Advise required for a gourmet sausage boutique in Australia

[mullsey]

Hello,

I moved from the UK to Australia a year ago to a place calld the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

Back in the UK I used to eat sausages on a regular basis which were bought from my local butcher. He had a variety of different flavors from Pork and Apple to Pork and Leek to more traditional such as Cumberland. However where I am living even in the butchers shops there is nothing apart from plain Pork, Beef and Chicken all of which are disgusting at best.

I am considering opening a Gourmet Sausage shop to fill this gap in the market.

I have bought a home mincer and electric stuffer so as to practice at home before jumping into this too quickly.

I have no prior experience in this field and would really appreciate hearing anyones comments on the points below.

1. I guess the million dollar question is can I make any money out of this venture
2. What would be the best flavors to start with
3. Is there machinery to make the job easy
4. Best source of recipie ideas

Any help or any comments in general would be much appreciated. Thanks

[Snags]

I would check out the local laws first
See what you need to comply

The average pink Sausage is really just a way of butchers disposing of anything they cant sell.
Colloquially known as mystery bags.
People obviously eat them I wouldn't touch then with a 10 foot pole.

You would have to do the numbers,get the location and know your market.
Price would be important too.

I have had great sausages from an Italian Butcher in Melbourne but they where expensive.There still are good continental butchers around but they are rare

The public eats Maccas when the fish and Chip shop made better hamburgers
So its a tough ask trying to make money.

I would try farmers markets on a small scale and see how it works,before putting a mortgage on your house.

[wheels]

I agree with Snags, learn the trade/art in a small arena first.

Phil

[Wal Footrot]

You can make any type of sausage commercially that you wish here in QLD - all you have to do is comply with the laws in this state about "what constitutes a sausage". For example I know that you can't use breadcrumbs but that rusk, rice flour and wheat flour are OK as binders.

A good mate of mine here on the Gold Coast makes a small selection of excellent gourmet sausages out of the butcher shop he manages and usually sells out every week within 3 days as he makes them on the Friday and they are gone by Sunday. However, he readily admits that most QLDers wouldn't know a good quality snag if it jumped up and bit them in the face.

The way around all this is to set up a small sausage making business that doesn't have a shop front in a shopping centre. What you need to do is use a space to set up a small factory with its own over the counter selling space in an industrial area. The continentals (German, Italian, etc) have been doing this for decades and most of their product is already preordered. I suspect that there are already businesses like this on the Sunshine Coast.

So experiment first. refine what you do, tell your Pommie mates, and once you have it sussed go for a licence as described above.

But the most salient point is why not just make them for yourself?

[Paul Kribs]

Mullsey, I totally agree with your views on Aussie sausages, was unfortunate enough to try some earlier this year.

If I were you I would start small and make them for yourself, then introduce them to your ex-pat friends. They in turn will tell their friends and so on. You will have to make a quality product far removed from the Aussie snags. Just start off with a few recognised basic recipes and get them right, and maybe expand from there to other recipes. I would go for a basic sausage mix, from there you can add other ingredients like leeks or dried apple etc. A Cumberland and definitely a Lincolnshire.
You would do well to download Sausagemakers pdf file in the beginners section of the forum, it is a mine of very good information and recipes. It can be found in the first post HERE

You CAN make money from quality sausages, I take a lot of care when butchering to ensure there is no tendon or bone... I am fussy what I eat and make them for ME, so know they are quality. Don't rush into it before you sort out the basics, and assess selling potential first.

This forum is crammed full of relevant info, including failures, and you would do well to use the search function and plough through it. Make notes as you go, and more importantly make notes whilst you are producing and/or tweaking recipes..

Good luck

Regards, Paul Kribs

[welsh wizard]

Mullsey

The short answer is yes you can make money out of the venture and I offer the following:

1) Devise your own recipes so they cant be copied.
2) Go unusual like Pigeon & Ginger for example. This will allow you to set a good price for your products as they cant be compared to other more standard makes.
3) Do your sums. I am constantly amazed how many people charge far too little for their produce when taking into consideration their time, transport, setting up costs, etc. I found the easiest way for me to arrive at a lowest price was to give myself a salary say £15 an hour then add all the ingredients up and add to the £15 and then add another 10% to cover unforseen costs (washing up liquid etc) to then arrive at a lowet sales price. So for example:

Ingredients £10
Labour £15 (1 hours work)
= £25 + 10% = £2.50 Total £27.50

If I made 10lb of sausages in 40m and accounted for washing up, putting away as the other 20m then I would have made 10lb in the hour therefore my minimum cost would be £2.70 per Lb. Of course you should sell to the market acceptance and if you can get £20 a Lb then get that but the above formula will tell you what your minimum price should be. Well it works for me

4) advertise WELL the differences in your product i.e. handmade, free range, 85% meat, natural skins etc etc.

Anyway REALLY GOOD LUCK. I started making sausages and taking them around the pubs and Delis and have not looked back. Also try selling burgers. I sell as many of these now as I sell sausages with half the work. and anyone who enjoys a good sausage usually will enjoy a good burger.

Cheers WW

[Richierich]

I still wonder whether I could make a bit of pocket money by selling a few kg of sausage, everyone who has ever tried my sausages offered to buy some from me, I currently refuse as I am concerned about the implications as far as environmental health etc. I should just bite the bullet and look into it, there's a bloke in the next village has a blackboard outside his house advertising bacon, sausage and pork, could go in to partnership maybe.......

[welsh wizard]

Have a go

EH visits dont cost anything and will give you a good insight to whats required. Ironicially enought sausages and bacon are not considerd high risk (smoked foods are) because you are cooking the product. The only thing that will cost you is product and public liability which I urge you to get if you are seling to the public. This will cost on average £150 - £300 depending on what cover you require.

cheers WW

[Richierich]

Have a go

EH visits dont cost anything and will give you a good insight to whats required. Ironicially enought sausages and bacon are not considerd high risk (smoked foods are) because you are cooking the product. The only thing that will cost you is product and public liability which I urge you to get if you are seling to the public. This will cost on average £150 - £300 depending on what cover you require.

cheers WW

Got the forms from the Council going from what they said (or perhaps what they didn't say) it seems even if I am giving food to anyone outside of my direct family I need to be registered, what are the implications of me cooking my own sausages at a bbq for a load of mates in that case.

Also got a phone number for trading standards re labelling etc. I would have thought the Environmental guys would have had demands re labelling. Will call TS at lunchtime.....think I will just start out selling to mates to be honest, keep it small, clearly non-profit making, supplied at cost, this is not a business after all, just a hobby.

[wheels]

Richie - there is an exemption from registration the EHO's tend not to mention:

From: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/ ... idance.pdf

The registration requirement does not apply to certain premises, which are not used for more than a few days or are not used regularly. Registration is required if premises are used for the purpose of a food business for 5 or more days (whether consecutive or not) in any 5 consecutive weeks. This rule also applies to any
premises used by two or more food businesses.

So if it's only an occasional thing you should be OK.

Phil

[Richierich]

Richie - there is an exemption from registration the EHO's tend not to mention:

From: http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/ ... idance.pdf

The registration requirement does not apply to certain premises, which are not used for more than a few days or are not used regularly. Registration is required if premises are used for the purpose of a food business for 5 or more days (whether consecutive or not) in any 5 consecutive weeks. This rule also applies to any
premises used by two or more food businesses.

So if it's only an occasional thing you should be OK.

Phil

Aaahhh! Interesting............

[Paul Kribs]

..... clearly non-profit making, supplied at cost, this is not a business after all, just a hobby.

What about recouping some of your initial outlay towards the cost of your equipment? wear and tear etc.. just a thought.. after all, the exorbitant prices they charge for sausages at Borough Market must allow for a bit towards pitch rental and rates, equipment, time etc..

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Richierich]

..... clearly non-profit making, supplied at cost, this is not a business after all, just a hobby.

What about recouping some of your initial outlay towards the cost of your equipment? wear and tear etc.. just a thought.. after all, the exorbitant prices they charge for sausages at Borough Market must allow for a bit towards pitch rental and rates, equipment, time etc..

Regards, Paul Kribs

Maybe I should have said

..... clearly non-profit making, supplied at cost, this is not a business after all, just a hobby. nudge nudge

[wheels]

I'm not sure now, having made a couple of phone calls, as to whether my previous post is still the case. I have been led to believe that subsequent regulations have meant that many previously exempt activities are now included - you would need to check further. I am led to believe (by my local EHO) that registration and their requirements would be fairly simple for products that are subsequently cooked. They would be far more onerous for cooked products - and even more so for products to be eaten raw.

It will be worth asking your local EHO about the exemptions and, if they say they no longer apply, ask them to detail the regulation and paragraph that states this.

However, now you've stuck your head above the parapet, it may be worth registering to avoid future hassles. Certainly, in your position I would not try to circumnavigate the rules, the consequences may not be nice!

Phil

[Richierich]

I have emailed the Council back and asked for clarification, like you said once you have popped your head up they know where you are. Tried to keep information as sparse as possible, only email address and name is known, although that's probably enough.