How to Open a Gourmet Food Store

Business Overview:

Attention fine food lovers: by learning how to open a gourmet food store you could generate a fantastic income sharing your passion and doing what you love. Indeed, if you’re creative and you have a passion for fine food this business idea could be your perfect fit. Gourmet food stores retail specialized, high quality foods to customers with a desire for the type of food that the store specializes in. Often they also sell specialized foods that they have freshly cooked. Therefore when starting this business there’s great freedom because you’ll have an almost unlimited choice as to your area of specialty. For example, you might start an upscale organic food store, a store that specializes in a particular type of popular ethnic food, or a shop that sells freshly prepared gourmet meal components—the possibilities are endless. In addition, opening a gourmet food store could potentially be a very lucrative venture. Specialty food products are a $30 billion industry, not least due to the fact that people spend more money on food annually than on any other expenses. For this reason it’s also a highly competitive industry, but if you’re creative and passionate with what you do you can definitely stand out and thrive with this business. Indeed starting a gourmet food store represents one of the most attractive and profitable business ideas because now more than ever consumers are looking for quality food, combined with a unique shopping experience. As a result the gourmet and specialty foods market has been booming, so opening a gourmet food store could very well turn out to be one of the best and most highly rewarding decisions you could ever make—both personally and financially.

A Day in the Life of a Gourmet Food Store Business Owner:

As a gourmet food store business owner, a typical day will begin early. If you offer your own cooked gourmet foods, you’ll be up preparing and cooking your gourmet foods before opening your store at around 7am or so in the morning. Alternatively, you may have staff who will do the preparation and cooking for you. If you’re not offering prepared foods you may spend some time checking your inventory and getting ready to place an order to keep the shelves well stocked. Throughout the day customers will enter your shop and you’ll serve them. You’ll ensure throughout the day that the food your customers are looking for are continually available, and that the store is kept clean, tidy, well-stocked and orderly. Typically your day will end around 6pm when you’ll shut up shop, and ensure that it’s clean and ready for opening the next day. Then you’ll want to spend some time reviewing your finances before you head home for the day.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will typically be upper market customers looking for specialized foods and a unique shopping experience. They will be looking for unique, high quality and specialized foods which are not widely available at typical food stores.

What You Need to Start:

• A shop location and name
• A specific area of specialty (i.e. ethnic, upscale organic food, etc.)
• A business license, food permit, and insurance
• Staff
• Specialized food suppliers
• Financial-tracking software
• A business plan
• Advertising to build up your business

The Good:

• This business can be highly lucrative.
• The work is creative and rewarding.
• You could potentially expand and create similar stores in other areas or cities.
• You’ll be your own boss and have the freedom to make your own decisions and express your creative spirit.

The Bad:

• The gourmet food industry can be very competitive.
• You will need to invest a lot of time and money to build up your gourmet store to get it well known and established.

Resources:

• National Association of the Specialty Food Trade
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Grocery Stores
• Wikipedia on Gourmet

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