Yummiest Winners Enjoy Sweet (and Spicy) Success

In an industry filled with big names like Rachel Ray, McDonald’s, Kraft and Whole Foods, it’s a wonder that any small business would get on the radar. That’s in part why we have created the Yummiest category in our annual Home-Based 100 ranking, and the 2009 Yummiest winners are proof that all it takes is the right product in the right niche (combined with the right gastronomical leanings of the StartupNation judging committee).

“My salsa is different because it’s a little sweeter than most others,” says Art Weingaertner of his Alamogordo, New Mexico, company’s salsa. “We flame roast all the fresh peppers, and I also use red wine vinegar instead of white, and red bell peppers instead of green.”

Without giving away too much of his secret recipe, it just goes to show that you have to have a special product in this cutthroat industry. The “fiery food industry” is huge and competitive, Weingaertner says. When he started his home business in 2003, he wondered if there would be room for Xerarth’s Foods. “I had no idea of the size and diversity of the market that I was getting into,” he recalls.

Needless to say, he and his business are doing fine. They’ve even nabbed bragging rights as winner of the Yummiest in the 2009 Home-Based 100.

Demonstrating a success strategy we always advocate, in order to make sure his salsa surpassed those already on the scene, Weingaertner went through endless trial and error and reached out to industry veterans for advice. “I have met the best people and they are always happy to give advice or knowledge,” he says, adding that it’s been a learning experience at every step. “Because [even though] you have a great recipe, it doesn't guarantee success.” This kind of mentorship is critical to maintaining a good taste in your mouth when building a business.

COOK’S ORDERS

Though things are going great for Weingaertner now, it hasn’t always been a cakewalk. As all business owners do, he’s encountered some challenges along the way, especially in the regulations arena. He started working at home on his sauces and spices, however, “in order to sell commercially, they have to be made in a commercial kitchen,” he explains. “Making commercial food products at home is illegal.” So he found a co-packer with a large facility and the necessary licenses. He’s still able to work at home making test batches, but not without strict regulation.

In New York City where Top Ten Yummiest winner Amy DeGiulio works at home, the same “commercial kitchen” laws are in effect. However, she’s able to bypass the commercial food classification with her specific delectable. Sugar Flower Shop’s decorative sugar flowers for cakes are technically edible, but they also contain wire, knocking them out of the commercial food category. So she works at home in her own kitchen, hand making each of her realistic-looking flowers, and then shipping them off to bakers worldwide. She often bakes the actual cakes, too, but in those cases she borrows a local restaurant’s kitchen.

So in an industry with so many regulations as well as corporations with massive facilities and commercial capabilities, how are these small businesses able to stay afloat? It goes back to the fact that our home-based, kitchen-bound heroes of entrepreneurship are able to offer consumers something the corporate entities can’t.

“There are others who do what I do,” DeGiulio points out. “But my niche is that I’m willing to sell the flowers individually. There’s definitely a need. Making the flowers is very labor intensive, so I sell to the bakers around the country who don’t have the time or ability.”

DeGiulio also works very closely with each baker, or sometimes even brides, to customize the sugar flowers, providing sketches and detailed instructions for specific flower placement.

So what’s the recipe to be a Yummiest? We believe it’s part of an even bigger recipe for a successful business: Mix a scoop of passion, a cup of drive and the ability to work at home; sprinkle in a handful of competitors and a few mistakes; then season with the perfect label, flavorful marketing, sous chef advisors and a hot website. By then you should have just the right ingredients for a business that keeps you cooking.