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Looking to start a gourmet donut business
RapHarMan
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm a Michigan-based man who is in love with making healthy gourmet donuts and am seriously thinking of starting a donut shop here in Downtown Flint, Michigan. I love donuts. I ate them when I was a child to my mid-teens until I found out I have countless cavities in my left and right bottom gums. I quit eating donuts because of sucrose's negative effects. I have been baking, cooking, and eating sugar-free baked goods for six years total. I mostly bake baked goods, but they're gourmet ones with turkey meat products, shellfish products, and fruits and vegetables and spices mixed in the batters, and I use doughnut pans to bake them, for I can't stand frying them. To me, frying them is the unhealthiest way of cooking donuts. Of course, people like them, but they end up gaining weight and developing health concerns like diabetes and heart attacks. So I've been making them for five months total, with the power of imagination, and inspiration from my family and friends' health problems and cooking and baking TV and internet shows like Chopped, and people that eat them have ended up enjoying them. They like the healthy flavors of the donuts as well as the fact they can't regret trying them. They're out of this world.
I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where I was fostered at six and adopted at nine. I was diagnosed with ADHD due to my biological mother's cocaine addiction. She couldn't raise me, so she gave me up for adoption. While I grew up in a predominantly black city, I didn't learn to cook until I was 16, when I had cavities and overgrown gums in the mouth and teeth. Cora Lee Harlan, my adoptive mother who passed at 75 in 2011, taught me to cook at that age. Basic meals like spaghetti, burgers, eggs, bacon, and pizza. When I moved to Flint in September 2010, I taught myself with the inspiration from my older friends and family members' medical conditions (diabetes, heart attacks, kidney diseases, memory loss) and from the cooking and pastry shows and competitions (including "Chopped") to cook and bake outrageously healthy dishes and desserts like turkey spaghetti, shrimp alfredo, turf and surf tacos, chicken and turkey caesar salad, donuts, cakes, and muffins. I've been cooking and baking for over six years, and I've used my imagination to create unique and innovative dishes and desserts that people will find delicious and beneficial to their health, with natural ingredients such as agave nectar, stevia extract, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, lobster meat, turkey meat of all varieties, wheat, paprika, shrimp, carrots, broccoii, cheeses, and apples and other fruits, vegetables, and milk substitutes. I don't use any pork or beef products in any of my baking, including my donuts, which I have the strongest passions of. I don't even use caffeine. The biggest thing about healthy eating is it's life-prolonging. It betters people's lives, and when I learn people's health problems from my own relationships, it inspires me to make better masterpieces for them so they can not only enjoy better-tasting foods, but they can also enjoy healthy-eating.
As said before, I'm planning on starting a gourmet donut shop, and I'm working alongside a marketing mentor and a pastry chef towards my upstarting my donut business. But I am going to need funds towards opening up a brick and mortar location. But I am thinking about doing a business in which I sell donuts at churches and food festivals. My business plan is developing as I speak. I plan of selling donuts from $2.00 and up in singles, $10.00 and up for half-dozens, and $20.00 and up for dozens. I plan to also give discounts to specifically college students at the four colleges here in Flint as well as church members for more than 2 single donuts, 2 or more half-dozens, and 5 dozen donuts. I plan on selling coffee and stevia-sweetened sodas as part of combo meals, which include a single donut as well as a half-dozen donuts for $.75 to $2.00 more. My audience is health-conscious people looking to try gourmet donuts that benefit their lifestyles; a mixture of people in different races and incomes that are looking for new varieties.
I need to ask you a few questions: I don't plan on using traditional methods of frying donuts because that is unhealthy. I heard that a few donut shops in the U.S. use doughnut pans to bake their products but their pans are custom-made by their manufacturers. Since my church doesn't have doughnut pans and my plan includes them, do I ask my church members if they would like to order some custom-made doughnut pans for my business or do I have to negotiate with a manufacturer for donut pans? Most of my monthly income are fixed, for most of it comes from Social Security, and I'm 22. Plus, do I have to get a food license and have my church's kitchen inspected? I haven't asked my pastors yet if I could borrow their commercial kitchen, which I'll need to make my donuts in. Finally, if I am going to sell them at food festivals and I'm in need of assistants, since I don't have enough funds to pay employees, could volunteers be safe and legal? By the way, I don't drive and I don't have a driver's license, but some of my older friends do, so I could ask them to volunteer in selling the products to customers.
