AIBU to ask if you’d buy this considering the situation?

[chocolatetreats21]

I have a new business idea, I want to make chocolate covered treats from home and sell them. I just don’t know if people would buy it considering the whole COVID situation? What do you think?

No, I wouldn't, but I wouldn't really buy food made in anyone's house usually COVID or not. This sort of thing does do a bit better in face to face selling situations, like a farmer's market or a food festival, where people are out for the day, have money to splash and see something they want to buy on impulse. Or if you can retail in a local cafe or food shop (but selling retail is hard because you make so little money).

@chocolatetreats21

And here's some Christmas cakesicles, I know I'm getting carried away 😂 they just look so pretty

wait,but they arent even yours?so can u make them or you just fancy it because you saw these!

People will buy them, in fact I'm absolutely sick of random people starting to sell food from their home. There is a lot that goes into a food business, the people I see are not doing anything official, very low overheads so undercutting people like me who have a genuine business with all the associated costs. If you're going to do it at least do it properly!

No.

@Stompythedinosaur From what OP's said (correct me if I'm wrong) these aren't photos of her products, more things she would like to emulate and see if she can do to an equally high standard.

In non-COVID times I might, but it would depend on the quality of the ingredients. I think you need to define your target market well - there are plenty of people with money to spend.

And tbh, I wouldn't buy food from small sellers in normal times, especially perishable food. Seems a bit risky to me, personally.

I might buy if you had a differentiator such as fair trade chocolate, no palm oil, organic etc.
But s as people have said, it's so easy to make this kind of thing yourself.

All these people saying it's "risky" - who ever got ill from eating cake? If the OP was wanting to make chicken burgers, or some other high-risk product like prawn cocktail maybe be cautious but cake? Come on.

So many germphobes around.

[quote chocolatetreats21]@GroundAlmonds no honestly, I appreciate everyone's replies. I was just curious as to whether people would buy homemade things during the pandemic, that's all. I'll probably just test it out, do as a hobby and see how it goes. See if I even can make it as good as on the pictures

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So you've not even tried making the things yet? Don't you think that might be a good idea first? It's not as easy as you think!

FWIW I follow quite a few pages who offer cake boxes delivered etc and they do seem to do quite a good trade, but judging by the prices they charge I can't imagine they make very much off it when you think about cost of fuel for delivery, time taken to make and deliver, ingredients costs.

You need to think it through carefully. It's not as simple as 'will people buy these during a pandemic?'

You need to see if you can even make the things, and if it's financially viable first.

And all the people saying "oh I could do those myself" - crack on with it then!

OP is pitching her product at people who either lack the equipment or skills to do it themselves, or who don't have time. I am a good baker, but shit at decorating and fancy stuff. I would most definitely pay someone for a nicely decorated, impressive cake.

You won't make much, if any money from this, especially when you compare the profit per hour worked.

It's the kind of thing I might buy on the spur of the moment at a market or something. Not something I'd bother ordering online.

Naff all to do with Covid, just can't imagine it being the sort of thing I'd plan for and order but might be spontaneous about.

If you’ve never tried to make them before, beware that it takes skill to achieve decoration as clean and intricate as the photos you posted - it probably looks easier than it is.

I can see someone ordering the products in the photos for an event. However people would be less inclined to purchase a “homely”/“rough around the edges version”, especially with the pandemic to contend with.

Are you falling into the trap of hobby or business opportunity?

How big do you think the market on this is even pre-covid? How many people are going to buy these and crucially what is the repeat business on this like? How much competition is there (if you are getting ideas off social media, its not an original idea...)?

This is probably at best a novelty product that people are likely to try once or twice and then move on to the next thing.

Think about it carefully. Can you actually make money on this?

