The joy of being his own boss and the pride of being able to put food on the family table is what motivates any man to become financially independent. The pride of any man is to earn as much money during your younger years and invest this in fixed assets. One such business that is a money spinner any day is the frozen food business. Mr. Foday Sesay ventured into frozen food business about 3years ago. His inspiration for this business stems from the fact that food business is always a potential gold mine any day.
The business is not without its own peculiar challenges, any business has its ups and down but the truth remains that it’s a money spinner for those who understand the terrain. In this write-up, Mr. John Sesay shares insight on how anyone can start frozen food business within his or her neighbourhood.
When we talk about frozen foods, we refer to the act of preserving livestock foods such as fish, beef, turkey etc. in a refrigerator in order to keep it fresh for consumption at a later time. This act has therefore become a business individual and major companies have taken up simply because of their capacity to invest in livestock foods as well as refrigerate them for people to buy when the need arises. In fact it has become a street smart business that many have chosen to tap into even on a small scale.
The market for frozen foods in Freetown has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 4.2% between 2005 and 2010. Frozen livestock meat is consumed on a daily basis. Demand as we all know is traditionally high during festive seasons of Christmas, New Year, Easter, Sallah etc.
According to Mr. Sesay, the demand for frozen livestock meat by consumers is far higher than live ones because the former is cheaper.
What you require to start the business
It is very pertinent amongst other things to sort out where your source of supply will come from before you begin at all.
However, the following items are required to start out. They include; Your generator,(it’s advisable for a technician to guide you to determine the size of generator) your deep freezers. Then you need a measurement scale, cutlass, knife, cutting table, cutting plank, bench for customers, sitting stool and your sign board. You can also sell spices as most people will prefer to season the meat/chicken before they boil
Things to consider before starting
Mr. Sesay observed that so many individuals venture into this business and end up experiencing frustration due to low patronage. He advises that anyone who must make a success of this business should endeavor to operate in an area populated by the middle class. This is because they are the ones who buy frozen livestock meat mostly in scales.
Do not operate in a hidden location. Position yourself where your business can be seen even by passersby. It is always best to treat customers right because you enjoy referrals if a single customer is well treated.
Make sure you have a back up generating set in case one fails this is a very sensitive business if your refrigerator fails or you don’t have good power supply, all your goods will go bad.
How much is needed to start
Frozen food business is a capital intensive business. When you consider that you have to invest money in a good refrigerator, generator and the shop. However, you can start the business with as much as LE7,000, 000 assuming you have your shop intact. You can make a profit of between Le 400.000 to Le 450,000 every week especially during festival times.
Marketing
You may want to put a sign outside your house telling people that they can now get their frozen chicken, meat, fish, shrimps etc here. If your prices are the same as the market prices, then put your prices on your notice board as well. Buyers find it annoying when people advertise something, and the price is “Call for price”. Putting the price would automatically exclude people who would call only to waste your time. You only want prospective buyers calling.
You can also include home delivery services for customers on request. This will assist you in knowing your customers better and also to be introduced to their friends who may also be interested in patronizing you. The challenges faced in this type of business can be overcome if strict quality control measures are always put in place to prevent product deterioration caused by either buying cheap goods that are on the brink of going bad or keeping stock too long in your freezer.
Try as much as possible to sell off all stock in good time to prevent customers complaining of stale stock. To prevent this Sesay say’s he reduces his livestock to almost half the price to get customers to quickly buy. Another way to increase turnover is to supply wholesale to food restaurants and food caterers who constantly need chicken, fish, shrimps, meat etc
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John F Fowler .MCIM, is an International marketing and business consultant, Motivational/Empowerment speaker and Author. He is currently the founder and president of Trinity Empowerment Center a non governmental organization with a vision to empower youths in starting and sustaining small businesses in developing countries. for comments or questions send email to [email protected], or [email protected]
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