Getting Ready to Sell – Checklist for Opening Day

By: Eric Greenbaum

Congratulations! You are just a few minutes away from being ready to sell your products on the Cottage Nosh platform.  The process is pretty simple so feel free to dive right in.  If you want some more insight… read on!  This article will walk you through the whole process, step by step.

Complete Your Profile

The first thing you need to do to get ready to sell is to complete your profile.  Your profile will tell your customers who you are and set up your payment processing.  For a complete tutorial on how to complete your profile visit our Completing Your Profile resource page here.

Upload your License

Cottage Nosh requires all sellers to be licensed as Cottage Food Operators in order to sell on our platform.  You can upload proof of your license directly on our site using our badging system or email it to us at [email protected].  Don’t worry if you don’t have a license yet!  Getting one is easy.  Visit our licensing resources page here and you can have your license submitted in 10 minutes.

Add Some Listings (Products)

Next step is to add some listings.  Listings are the products you are going to sell.  You can add listings by navigating to the “Listings” page on the “Shop Manager” dropdown menu and clicking the “Add Listing” button.  For a complete tutorial on how to work with Listings, visit our Listings resource page here.

Decide How You Are Going to Sell

Cottage Nosh offers cottage food operators 2 ways to sell their products: Nosh Days and Bakers’ Shops.  You can use one or both of these tools to help your home food business grow and thrive.  Generally, Nosh Days are 1-day pop-ups (think 1-day virtual farmer’s market just for you!) where your customers will place orders in advance and you will deliver them, and/or have your customers pick them up.  Bakers’ Shops are more like a traditional storefront.  You pick what days you are open for pickups and/or what days you will be making deliveries.  When you set up your Baker’s Shop you are committing to be open for pickups and/or deliveries on those days.  You can utilize one or both of these channels.  For a more detailed description of the differences between Nosh Days and Bakers’ Shops check out our Nosh Days vs. Bakers Shops post here and our Introduction to Nosh Days post here.

Set Up Your First Nosh Day

To add your first Nosh Day, use the “Shop Manager” dropdown menu to navigate to the “Nosh Days” page and click the “Add Nosh Day” button on the top right hand corner of the page.  This will open the Add / Edit Nosh Day screen where you can fill in the information for your first Nosh Day.  For a complete tutorial on how to work with Nosh Days visit our Nosh Day resource page here.

Configure Your Baker’s Shop

To set up your Baker’s Shop, use the “Shop Manager” dropdown menu to navigate to the “Shop Settings” page. This will open the Shop Settings screen where you can set up your Baker’s Shop.  For a complete tutorial on how to work with Bakers’ Shops visit our Baker’s Shops resource page here.

Get Ready to Bake

Make Sure You have Everything You Need to Make and Package Your Orders:

  • Ingredients – make sure you have a sufficient amount of all of your ingredients to make all of your listings. 
  • Packaging – nice packaging goes a long way!  You’ve spent a lot of time preparing your foods and customers will appreciate having them professionally packaged.  Webstaurant store is a good place to get bakery boxes that will serve you well.
  • Labels – you are legally obligated to label all of your products.  If you have a sophisticated label printer you’re ahead of the curve.  At a minimum it will serve you well to have an inexpensive computer printer which you can use to print labels onto label stock.  We have resources to help you quickly and easily create compliant labels.  Click here to review our label resources page.

Get the Word Out!

Congratulations, you’re ready to start selling your products and delighting your customers!  Now you have to tell the world!  Social media is a great way to let people know about your Nosh Days and your Baker’s Shop.  You can use the web address of your Nosh Days and your Bakers’ Shop to promote your business and drive potential customers to your store. #cottagenosh #noshday #delicious

 

Eric is a baker, lawyer, scientist, and gardener. He enjoys developing and training health regulations and operating procedures. His favorite nosh is apple blueberry tart.