Food packaging is an essential part of food processing the world over. Bottles, jars, and other forms of containers provide more than storage space for food; they also provide the space for branding. Starting your own product line involves a significant chunk of the investment going towards the procurement of packaging material from bottle manufacturing companies.
Sauces are widely used in many homes, and there are world-renowned brands that are already loved and trusted by people. For your product to disrupt this kind of market hegemony, it will need to be unique in both taste and branding. The following are the phases involved in creating, bottling, and selling your sauce.
This is the initial phase where you start pooling all your resources to kickstart the process of setting up the sauce business. The concept phase involves the following key activities:
Before putting any major plan in motion, research the market to see if your product stands any chance of being a hit. The good news is that any product has a chance of going big with a combination of the right marketing strategies and product quality. However, it would be unwise to go in blind without feeling the market out. Start with people in your locality then scale up slowly.
Market research can be conducted through questionnaires, online polls, and the age-old tactic of direct interaction with people. The data you collect through this process will be vital in helping you know exactly what needs to be done.
Having nailed the market research bit, it is time to start putting the plan into motion. The next thing on your plate should be creating a working budget to know how much you will need to kickstart the whole venture. This is the stage where you decide whether to go for a loan if the funds you have are not sufficient.
Assuming you are starting a small scale processing plant, you will need to set the plant and that needs considerable land acreage. If you already own enough land, then all you would need is to get the licenses to build the factory.
You will need to buy machinery and hire staff who will have to be trained on how to operate them. They will need protective gear as per the FDA food processing regulations, and of course, they will need salaries. In the first few months, you will have to dip into your own pocket to cover that.
Creating a product that mimics what is already in the market defeats the whole purpose of starting the business in the first place. Starting your own brand of sauce involves you filling up a void that has been existing for a while. You have to provide people with an option they did not have before. To pull this off, you will need to follow the fundamental rules of creating an original recipe.
If you have a secret family recipe, you can tap into that and improve it until you feel it can impress people. Another option is studying sauces from other parts of the world and come up with an exotic flavor that cannot be replicated by anyone else.
This is the phase where the product starts taking physical shape. The key processes that are undertaken in this phase include the following:
Brand development is another stage that requires investment and attention. The whole product can come undone by poorly conceptualized branding, no matter how good tastes. The first thing you have to figure out is the core color. This is the color by which your brand and the company will be associated with. It appears on everything from the logo, the packaging, and staff clothes. Therefore it has to be a color that draws attention in a non-invasive way.
The next thing to be figured out is the logo. Depending on the sauce you are dealing with, you can use an illustration of the main ingredient. The image of pepper for chili sauce and tomato for tomato sauce. They can all be tweaked creatively by mixing them up with creative fonts and shapes.
The bottom line is it has to be simple enough for someone to figure out what it means and creative enough to leave a lasting impression. To pull this off, you will need the best graphic design minds that you can find. Some companies that make glass bottles also double up as bottle design companies that can brand and decorate the bottles to your preferences cutting out the need for another third-party branding entity.
Most major sauce brands package their products in thick stylish bottles (Link: 10 Best Sauce Bottle Design) (Link: 10 Best Sauce Bottle Design) (Link: 10 Best Sauce Bottle Design). To stand out from the rest, try a new bottle shape that has never been used before.
You can source your containers from reputable custom glass jar manufacturers who will have them customized to your taste, complete with engravings of the logo. The bottle has to be appealing to the eye, easy to handle, and has to come with varied sizes.
It is quite easy to confuse branding with marketing; the two may seem to serve the same purpose but they are different. Marketing involves a more aggressive approach through the use of flyers, brochures, newspaper ads, billboard displays, anything that can be pushed through the many forms of media. Bombarding people with the image of your brand may not be effective at first, but once it is sustained over a period of time, some are bound to get curious and try them out.
If you do not have an in-house marketing team already in place, then you can outsource third-party agencies that will craft a strategy that works for you.
The cheapest and most effective form of advertising today is social media. You spend less and reach more people. Make use of short creative videos that will create a buzz online and help spread your brand.
By the time you start running ads, the production line should also be running. The power of advertising should never be underestimated, orders may begin streaming in, and you have to be ready with the product to supply that demand, small as it may be.
Picking up will be slow at first; therefore, you can start with limited distribution, scaling up as the client base expands. Local shops and malls should be your first targets since they can take products in bulk. Forming a partnership with any restaurant that you can find is also another form of marketing.
To save on costs, form partnerships with nearest wholesale bottle suppliers who can deliver jars and bottles for packaging straight to your plant.
Every major brand started small; all they did was hold steady even when things seemed to go wrong. As a new startup, you are bound to run into these moments in your first year of business. Be ready for the low moments as much as you will be anticipating the growth.
To better navigate through the tough times, you need to partner up with a bottle design company that offers personalized services tailored to your needs as well as offer warranties and after-sale follow ups.
We help you avoid the pitfalls to deliver the quality and value your glass bottle and jar need, on-time and on-budget.
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