It's like this...
Despite making a New Year's Resolution to get back to updating my blog several times a week, I've not managed it. And it's not because I haven't been cooking or eating or thinking about food. In fact, I've been doing lots of that. But I've realized that I mostly don't post about things to this blog until they are done, and I've got lots of things in the works, but not completed.
One of the things I have in the works is also something that's taking the place of a lot of my blogging time and energy. I'm starting my own business. I've been toying with this idea for months and months now, and have even had a business website mocked up for a while, although I hadn't been doing any real dissemination. This week things started to come together. I found a commercial kitchen that's willing to let me use their space during their off hours for truffle and chocolate making, so that will enable me to legitimize that part of Tammy's Tastings. (Michigan requires the use of a commercial kitchen for food that will be sold to the public.) And I made some revisions to the website to better explain what the Tastings part of the biz is like, and have started conversations with a couple of coworkers about doing events for them for free for practice and advertising purposes. I'm setting up an appointment to talk to the Small Business Development Center and get help identifying the rest of the steps I need to take and finding out everything I need to know.
Amidst all of this, I've been working on testing flavors for my Valentine's Day collection. One big change from my previous productions is that I'll be doing more molded chocolates and fewer hand formed. The picture that heads up this post shows the results of my practice with making the molded chocolates have that "showroom finish." I'm very pleased with how these ones turned out.
So, lots of exciting stuff going on around here, but just not much of it making it's way into the blog as content!
3 comments:
Tammy, you might also want to try SCORE, which is an association of retirees that helps new business startups.
Congratulations on staring a small business! I have helped a few people start small businesses, and started one myself. Where do you plan on selling your chocolates?
Thanks Mom! I'll look into SCORE.
Initially I'll be doing the same thing I've been doing so far - just selling them through friends and family. But now that it will be on the up-and-up, I'll be doing more mail order and sales through my website and encouraging people to disseminate the sales announcements more widely. The place whose kitchen I'll be using will be selling them on consignment, and I've talked very briefly to one store in town about perhaps creating a line of wine-themed specialty chocolates for them.
I'm planing to talk to Chocolate Lady Duff at Zingerman's (whose truffle making class is what got me started down this path, actually!) about seeing if Zingerman's would be interested in selling them.
As soon as I have some breathing room I want to sit down and write up a business plan. But right now I'm just taking things very slowly.
Tammy! That's AWESOME! I hope things go well for you! The stuff you make looks AMAZING!
Good luck to you! I'm sort of envious! My cousin is starting a bakery business and I SO wish I was helping out. Food seems like such a fun business to be in (if your passionate about it)
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