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The first thing you need to do is get out of your kitchen. I don't know what cottage food laws are like in NC, but in Florida, the minute you make more than $10,000 per year, home made is a no go.<br />
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Start looking into commercial kitchen rentals. We have a bunch near me, where you pay hourly or daily. They have the facilities to bake and freeze, plus all inspections necessary for a legal food facility.<br />
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Once you've got that, then you can start expanding.<br />
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You need to do what every food brand does when they start.<br />
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HUSTLE<br />
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Get a booth at every farmers market in your area. Sample them and sell them there. Go into every local grocery story and find someone to stock them in their freezer section. Grind out every sale until you have the capital and the brand to scale.<br />
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Your brewery partnership thing, beer cheesecake, that right there is your USP. Make more stuff like that and you'll be selling cheesecakes left and right.
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Thank you for your response. I probably need to clarify some things, l should have earlier. My home kitchen used to be my garage. I converted it into a bakery. It has pretty much all the bells a whistles as a commercial kitchen, except it has a regular home oven, refrigerator a freezer chest and a stand up freezer. Of course not the commercial ventilation as a commercial kitchen, but a little updated home version, l created myself that vents. I have a 20 qt Hobart commercial mixer and several 5 and 6 qt Kitchenaids. However even though it has a separate outside entrance, it is still attached to my home. So DPA regulations follow. Im not good enough to qualify. They dont care or respond to inquiries. Typical.<br />
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Getting out of the home, is not an option at this time because of finances. Even though the business pays for itself, it is not enough to fund a brick and mortar. Banks are out, because im no big enough t peek their interests. Any commercial or former commercial kitchens are asking insane rental fees, which make it impossible for me to even get started. There are no community kitchens available and no bakery owners are interested in sharing their kitchens. Im sure its an insurance thing, and possible competition. Even though it could benefit them since they have no cheesecakes.<br />
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Farmers Markets, street hustling, supermarkets and breweries...etc, are all on the same page, because of the regulations, not by choice, but by law. I have taken cheesecakes to NYC and sold out in 1 day. The problem was l needed more and could not transport but so many.<br />
I have a great customer base in NYC, NC, SC and Florida. Even reaching as far as Greece, and tasted and loved by visitors from Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Also tasted and commented as "A Game Changer" by the staff of Shark Tanks Daymond John, who personally does not eat cheesecake, and not interested. (Bummer) I am internationally known, but locally distributed. But im not at that level or able to expand beyond where l am at based on the situation.<br />
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Speaking of Florida....I heard that in Bradenton Fl, a bakery was about to go out of business because everyone is buying cakes and breads from Publix. He got the idea to just focus on only cheesecakes, and now his business is booming beyond expectation. Florida would be ideal, but not possible for me.<br />
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There are so many suggestions presented and l totally appreciate them very much. Some how, some way l need to figure it out or give up. Giving up is not an option, but it has sure poked at me a bit.<br />
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I will just give a portion of my story....<br />
A few decades ago, l was a young pastry cook/lead baker at Host Marriott Corp in NYC. I was really gifted and talented. I reinvented a NY Style cheesecake and made it my own. They wanted my recipe and made me an pretty good offer and HQ in DC. Along with giving up my cheesecake. Being young and unadvised, l declined the offer, eventually leaving the industry. Fast forwarding to the present....Marriott now owns or partially owns Cheesecake Factory. Basically they got their cheesecake. Just not mines.<br />
Did l make a mistake, or was it a smart move? Maybe or Maybe not. Well l still have a great cheesecake, but where am l as far a that cheesecake? That is the question l always ask myself decades later. You be the judge.<br />
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This is where l stand now.<br />
Thank you for listening.</div>
