Cooking Up a Business? Here’s What Every Food Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Dec 12

If you’ve ever dreamed of turning your recipes into revenue, you’re not alone.

Whether you're baking in your home kitchen, running a pop-up, or dreaming of a full-scale restaurant, food-based businesses have a unique flavor of challenge and opportunity. But just like a good dish, success in this industry takes more than just great ingredients.

Here are three powerful tips for culinary entrepreneurs ready to grow:

1. Your Recipe Isn’t Your Only Product—Your Story Is

People don’t just buy food—they buy the feeling it gives them. Maybe it’s nostalgia, comfort, adventure, or celebration. The more you know what you bring to the table, the more magnetic your business becomes.

Ask yourself: What makes your food yours? That story should be baked into every brand decision.

2. Know the Difference Between Cooking and Running a Business

Loving to cook isn’t enough. You need to know how to price your products, handle permits, market yourself, and manage time and money. That’s not failure—that’s entrepreneurship. It’s a different set of skills, and the good news? You can learn them.

The most successful food-based businesses combine passion with business precision.

3. Don’t Go It Alone—Especially in This Industry

This is one of the most supportive, collaborative industries out there—when you find the right network. Learning alongside people who are in it with you, sharing ideas, asking questions, and getting feedback as you grow can change everything.

Business is better (and more fun) when you’re not the only one at the table.

New! Join the Culinary Entrepreneur Program- Online

If you’re ready to grow your food-based business, we’re excited to offer the Culinary Entrepreneur Program—now available as a live online cohort starting in January.

This is the same hands-on curriculum as our in-person program, now taught virtually to fit your schedule and location.

Here’s what you need to know: