Anyone making and selling ??

[Yorkie_Porkie]

All,

Is anyone actually making and selling their Sausages and Bacon ?...Am thinking about starting up a small business venture myself so would be interesting to talk to anyone who has started themselves....

Also think it could be quite a cool thing to have a regular local meet of likeminded sausage makers to swap ideas and recipes, tips etc....

What do people think ??

[Paul Kribs]

Yorkie, I'm pretty sure that there's legislation covering the selling of meat produce. I'm sure that if that is the case, someone on this forum is bound to know.
Think it involves a hygene qualification, and health inspection certification for the premises you are producing from. Think it needs 2 sinks etc. If I am mistaken I am sure somebody will point it out.

I have been asked to sell my sausages by quite a few friends but am a bit warey. I have given some to family and friends and they have been absolutely delighted with them.. but selling would be a different matter.

Good luck if your venture takes off.

Regards Paul Kribs

[sausagemaker]

Yorkie

I'm afraid Paul is right, you will need a licence, your best bet is to go to your local TSO & health inspector for advise.
You cannot make these from your kitchen so you will need premises, you also need to know all the relevant regulations & have documentation in place before trading.

Regards
Sausagemaker

[Yorkie_Porkie]

Guys,


Thanks for the info, however, I am already aware of the regulations relating to the actual production and storage of food, having trained and worked as a chef and the worked in catering management for a number of years (albeit a good few years ago now ! )

I have also been spending a lot of time checking out the newer regs on the FSA website and have had some good chats with my local EHO, so that part of things I am pretty much up to speed on :O)

My question really related to people actually making any sort of reasonable money in a small time business rather than a massive venture supplying Asda and the like....

[stardust]

this whole eu thing with rules necessary in order to fart legally really sucks.

what about selling bacon at small organic markets?

I read a thing recently that suggested I only had to do a hygiene course to sell at the organic markets. can't make a living from it, but it's a hobby.

[Yorkie_Porkie]

Affraid there are lots of rules and regs out there to protect us more than anything...I agree that some are pretty mind numbing and shouldnt be allowed, but if any old blokie of the street started making bacon and sausages and used lots of E numbers and didn't bother to measure his cure #1 and #2 properly.........It just takes one stupid person to get it wrong through carelessness, so I will jump thru whatever hoops they make me and do all that I need to IF I go down the route of making for selling...stilll weighing up the costs against the benefits really ! :O)

[stardust]

oh, live a little.

[Yorkie_Porkie]

-conv-

[Paul Kribs]

Yorkie, Last saturday morning I boned and minced 3 whole legs of lamb and made sausages using Franco's Goan Vindaloo mix. Admittedly I stuffed the casings quite tightly, and ended up with 39 sausages. The cost of the lamb was �33, then there's the mix �3 and the casings.. possibly �1-�2. Then there's your time, packaging, a cost to cover the initial outlay of your equipment. I reckon I would have to charge around �1.50 per sausage. Six of those sausages weigh about 1 lb 4 oz.

I know there are people who will buy them for that price cos the wife's friend gets hers over the internet and pays over �1 per sausage.. and some of my friends have said they would pay over �1 per sausage. There's a deli near London Bridge selling at �9.99 per kilo so thats around about the price. I believe that unless you start to make them using 'trimmings' and packing them out with water and rusk to reduce the price and cover your outlay and making it more viable. Then you are heading to what there is already available. OK people will possibly go for the more unusual flavours. Personally I am just happy with making and eating my own knowing exactly what has gone into them.

I will say however, that if you do start this commercial venture and you need to employ a 'sausage taster'

Regards Paul Kribs

[Yorkie_Porkie]

Hey Paul,

I hear what your saying here, I have looked into detailed costings and would be using Pork which I pay 73p a lb for at the moment, although am sure can get that a lot cheaper direct from the supplier rather than thru my butcher. However, without taking my time into consideration, I estimate the profit from the sausages and bacon made from half a pig to be �130, or �180 if using the leg cut long for dry cured ham, that's including packaging costs and at an 80% meat ratio, whch at a push I would reduce to 75 % but no lower than that.

So the jury's still out at the moment, not going to rush into anything and spend loads of my hard earned overdraght ! LOL....

Shame your not closer too paul, bit hard tasting all the way from hudds to London.....

[welsh wizard]

All very interesting - I have been told from the people who must never be crossed! that new rules and regs covering the smaller producers are coming in, in January 06 - we wait and see.

Re sausage and price I do sell a few to friends and am just testing the market. I have a number of pubs that would willingly take them off me if I were registered and my research shows I could sell c150lb per week IF I could maintain a steady supply line. This may seem small but I live in quite a rural area but very much on the foodie map so there is a degree of elasticity when considering pricing. I have personally gone for game sausages mixed with various types of alcohol - reason being living where I do I can aquire pheasants from the larger shoots at c40p - 50p per brace, duck c�1.50 a brace and just this weekend I picked up a couple of roe deer for �1 a Lb, rabbits are for free as are pidgeons. Personally I would not go down the route of the more traditional varieties, there are plenty of them out there and now most supermarkets stock what they call a premium sausage that sells around �1.50 a lb. If you want to generate a premium price for your banger I think you have to go to the market with somthing different, build a strong dedicated customer base and charge accordingly - this will give you far more flexability in your pricing strat. I do wish they had a spell check on here for us illetterreaaattes!

[Yorkie_Porkie]

WW,

I agree with you regarding offering something different, I have come up with a total of 50 different flavours so far, ranging from Pork based to Venison based and other variations in between. currently doing lots of local research on price and availability etc. I can't get over the price your paying for your game birds !..that's very good indeed, might have to look into the shoots up here and see where they are selling the birds.

Mind you, there is the plucking etc to consider, but worth it for thr flavour !
Are you hanging your meat for any length of time or using it straight from being prepped ?...

The whole demand thing is the killer really, I guess starting off small and building up a customer base would be the key here and I am seriously considering it as a small venture to test the water.

YP

[welsh wizard]

Sorry down the pub for belly distending fluids - I digress.

Re game: I urge you to go to your local gun shop and ask for addresses / phone numbers of local shoots. Most game keepers find it VERY difficult to move game a certain times of year, mainly the start of the season, christmas and the end of the season (Oct - end of Jan for pheasant) apart from that it is VERY cheap. With regards to hanging I prep them ASAP as a game sausage is one thing but a smelly game sausage is quite different!

Re prep dont mess about plucking, just skin them and cut away the breasts. each brest is approx 4oz so a brace yeilds 1lb. if you want to do the whole bird you will get c1.5lb A Lb of pheasant at c60p - possibly a �1 is cheaper than dog food. you can then charge a goodly ammount for the end product, I charge c �2.75 - �3.00 per Lb but I am cheap!

Hope this helps. If you need instruction on how to skin out a pheasant / duck/ pidgeon etc just ask, hopefully I can help

[Yorkie_Porkie]

WW,


Thanks for that info, I have a local gun shop whom I will ask, I have also seend various adverts offering shoots so I may try that line also.

Iteresting about just skinning with feathers attatched, but then at that price can understand that ideology !..

Don't you need a game license to sell game sausages by the way ?, you certainly need one to sell game birds and venison etc...

Also, what %age of meat do you use ?..and how about the fat content ?

if you want to continue this offline let me know / pm me

YP

[Deer Man]

There are several differnt types of game licence. If you buy and sell whole and in the skin then all you realy need is correct storage. If however you process the meat in any way for any purpose then you will need a licence which allows you to process. This involves wild meat and game regs as well as the usual health and hygien regs.

I suggest you contact your local enviromental officer and seek advice. They are very good and will let you know exactly what you have to do to comply with the law!