Starting a Food Business is Hard but It Doesn’t Have to Be
Last updated on November 19th, 2024 at 08:55 pm
You’ve heard more times than you can count that starting a business is hard. Really hard, in fact.
This is the time of the year where if you set a goal or created a New Year’s resolution to finally start that food business or become a content creator, you’ve either made some progress or you haven’t started at all.
My hope is that you’ve at least gotten started on opening your restaurant, food truck or brewery but maybe you’ve run into some issues.
After talking to countless business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, these are the 5 most common challenges that make starting a business hard in the food industry.
And how to overcome them so you can be one step closer to chasing your dreams!
Disclaimer: This article is not financial advice. The article is also not legal advice.
5 Reasons Why Starting a Business is Hard in the Food Industry (and How to Overcome)
1. Lack of funding for your business (probably the #1 reason why starting a business is hard)
Lots of people are unable to start their restaurant or food business because they don’t have the money to do so.
If you need ideas for how to fund your business, read How to Get Funding for Your Business with No Money? 5 Ways to Fund Your Food Startup.
2. Thinking that you don’t need a website for your business
I KNOW you’ve heard about the possible TikTok ban.
It’s unlikely, but you never know.
Many business owners and creators stopped posting on Instagram (or at least stopped using it as much) because it’s easier to grow on TikTok.
Imagine all of that hard work, energy, creativity and money might be wasted.
But that’s usually not the case with a website.
Read 3 Major Reasons Why You Need a Website to understand why having a website is a better use of your time. Hint: *Because your website could make you more money than being on social media*
3. Relying on and pursuing venture capital funding
Have you watched entrepreneurs on Shark Tank walk away with a $350K+ investment from one of the sharks and thought, “Wow, I’d love that for my business right about now?”
Plenty of us have.
But pitching and securing investments is an incredibly tough job. And then you still have a business to run in the meantime.
Finding investors, especially venture capitalists, seems to be the dream for some, but if you think starting a business is hard, it’ll be so much harder with a VC trying to run you into the ground so they can get an exit.
Read 10 Things to Know about Venture Capital for Restaurants to learn why bootstrapping is a better option for your food business.
4. Brands giving you ‘free stuff’ instead of paying you for your content
What comes to mind when you think of content creators or influencers?
Brand trips and lots of free stuff?
What most influencers won’t tell you, and they probably don’t know this, but you likely need to report all that free stuff on your taxes and declare it as taxable income.
But you need to double check with an accountant on that.
You might as well get paid for the work you do for brands instead of (or in addition to) getting free products.
And How to Turn a Gifted Collaboration into a Paid Sponsorship will explain how you can do this.
5. Not understanding how much it costs to start a restaurant or food truck
Be wary of the ads for ‘how to start your food truck with no money.’
Because opening a restaurant or starting a food truck will definitely cost you some money.
But how much?
It depends heavily on the type of food you plan to serve, among other things.
Learn more at Food Truck Startup Costs and How much does it cost to open a restaurant?
