary from place to place, but you're going to have to get your facility inspected by the local board of health. Usually, that place has to be separate from your home kitchen unless you're scrupulous about who can enter your kitchen. (Pets, for example, are a no go.)
As for the intellectual property aspects, you cannot patent a recipe. The only way to keep a recipe secret is to make it a trade secret, i.e. not tell anybody. The actual written recipe is copyrighted, so nobody can publish what you wrote without paying you, but if somebody else guesses the recipe, that's your problem.
You can trademark the design of the candy itself. See a trademark attorney for that, though you can do it yourself via the USPTO website.
Get the very best in ingredient wise. The chance of your 'small time' home business surviving is based on the 'quality' of your product. Create a 'niche' for your candy, and grab a good clientele. Maintain your standards, and people will come to you over and over again, for your rich, unique candy.
Decide how you want to sell your product. You have several options, distribute them to sweet shops and gourmet stores in your area, sell online, or find customers through word of mouth (friends and family who love your candy will do this for you for free). You can sell your candy from home, on order basis or deliver them yourself, once the orders are done. This you can decide based on your resources and your potential market. You can even have a cozy little corner of your house where you can display your products to your home customers.
Always remember, 'Presentation' is important. Just like quality, good presentation helps you grab a good clientele. Wrap your candy in eye catching covers, to match the quality of the product within. The extra money spent on wrappers will be reimbursed almost immediately. It's a guarantee. Try it and see how your sales will improve!
Work out a schedule for your 'home business'. Make sure it doesn't interrupt your day to day routine and your time spent with your family. Maintain the correct balance between family and work. This is essential to establish a long lasting business.
Take orders that you can handle. Don't overdo your potential. If you are a reliable entrepreneur, your clients will not abandon you.

Pros And Cons of Opening A Candy Making Business:

The Pros of Running a Candy Making Business:

You get to spend your day making confectionery treats, using your hands and being creative. You are able to set your own hours and market your business in any way that you wish. Also, you will be making people happy with the candy that you are making.

The Cons of Running a Candy Making Business:

Making the same candy all of the time may get to be a little boring. You may also start gaining weight because you may be tempted to eat some of the candy that you are making.

Type of Customers You Need to Attract:

Where to market your candy business:

Online

Craft Fairs

Boat Shows

Fairs

Trade Shows

Home parties

Fundraiser's

Candy Making Business Statistics:

The confectionery industry is a healthy, growing market. In 2005, retail sales of chocolate were up $15.7 billion, and retail sales of other candies were up $8.7 billion. Among chocolates, premium chocolates—those that sell at more than $8/lb—has risen to the top of the market. This is good news for the artisan chocolatier!

Revenue:

See First Research

Candy Making Business Resources:

Candy

Industry-Specific Websites:

Cook's Cake Decorating and Candy Making

Candy Making

Courses:

Ecole Chocolat

Equipment and Supplies:

Cook's Cake Decorating and Candy Making Supplies

Personalized Candy Molds For Candy Making

Forums:

Candy Making for Beginners

Franchises:

Fuzziwig's

Candy Bouquet International, Inc.

Kilwin's Chocolates Franchise

Associations:

American Bakers Association

Books:

Candy Profits From Home

Candymaking [Paperback]

Stunning candies and elegant candy bouquets you make yourself

Chocolate and Candy Shop Owner

Other:

Candy Making Business - Add a Sugar Coating to Your Bank Account - Invest in a Home Based Business

Easily create your own personalized candy wrappers and party favors

Turning Your Candy Hobby Into A Business

Starting a Candy Making Business

Candy-Making Nuns Join Computer Age

Businesses To Related to a Candy Making Business:

Candy bouquet and gift basket
Self-serve candy shop
Online candy store
Fondue café
Tea and coffee house
Gifts shop
Bakery
Cake Decorating