Smoked Meat Pricing for Labor

[c heritaged]

Hello Chefs. This is Charlie. I have a business prop today smoking meats for a deli. I want to charge per smoked item. But im lost on cost. Could you help me ??? Please ????

 

[SmokinAl]

This is a good question for Chef Jimmy J.

I'm sure he will be along shortly to help you.

Al

 

[chef jimmyj]

Typically you charge 3X your Cost. That is meat and any spices, marinades, injections, etc. It sounds like you are essentially going to be selling wholesale so the deli can add a profit for retail sale. You should get around 3X cost but be prepared to work with the deli to come up with a price the area market will bear.  Cherry Hill is not a low income area. Investigate permits, Health Inspections, Insurance and any other requirement to go into food production for sale. It is NOT LEGAL to just start selling Smoked Meat or any potentially hazardous food to the public from your house/backyard. You may be required to have a separate from your house inspected kitchen...JJ

 

[c heritaged]

Thank you. Yes, i have alot of work to do to prepare. I needed this badly. Its alot to take in. Ill admit. First thing will be to contact the health board. Most important

 

[chef jimmyj]

Best of luck and thanks for the point. Let us know how it turns out, with some detail. This type of idea comes up frequently but we never hear how it goes, good or bad...JJ

 

[wade]

Involve your local health inspectors right from the start and show them that you are wanting to work with them to get this off the ground. I have found that being proactive with them pays dividends when it comes to developing a good ongoing 2-way relationship. Required practices do vary slightly by authority too and they will be able to let you know what is required in your local area,

Do you have any food hygiene certification? The US and the UK certificates are slightly different so someone like JJ will have to advise you on specific courses there - but at least one person in your "company" will probably be expected to have a minimum level of food handling training. If is is just you then a basic caterers hygiene course may be sufficient but if others are helping you then you may need a supervising food handling certificate.

Do not underestimate the amount of paperwork that this will involve. Paperwork is something that the health inspectors will want to check regularly. Once you get into the routine of regularly recording fridge temperatures, cleaning routines and batch numbering etc. it is not so bad  - but it seems a lot of work to begin with. To get a start on this you may want to look online for any HACCP recommendations that your local authority or state have put up. Becoming at least familiar with these before you talk with your local health inspector may help with your discussions.

In the UK we have different requirements for food producers depending on whether you are selling directly to the public or selling through a third party (e.g. retailer or restaurant). Selling directly to the public provides a more traceable product distribution than selling through a third party. The risk of selling direct to the end consumer is perceived to be less than selling through a intermediate re-seller - it is something to do with the potential number of victims if something were to go wrong. There is therefore slightly less involvement from the health inspectors for producers only selling directly - though the same food hygiene standards still apply. I am not sure if it is the same in the US but this is something that you may want to investigate as it may help you get your foot in the door of selling without as much initial cost.

I am not trying to put you off - far from it - but it is worth understanding some of the basic requirements before you go too far down the path. If you do proceed then please let us know how you are getting on. A success story from you may encourage others also tread down that path 

 

[chef jimmyj]

After reading Wades post, I figured I would check for you. Looks like at a minimum you will need ServSafe Certification and possibly Food Protection Managers Certification. ServSafe is basic, the managers cert is multiple steps and more involved. Look at this link... http://www.state.nj.us/health/foodanddrugsafety/wfcp.shtml  It is info on NJ Wholesale Food and Cosmetic Project. They oversee licencing and inspection for wholesome product and will test samples of your meat for any issues. This is separate from the Health Dept Inspections. They have info on some of the permits needed as well....JJ