What’s an incubator?

Jane@TBOF

3 May 2023

Have you ever wondered if Mum’s jam would make it onto a retail shelf? We don’t profess to know the answer to that question, but we know what you’ll go through to turn that great product idea into a prototype, in order to find out the answer!

There’s a ‘secret sauce’ to launching a new food product. If you think you can start a food business next week and have your product on a shelf three months later, you will need to follow the recipe.

If you’re missing that particular childhood favourite food, or thinking of taking Grandma’s recipe to the masses, there are some particular things you need to consider beforehand.

The success rates of a new food business being shared in the small business circles is around 15% – most people don’t make it past the first year of business. Those business owners that use an incubator have an greater chance of success as opposed to those going it alone. Presenting up-to-date information and providing introductions to other service providers are how Incubators help owners scale or fail quickly.

From experience we know that clients have spent that first year refining their recipe, scaling up production, finding customers and working out how to deliver to them.

So, if a new food product on a retail shelf is one of your ambitions, check out your local kitchen incubator and get some help from an experienced mentor. We are happy to make a time to chat about your plans and set you on the path to a packaged product and a retail shelf of your own.

Jane@TBOF

The Business of Food
The Business of Food was created to provide owners of young businesses with the necessary knowledge and active support to navigate the complexities of the food industry. Covering topics of business planning and strategy, safe food production, food laws and regulations, marketing, production processes and accessing compliant kitchen space to develop new food products, set the foundations of their business plan and a referral network of experts with relevant industry experience. We created Australia's first dedicated kitchen incubator in the South Eastern suburbs in 2009 and continue to create a network of dedicated professionals working in, on or with the food industry.