Joan Eppehimer of Jamestown, NY shares how she raised thousands of dollars for charity with a cottage food business, and (with the help of her nephew Jason) rebranded her business to boost sales
Kristi Otto of Fort Myers, FL shares how she leveraged her extensive food industry experience to succeed with her cottage food bakery, despite her community not resonating with her products initially
Nicole DiMarco of West Deptford, NJ shares how she took the leap with a new product, and leveraged her sales, retail, and social media experience to quickly start a successful cottage food business
Jenn Bowersock of Sidney, OH runs an authentic German bakery from her home, and shares how she went from struggling as an entrepreneur to experiencing rapid success by finding product/market fit
Tyler Worthey of Neoga, IL shares how he built a very successful cottage food business during high school, and how he and his mom Angie now work together as a mother/son team to take it to new heights
Ka’Terra Dettbarn of Ocean City, MD endured lots of trial and error when starting a cottage bakery with her sister, but by persisting and listening for guidance, they transformed it into a success
Jenifer & Tristan Hoke of Tecumseh, OK share how they used sheer persistence to overcome early sales struggles, and found a business model that works so well that they now can’t keep up with demand
Rob Sanz of Rockville, MD shares how he’s added a cottage food bakery to a busy family life and career, and why he has intentionally kept his microbakery small, even though he could easily grow it
Elisa Marie Lords of Placentia, CA shares how she overcame early struggles with her sales and built a thriving cottage food bakery by focusing on community, consistency, and customer service
Tiffany Hill shares how she built on her success as a cottage food baker by creating a thriving online community/course and a packaging business, both of which have experienced unprecedented growth
Tiffany Hill of Apple Valley, CA shares how she switched careers and built a full-time income from her cottage food bakery, after initially struggling to make sales and nearly shutting it down
Mark Elvidge shares how he and his wife started Vermont Nut Free Chocolates from home in 1998 and built it into an international brand with over 1,000 wholesale locations and constant growth each year
Michelle Dukes of Penfield, NY shares why she shifted her business model after 10 years of running a cottage food bakery, while keeping focus on the most important aspect of her business: having fun
Shupan Abraham of Lawrenceville, GA shares how her cottage food bakery transformed once she hired a coach, and what she’s learned about putting herself out there and marketing her business effectively
David Bock of Altadena, CA runs a multifaceted honey business that specializes in rescuing honey bees, and he shares local marketing tips that helped him build an email list of 3,500+ subscribers
Jessi Deily of Helena, MT sells macarons and custom-decorated meringue cookies with her cottage food business and shares her journey from struggling artist to successful baker and TikTok influencer
Eric & Denise Steilberger of Ocala, FL sell their homemade fudge all year long and share how the lessons they learned from running a cafe in Alaska helped them build a successful cottage food business
Megan Shonka of Papillion, NE shares the highs and lows of her home-based bakery journey, the importance of being involved in her community, and her plans to expand into a brick-and-mortar storefront
Angela Awunor of Glenn Dale, MD shares how she moved her thriving custom cake business from a commercial kitchen into her home, and how she maintains work-life balance with two full-time careers
In this very special 100th episode, previous guests come back on to share an update of what’s changed since they were last on the show, what’s surprised them, and what they’ve learned along the way
Stephanie Wiley of Whitefish, MT shares how the tragic loss of her son inspired her to start a cookie business, which she has quickly grown by seeking help from others and investing in the business
Jana LaViolette of Clovis, NM shares her incredible journey from cottage food to food truck to storefront, and how she overcame many obstacles by constantly trying new things and never giving up
Robert & Paula Grosz of Murray, KY share how they built a thriving jam & jelly business that allowed them to quit their jobs by focusing on quality, listening to customers, and scaling their business
Susan Ting of Needham, MA shares how quitting her corporate job and facing burnout led her to start a cottage food bakery where she sells very unique and high-end gluten-free mochi desserts
Alisa Woods of Des Moines, IA shares how she promotes her home bakery by networking with others, getting TV spots, building Instagram followers, competing in state fairs, and living in the moment
Mike Skyring of South Lyon, MI shares how he started a gourmet cookie bakery totally by accident, and how he quickly grew it into a very successful business by leveraging many marketing techniques
Emily Vanlandingham of New Orleans, LA runs a home bakery that focuses on school celebrations, and shares the triumphs, lessons, and challenges that have come from creating her very unique business
Jen Morris shares so many lessons from her crazy journey building a popular cupcake business in Collingdale, PA, including promoting yourself, scaling up, getting published, and validating products
Brette Hawks is one of Utah’s top wedding cake artists and shares how she grew two successful businesses as a stay-at-home mom by niching down, pricing correctly, and working smarter, not harder
Lisa Kivirist of Browntown, WI shares an update on the past, present, and future of the cottage food and food freedom movements, and how she’s helping support them with many different resources
Amanda Schonberg of Baton Rouge, LA shares tons of business tips for generating more sales, building a following, managing mindset, improving time, growing an email list, and scaling up a bakery
Fawzeya Owda of Norwood, OH shares her unique journey from home bakery to commercial kitchen when her Palestinian-inspired cheesecake allowed her to build her own American Dream to support her family
Juno Rosales shares the incredible story of how she built an international brand by selling her frozen desserts from home in the Philippines before adding a second location in Los Angeles, CA
Twins Heather & Corrie Miracle of Fairfax, VA share the backstory that led them to create their extremely popular Facebook group about marketing for sugar cookiers and other cottage food entrepreneurs
Gary Knight of Gardnerville, NV sells beautiful hand-decorated chocolates that he learned to make while overcoming his alcohol addiction and recovering from a traumatic brain injury.
