Your first year, month by month

The regulated steps have lead times measured in weeks, and the peppers arrive when they arrive. That fixes the order more than preference does.

Winter: the paperwork year

Finalize the recipe and convert it to weights. Talk to your state department of agriculture about which license applies. Find a shared kitchen and check its licensing covers acidified foods.

Book Better Process Control School if you need it, since sessions fill. Talk to growers now, because they plant in spring and can plant what you ask for.

Spring: recipe and kitchen

Scale the recipe to the batch size you will actually produce and make it twice the same way. Only then submit to a process authority, because a change after submission means paying again.

Expect weeks, and expect the queue to be longest now. Order packaging while you wait, and order samples rather than cases until you have filled a bottle with your actual sauce.

Summer: peppers and first production

Peppers land. Buy more than you need for the first run and freeze the rest; this is the only time of year the good ones are available and the price is lowest.

First production run once the scheduled process is in hand. Small. Expect the day to take twice as long as planned and expect to learn more about your process in it than in everything before.

Start selling: markets, a few local shops, friends who will tell you the truth.

Fall: selling and deciding

Market season peaks. This is where you find out whether people buy twice, which is the only question that matters.

Record what sold, at what price, in what channel. Then decide over winter whether year two is more of the same, a second product, or wholesale, and start the paperwork for it before spring.

References