The reality is, unlike more general cake making, this really is a niche market and therein lies your problem.

there's a market for it. there is a market for everything! Running a business from home is hard, like really fucking hard, you cant just make stuff and chuck it on the internet and it sells, you need to take really good photos, learn where to market your products, research packaging, branding and register with HMRC you also need to find insurance, wholesalers its a massive ballache to get started and if it takes off, finding time, dealing with rude customers and constantly coming up with new fresh ideas to keep your shoppers interested is quite frankly exhausting!
If you want to do it absolutely go for it nobody succeeded by not trying but i just wanted to give you an idea of what its like being a handmade seller, its really not just making pretty stuff there's a load of other stuff that's really shit and boring too

I wouldn't buy something like that (or any food thing, really) from Facebook - the hygiene side would worry me a bit, but my big issue would be that I'd assume that what I got would be unlikely to live up to the pictures (and you posting pictures of something you've never tried making as an example of what you'd sell rather confirms my fears, OP!). I'd buy them from a physical market - because then I'd see what I was getting. I'd be particularly cautious about dipped strawberries, though, as you really couldn't tell if the fruit inside was nice until you bite into it, and even more so in October. There's no point having a beautifully decorated outside if the actual taste of the thing is rubbish because the strawberry is watery, tasteless mush.

@RaspberryCoulis Er, I think you're responding to my comment - I guess it's not to do with the cake necessarily, it's to do with the fact that OP doesn't have any experience in this (she hasn't even tried baking or decorating before asking about it as a business venture).
Plus, it's not just cake - she's talking about chocolate covered strawberries which would be tricky to deliver and quickly perishable.

Not germaphobic, just aware that a sore tummy or food poisoning disrupts my life for quite a while and I wouldn't personally want to take the risk.

Obviously all these cake ladies are still in business, so guess there's a market for it.

It depends what you mean by 'in business' though. I suspect that very few of them make minimum wage once costs are factored in and the profit is split across the time. Which might be ok if it's something you like doing as a hobby anyway and the money is just a little bonus, but it's not really what I'd describe as a viable business.

Also, is your plan that you'd deliver? You really wouldn't want to post those without special and expensive packaging so they arrived looking vaguely like they did when you sent them, but if you're delivering then a) that's another significant time investment and a logistical problem if you're trying to do it around another business and b) it cuts down your potential market a lot because you'd presumably have a fairly small area where you'd be happy to do a delivery for the sake of one box of chocolate strawberries or whatever

I think the general public would be surprised to know how many food businesses are based - entirely legally and hygienically - from people's homes. I run one such business - and it's actually something that people rarely ask about.

Unless the business has publicly advertised premises which have customer facing access, I would go so far as to say that the vast majority of them are based in domestic kitchens - this can be anything from farmers market traders, to event caterers, to businesses that sell via social media.

You'll need to register with your local authority 28 days prior to starting to trade (no need to be actually inspected - just registered), food hygiene level 2 certificate, have public and product liability insurance, and a proper due diligence system in place (e.g. NCASS include it with membership).

Keep overheads to a minimum and - until you're confident of your business idea - don't invest more money than you're happy to lose.

I see these things all over Instagram so there clearly is a marker. People buy them for parties, gifts etc. They are very popular. They don’t look particularly difficult to make especially when I see the videos of how it’s done. But it does look time consuming. There is no harm in trying.

The term “Pinterest fail” exists for a reason. Some people think they can emulate things which are really tricky and many of those people don’t have sufficient quality control.

Make a batch first, eh?

I have bought stuff like this even in the last few months. I check the person has certification. The stuff you want to make looks gorgeous. However, a lot of people at the moment are nervous so maybe you wait a while.

Lord have mercy, I don’t know why some of you are so hung up on the pictures? I’ve said several times they’re not mine, and I got them from google to use as an example of the things I wanted to make. It’s like you think I’m gonna go buy some ingredients, make some decorated cookies and plaster them on Facebook, with no insurance, no food health certificate/kitchen inspection and no skills or practice.

Of course not, I will properly use the next 6-8 months to do proper research, practice making all the treats and start next summer if I feel confident to do so. I might also make an instagram page and post everything I make on there for fun and experience. Who knows.

And no I’d never sell “homely rough around the edges” cakes, my anxiety will not allow it 😂.

But yeah some of you are asking me questions as if I want to go Tesco tomorrow and sell online then next day. 😄😄