/ck/ - Food & Cooking

[Anonymous No.11096643]

Yo ck, lend me an ear
I've been thinking about this for probably about a year, and I want to do it now. Here's the idea

I have experience making scratch pasta, and I want to try selling it at a local farmers market. I've got 2 questions for y'all

Have you ever seen anyone do this? I've never seen it at any of my local markets but I'm sure it's been done somewhere.
Would you buy it? How much would you spend on a family-sized portion of pasta? (Uncooked, ready to boil)

[Anonymous No.11096658]

How much different does it taste compared to the regular store bought dry kind?

[Anonymous No.11096661]

Fresh pasta is great, but it doesn't stay very long, at best it will stay around for 2-3 days if refrigerated.

The reason dry pasta, and those pre-packed refrigerated pastas do so well is because they can last a lot longer, the pre-packed refrigerator type can last 2-3 weeks generally, much longer than homemade stuff. (due to preservatives)

[Anonymous No.11096677]

>>11096643
I wouldn't spend more than $3 a lb

[Anonymous No.11096686]

If I want fresh pasta, I'll make it myself. So no. Fuck off.

[Anonymous No.11096687]

>>11096658
Box pasta tastes like the cardboard it's packaged in after you've had real fresh made pasta desu
>>11096661
True, and its a nice advertising point to be able to say it was made the day before the sale, as well as no preservatives/ only 3 ingredients

[Anonymous No.11096692]

>>11096658
It's not a huge difference but you can tell the fresh pasta has a bit more flavor.

>>11096677
This, fresh pasta is better, but it's still just flour and water or flour and egg so it's not worth spending too much on. Not to mention that dry pasta increases a lot more by weight so a pound of dry pasta is more food than a pound of fresh pasta, and you have to take that into consideration with the prices too.

[Anonymous No.11096695]

>>11096686
Yea, I agree, but its's not something everyone knows how to make. People will spend money on conveniences

[Anonymous No.11096699]

Since I can make my own I wouldn't pay a penny for eggs and flour. You have to remember you are going up against people who are used to buying a pound box for $1 or less. Like >>11096677 said start with that and if it doesn't sell cut your price by a buck and keep trying. Or try to sell low at first to get people interested in homemade pastas, show them it tastes better than their Walmart special. Adjust price accordingly after.

[Anonymous No.11096700]

>>11096692
Yeah, every time I've ever bought pasta, it's sold dry, by pound. It's not worth considering. You cant sell them a pound of wet noodles if they're not wet.

[Anonymous No.11096706]

>>11096687
>its a nice advertising point to be able to say it was made the day before the sale, as well as no preservatives/ only 3 ingredients
While true, the downside is, many customers like more flexibility in their dinner planning, buying fresh pasta REQUIRES that you use it the next day or two. This may turn off many potential customers.

[Anonymous No.11096713]

>>11096700

[Anonymous No.11096717]

>>11096643
Fuck these fags, I'll bet fresh pasta would do very well at a farmers market. Provided you have a high concentration of yuppies of course. This also assumes you don't look gross.

[Anonymous No.11096732]

>>11096643
This sounds like it could be quite tough to turn a profit. I MIGHT buy your pasta, but then again I also have made my own a bunch of times, so personally I'd probably just make some more. That said, most people think its not even possible for them to make their own. You'd need to appeal to the "artisanal food" crowd. Your booth must express quality and a reason to prefer your product over the customer realizing they can just go home and do what you did. Tricky. For the "artisanal" aspect, I'm inclined to immediately recommend an unusual or uncommon product tweak. Sure, you can put up for sale the "original" /plain version of a traditional pasta, but you may want to incorporate other things to change the color and flavor - making this your OWN special product that is seen as worth buying over recreating at home, from a customer's perspective.

To answer the question of whether I've seen someone do this, no, I haven't, but I'm also sure they do. (I live in a very non-small time business area, if you get me). I would not spend more than a couple of dollars more on your product than I would on the "fresh pasta" options in the store, but again, that goes back to me being experienced in making it myself too. You must look at the store options in your area for this product, try not to soar too high above their price point, and create a reason to choose yours over those, if possible. Again, the allure of your booth matters, as does the packaging of your product. Don't go into this expecting to scoop out a pile of your product from a bucket and drop it in a random bag with a cheap twist tie for the customer to walk off with. I say that knowing that many successful businesses kinda DO start that way, for lack of funds. But you could be strategic enough if you are really serious about this, and you could possibly get your business going much better if you plan ahead in these ways. That is my input anyway... good luck and don't be discouraged.

[Anonymous No.11096738]

>>11096713
>
<

[Anonymous No.11096751]

You won't be able to make enough for it to be worthwhile.

[Anonymous No.11096762]

>>11096751
He's definitely not going to make more than minimum wage doing this stupid shit. Hell, you'll most likely lose money and waste your time.

[Anonymous No.11096778]

just put a little bit of spinach or kale in it to make it green and sell it as healthy pasta for 5$ a lb

[Anonymous No.11096817]

>>11096643
I saw an Italian shop in Vancouver offering fresh pasta. You could do it, or at least try it without having a huge startup cost.

[Anonymous No.11096849]

>>11096706
This is why American's suck at cooking.

[Anonymous No.11096856]

>>11096643
Depending on where you live there will be health code regulations you and your kitchen have to meet. Also you'll have to get a valid business license if you want to participate in a farmers market and not a flea market tier bazaar.

[Anonymous No.11096875]

>>11096643
A local farmers market near me has a fresh pasta stand. Never bought their stuff.

[Anonymous No.11097463]

>>11096643
because of the first two lines, I read the rest of your post expecting the rest of it to rhyme.

Fuck you for it not rhyming. Fucking mess of post.

[Anonymous No.11097672]

I would sell it for $9.99 a pound.

Less isn't worth your time.

[Anonymous No.11097693]

>>11096643
Here's some business talk for you OP
Buy enough ingredients to make a batch of pasta
Add the cost of those ingredients together
Time how long it takes you to make that batch of pasta
Measure how many pounds of pasta you created
Multiple the time it took you to make the pasta by minimum wage (or however much money you think one hour of your life is worth)
Add that number to the cost of ingredients
Divide that final number with the pounds of pasta you made
Here's an example
>Cost of ingredients = $5
>Time to make pasta = 2 hours
>Pounds of pasta made = 5
>2 hours of time x $7.50 = $15
>$15 + $5 = $20 total cost you have sunk into making the pasta
>$20 / 5 = $4
It costs you $4 to make one pound of pasta. So you need to sell each pound of pasta for more than $4 to turn a profit.
If you cannot sell pasta at a higher price than it costs you to make the pasta, you shouldn't bother.

[Anonymous No.11097926]

The pasta stand at my Lokal marked sells mainly torteloni with different fillings but also linguine. You can upcharge more for the fresh, filled pasta and have a bigger variety.

[Anonymous No.11097990]

>>11097672
Call it organic and sell it for $20

[Anonymous No.11098986]

>>11097693
>2 hours of time x $7.50 = $15
Around here minimum wage is $12 and going up to $15 over the next 2-3 years.

So realistically you would need to charge $6/lbs+

[Anonymous No.11099535]

I live above a dude who makes a living off selling pasta. He has a refrigerated truck, catering, freezer meals, and a small cafe. He actually freezes his fresh pasta. It honestly tastes the same both ways. Just make sure to flour it well so it'll absorb the moisture from the freezer/defrosting and you should be good. The dude makes bank too. He sells pasta for 6.99 a box of like 20oz?