Money for Jam: The Essential Guide to Starting Your Own Small Food Business, 2nd edition

Have you ever thought about trying to earn some money from producing food? Are you the person everyone goes to for their lemon meringue pies, apple tarts and other desserts for family occasions, christenings or other events? Do you have a garden of rhubarb or other fruit? Do you make jam every year and give it away when you could be selling it? Do you fancy the idea of making cheese or yogurt or ice cream but don’t know where to start?

If so, then this is the book for you – it will tell you everything you need to know or show you where to find it for yourself, with lots of case studies of successful food producers.

This revised and updated second edition of MONEY FOR JAM contains everything that someone who is new to the food business in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK will need to get started and to keep going. It will help bakers, jam and honey-makers, ice cream, yogurt and cheese-makers, egg producers, sausage roll, pie and pastie-bakers, chocolatiers, and dessert-makers. It covers the what, where, who and how for small food producers – including legislation and registration, labelling and packaging, suppliers and distributors – in an easy-to-read and easy-to-follow format.

Contents

Acknowledgements

1: Introducing the Opportunity

Consumer Trends

Opportunities for Small Food Producers

‘Local’ is Important

The Advantages of Small Food Businesses

2: Starting Out

What Will You Make?

Where Do Ideas Come From?

Who Are Your Competitors?

What is a USP?

Who Should You Talk To First?

Thinking Things Through

Common Reasons for Failure … And How To Avoid Them!

Just Do It!

3: Navigating the Food Legislation Minefield

Legislation and Monitoring

Is Your Kitchen Good Enough?

What If Your Kitchen Isn’t Good Enough?

Food Safety and Hygiene Legislation

What Is HACCP?

Low Risk and High Risk

Conclusion

4: Ensuring Food Hygiene

Basic Microbiology

Hygiene

5: Product Development

Introduction

New Product Development

Processing Partners – Outsourcing Production

Sensory Analysis

Shelf Life

6: Routes to Market, Branding and A Marketing Plan

What Is a Route to Market?

Where Are Your Customers?

The Supply Chain

Route Options

Distribution

Branding

A Marketing Plan

7: Labelling, Nutrition Claims and Allergens

Food Labelling

What Must Appear on the Label?

Nutritional Labelling

Health Claims

Allergens

Organic Labelling

Gluten-free

Other Labels

8: Making and Managing Money

Pricing and Margins

Costs

Training

Sources of Funding

9: Training Requirements

Food Hygiene and Food Safety (HACCP)

Other Training

Other Useful Courses

10: Bread and Baking

Opportunity

Ingredients and Production Requirements

Current Trends and Future Developments

Specific Labelling Issues

Case Studies

Useful Resources

11: Jams, Chutneys and Preserves

Introduction

Opportunity

Ingredients and Production Requirements

How to Make Jam and Preserves

Current Trends and Future Developments

Specific Labelling Issues

Case Studies

Useful Resources

12: Duck Eggs

Introduction

History

Duck Egg vs Hen Egg

Best Breeds for Duck Egg Production

General Requirements

The Economics of Production

Future Developments

Legislation and Food Safety

Distribution and Marketing

Case Studies

Useful Resources

13: Ice Cream, Yogurt and Cheese

Introduction

Farmhouse Cheese

Farmhouse or Home-made Ice Cream

Farmhouse Yogurt

Specific Food Safety Issues and Legislation

Case Study – Cheese

Case Study – Ice Cream

Case Study – Yogurt

Case Study – Buttermilk and Country Butter

Training Providers

Equipment and Ingredients Suppliers

Useful Resources

14: Value-added Meats

Consumer Trends

How to Make Sausages

Processing Partners

Production Requirements

The Economics of Making Sausages

Case Studies

Equipment Suppliers

Ingredient Suppliers

Useful Resources

15: Smoked Meat, Cheese and Fish

Introduction

Cold Smoking

Hot Smoking

Food Safety and Other Legislation

Case Studies

Smoked Food Courses

Equipment Suppliers

16: Where To Now? Help Is at Hand

About the Author

Local food is an important concept to Irish people, according to Oonagh Monahan. The County Sligo woman says that consumers want food that is not mass produced. “It gives a quality to the food which is not there with large corporations. The idea that a product is made locally whether by the neighbours in their community, or in Ireland in general, is something Irish people find attractive.”

It was through Oonagh’s work with her own business consultancy that she was inspired to write MONEY FOR JAM. Dealing with small businesses on a constant basis, similar issues and concerns would come up all of the time. “I would find myself putting the same information together over and over again for clients. I thought to myself that if I just put all the information together then I would have a readymade document to hand them whenever it was needed. This is really where the inspiration to actually write the book came from.”

While Oonagh says that the information could be found from other sources too, Money for Jam has it interpreted for the reader, and aims to help anybody looking to start up their new business, cutting any of the red tape and giving the simplest route for them to get started. “I wanted to show people that they don’t need to be scared of the idea. I wanted it to be easily identifiable for anyone reading it. It isn’t a textbook or filled with business jargon, it is written in a clear style to show people that setting up their own business is something that they could do. MONEY FOR JAM aims to be a starting point for those who might have an idea, and give some comfort around how to begin.”

Irish Farmers Monthly

The Menu has nothing but admiration for those brave souls who chuck it all in to start their own food business. For those tentative souls, still nervous about dipping that first toe in the water, comes a splendid little book, MONEY FOR JAM (Oak Tree Press) by Oonagh Monahan, subtitled ‘The Essential Guide to Starting Your Own Food Business’. If you reckon you’ve got a food product with potential to wow the national palate, then Monahan’s tidy little tome gives the lowdown on all sorts of vital information including food safety and hygiene legislation and registration, labelling, packaging, branding, marketing, supply, distribution, costing a whole load more besides. For those yet to alight on that brilliant light-bulb moment of inspiration leading to the retirement home in the Seychelles, there’s even a section on identifying trends and brainstorming fab new notions.

The Menu, The Irish Examiner

MONEY FOR JAM is a practical, friendly and comprehensive guide to all the steps involved in getting a food business up and running. It answers questions you might never have thought to ask. Oonagh’s book is a valuable resource that will help you narrow down your ideas into something more solid, and help you to make an actual start instead of only thinking about starting a business. And it will guide you through some of the scarier aspects of food production.

Sunday World

MONEY FOR JAM is a book that does exactly what it says on the tin. One of the book’s appealing qualities is that it doesn’t assume any knowledge on the part of the reader, explaining everything from scratch. But its author has a wealth of technical and scientific experience to draw upon and the book is as interesting as it is informative.

Country Living

Oonagh Monahan, an experienced adviser to many small Irish food enterprises, has distilled some of her wisdom in a very practical short book that contains tips that someone who is new to the food business will need to get started and prosper. It ranges from food legislation and hygiene to product development to labelling and marketing and it contains a good range of case studies and links to useful resources.

Specialist food in Ireland accounts for about €500 million from a base of about 300 producers and small speciality and artisan food producer sales are growing by up to 17 per cent a year.

The key point, the author says, is that if your products are good quality, made in Ireland, if they are consistent and have good taste and ideally provide something different, then there is probably a market for them.

Consumer expectations have changed, with a willingness to discern and pay for high quality locally produced food, capitalising on Ireland’s reputation as an unspoilt green country with wholesome, natural food.

Monahan does warn about complacency. It is not enough to be Irish, she says.

Booked, The Irish Times

MONEY FOR JAM by Oonagh Monahan is a book that’s designed to tell you everything you need to know about getting started in the food business. The book is full of helpful tips, tricks and solid advice to help you turn your hobby into a thriving business.

Woman’s Way