Annette Conrad of Mequon, WI shares how she massively scaled her home-based custom decorated cookie business by building a team, optimizing systems, and selling to event planners and corporate clients.
Jenni Reher of Mead, CO shares the rise and fall of her vegan donut bakery, how she grew it to 20 wholesale accounts, and why she decided to sell her business when it was doing better than ever.
Amy Wong & Lawrance Combs of Cupertino, CA sell massive cookies and share how they went from launching their business on Instagram to raising over $150k to expand their wildly popular cookie bakery.
Janna Paterno of Charleston, WV shares why she wasn’t making money in her custom-decorated cookie business, despite having phenomenal decorating skills and more customers than she could ask for.
Scot & Christine Steenson share how they used a unique marketing strategy to build a successful home-based coffee roasting company after their Paradise, CA home burnt down in 2018’s Camp Fire.
Jill Baethge from Plano, TX shares how she grew her unique chocolate candy piñata business into a national brand by creating products for Michaels stores across the nation.
Jill Baethge from Plano, TX shares how she grew her unique chocolate candy piñata business into a national brand by creating products for Michaels stores across the nation.
In this special 50th episode of The Forrager Podcast, hear from 16 Facebook group owners who share some of their best tips about starting and growing a cottage food business.
Anthony Rosemond lives in Phelan, CA and shares how he and his wife Yami moved from France to start a French bakery that went from selling macarons at farmers markets to now selling them nationwide.
Daniela Zographos of Anderson, SC shares how she niched down to only selling custom-decorated cake pops, which made her home bakery even more successful and gave her more time to spend with her kids.
Payshee Felt & Steve Bivans of St. Paul, MN share how they went from selling homemade, prepackaged popcorn at their local farmers market to selling $5k of popcorn in a weekend at large events.
Anne Reist of Holladay, UT sells eyepopping hand-painted couverture chocolates and shares how she organically grew her business to the point of building a commercial kitchen into her home.
Nathan & Nicole Parchman of O’Fallon, IL share how they produce and sell over 200 jars of salsa and pickles each week, and have grown from farmers market to wholesale to brick-and-mortar storefront.
Liz Marek of Beaverton, OR talks about running a cake decorating business, winning cake competitions, teaching around the world, and creating The Sugar Geek Show, which has over 300,000 followers.
Liz Marek of Beaverton, OR talks about running a cake decorating business, winning cake competitions, teaching around the world, and creating The Sugar Geek Show, which has over 300,000 followers.
Jennifer Knox from Nevada, IA makes unique spice blends in her at-home commercial kitchen and shares how she built a fanbase of loyal customers through fearless branding and quality ingredients.
Barry Sherman and his life partner Scott, from Tampa Bay, FL, run an eco-friendly, socially-conscious, high-end cookie business by using compostable packaging and giving a portion of sales to charity.
Ukrainian-born Yuliya Childers now lives in Prattville, AL and uses only one regular home oven to make and sell hundreds of European-style sourdough loaves and pastries every single week.
Lauren Inazu of St. Louis, MO shares what she’s learned about legally starting her cottage food business as a 13-year-old, in hopes of inspiring other young entrepreneurs to try it out as well.
Nicole Pomije of Minneapolis, MN shares how she infused her marketing skills into a unique cookie concept to grow a home food business into two brick-and-mortar storefronts in just a few years.
Melvin Roberson of Fort Worth, TX runs a popular gourmet donut shop, and he shares the ups and downs of his journey from cottage food business to food truck to brick-and-mortar storefront.
Jennifer Lopez (Paducah, KY) & Emily Blattel (Scott City, MO) are amazing cake artists and discuss many facets of running a custom cake business, including marketing, partnerships, and startup advice.
Jennifer Lopez (Paducah, KY) & Emily Blattel (Scott City, MO) are amazing cake artists and discuss many facets of running a custom cake business, including marketing, photography, pricing, & delivery.
David Kaminer of Denver, CO talks about running a lucrative home bakery, how 15 years of experience in food service influenced his business, and why he only sells one type of product: sourdough bread.
Sonia Chang from Pasadena, CA, who has sold her healthy granola in over two dozen stores and has also operated a popular cupcakery, shares marketing strategies that she’s used to grow her businesses.
Lisa Kivirist talks about living off the land, moving away from the corporate life-style, creatively packaging products, diversifying income streams, advocating for laws, and everything in between.
Tips from the free Labeling Guide & Toolkit for Creating Canned Food Products that Sell, with ideas to communicate the quality of what’s inside your jars.
One mistake startups often make is offering customers too many choices. Initially this may seem backwards and unintuitive… wouldn’t you sell more if you had more to offer customers? Not necessarily.
While you may have a great-tasting product, you still have to test it in the marketplace. It’s one thing if everyone you know loves your muffins — especially, if they’re free. It’s something completely different to see if customers will buy them at two dollars a pop. This process of testing the market for your products is often called a feasibility study; it may take the following route: