If you’re reading this, chances are you have a successful food business and want to scale. The first thing that you have to do is to analyze if the timing is right and if your company can handle it. One way to do this is to do a SWOT analysis, but that’s a different topic for a different day. Today, you’re going to learn different ways to expand your food business and how to succeed in each.
Add new products and services
Expansion can merely mean adding new products and services to complement your existing offers. If you’re a mobile taco truck, what other products or services can you offer? Maybe you can host taco or Mexican food making workshops in each city you go to. If you own a bakery, you can teach people how to bake or begin selling your favorite brands of baking tools. Maybe even write and publish a baking recipe book?
You can also offer catering services if you feel that your business can handle it. Some good targets are weddings, corporate events, and family events. Maybe you can form partnerships with other businesses that complement yours. For example, you can partner with an outdoor movie watching provider so you can offer food and drinks to their customers.
Secure funding
Expanding a food business is often expensive because it requires purchasing more tools, securing a new location, or hiring more people. There are lots of ways to secure funding, from business loans to bootstrapping.
A new way of securing funds is equity crowdfunding. In crowdfunding, businesses put up their company on a crowdfunding website where interested investors can directly buy shares of the company. This innovative way of securing funds is popular among startups. Some of the popular crowdfunding sites are GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo.
Franchise your business
Franchising is perfect for food businesses that can easily be replicated such as food kiosks. If you do this right, this can be the key to transforming your small food business into a national brand.
If you want to take this route, you have to spend some time to learn how to franchise. This involves carefully studying how your business works from the setup to sourcing ingredients. Document each step of the process because you have to make this easy for others to replicate.
You’ll also need to hire a lawyer who will walk you through the legalities involved in the franchising business. For one, you’re going to have to fill out a Franchise Disclosure Document where you have to set the pricing and determine intellectual property protection.
You can make your life easier by hiring a franchise consultant who’s had years of experience in successfully franchising businesses. Taking advantage of a consultant’s experience will save you from costly mistakes along the way.
These are just some ways to expand your food business. Start by analyzing your business’s opportunities for growth and areas of weaknesses. Once you have a good idea of your standing, line up your expansion options and choose the one that makes the most sense right now.
