The Parchmans weren’t trying to start a cottage food business. Back in 2012, little did they know that their small garden of tomatoes and peppers had the seeds for so much potential!
Nathan & Nicole Parchman live in O’Fallon, IL and sell salsa, pickles, and sauces with their business, Nitro Family Foods.
After strong demand from family, friends, and (sometimes) complete strangers, they started selling “Nitro Salsa” at their local farmers market in 2019. And they haven’t looked back since!
Despite working fulltime jobs plus significant side jobs, as well as raising a family, the Parchmans somehow manage to find time to produce and sell over 200 jars of salsa and pickles each week!
In addition to the farmers market, they now also wholesale to stores and are in the process of building their own brick-and-mortar commercial kitchen and storefront.
In this episode, you will learn what makes this dynamic duo so successful!
If you want to start a home food business, there are a number of potential limitations that you should be aware of. Learn about the different limitations that states may include in their cottage food laws.
Many states limit the amount of homemade food that you can sell. Learn about why sales limits exist, how they’re enforced, and why they shouldn’t stop your food business from taking off.
Many states’ cottage food laws may limit sales to public events like farmers’ markets, fairs or other community gatherings. Rather than seeing your sales venue potential as half empty, view it as half full. This blog will offer ideas on how you can boost your sales at farmers’ markets.
Have you thought of starting your own food business? Learn about what it takes to get started… you might need less than you think!
If you are selling at a local market and are merely collecting money, then you are missing out! If you want to give your business a huge boost, try this.
Let’s say you’re thinking of selling your homemade goodies at a local market this summer. How will you set the price?
Are you using the most important ingredient in your business? If you are using it, then you know how powerful it can be; and if you are not using it, then simply put, you are not leveraging your business’ most important asset!
I’m a dreamer. I can see my fudge business taking off… I can see it on store shelves, I can see huge batches being made, and I can see that I often get a little ahead of myself! With a new year comes renewed energy for our homemade food businesses. Maybe you’re looking forward to […]
Store-bought cookies are pathetic and everyone raves about yours. Your friends keeps saying that you need to sell them, but are they right? Why do some food businesses succeed, and others fail?
People often wonder if the cottage food laws are too limiting. Should they use it to start their homemade food business? Is it worth their time?
I recently received a few questions from Sid, a student at the University of Tampa who’s doing some research on the cottage food industry. The questions are high-level enough that I realized they’d make a good blog post, so I’m sharing my answers here.