Like I said, I don't have funds, but I'm also working of finding recipe contests that awards money, which I need to build my business from a food event business to a brick and mortar concept. Of course, I'll need an investor to invest in the brick and mortar part, so I'll need to predict the revenue for the next three years as well as the profits and valuation. But I'm ready to sell the donut varieties that I have made so far. What do you guys think?
I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, where I was fostered at six and adopted at nine. I was diagnosed with ADHD due to my biological mother's cocaine addiction. She couldn't raise me, so she gave me up for adoption. While I grew up in a predominantly black city, I didn't learn to cook until I was 16, when I had cavities and overgrown gums in the mouth and teeth. Cora Lee Harlan, my adoptive mother who passed at 75 in 2011, taught me to cook at that age. Basic meals like spaghetti, burgers, eggs, bacon, and pizza. When I moved to Flint in September 2010, I taught myself with the inspiration from my older friends and family members' medical conditions (diabetes, heart attacks, kidney diseases, memory loss) and from the cooking and pastry shows and competitions (including "Chopped") to cook and bake outrageously healthy dishes and desserts like turkey spaghetti, shrimp alfredo, turf and surf tacos, chicken and turkey caesar salad, donuts, cakes, and muffins. I've been cooking and baking for over six years, and I've used my imagination to create unique and innovative dishes and desserts that people will find delicious and beneficial to their health, with natural ingredients such as agave nectar, stevia extract, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, lobster meat, turkey meat of all varieties, wheat, paprika, shrimp, carrots, broccoii, cheeses, and apples and other fruits, vegetables, and milk substitutes. I don't use any pork or beef products in any of my baking, including my donuts, which I have the strongest passions of. I don't even use caffeine. The biggest thing about healthy eating is it's life-prolonging. It betters people's lives, and when I learn people's health problems from my own relationships, it inspires me to make better masterpieces for them so they can not only enjoy better-tasting foods, but they can also enjoy healthy-eating.
As said before, I'm planning on starting a gourmet donut shop, and I'm working alongside a marketing mentor and a pastry chef towards my upstarting my donut business. But I am going to need funds towards opening up a brick and mortar location. But I am thinking about doing a business in which I sell donuts at churches and food festivals. My business plan is developing as I speak. I plan of selling donuts from $2.00 and up in singles, $10.00 and up for half-dozens, and $20.00 and up for dozens. I plan to also give discounts to specifically college students at the four colleges here in Flint as well as church members for more than 2 single donuts, 2 or more half-dozens, and 5 dozen donuts. I plan on selling coffee and stevia-sweetened sodas as part of combo meals, which include a single donut as well as a half-dozen donuts for $.75 to $2.00 more. My audience is health-conscious people looking to try gourmet donuts that benefit their lifestyles; a mixture of people in different races and incomes that are looking for new varieties.
I need to ask you a few questions: I don't plan on using traditional methods of frying donuts because that is unhealthy. I heard that a few donut shops in the U.S. use doughnut pans to bake their products but their pans are custom-made by their manufacturers. Since my church doesn't have doughnut pans and my plan includes them, do I ask my church members if they would like to order some custom-made doughnut pans for my business or do I have to negotiate with a manufacturer for donut pans? Most of my monthly income are fixed, for most of it comes from Social Security, and I'm 22. Plus, do I have to get a food license and have my church's kitchen inspected? I haven't asked my pastors yet if I could borrow their commercial kitchen, which I'll need to make my donuts in. Finally, if I am going to sell them at food festivals and I'm in need of assistants, since I don't have enough funds to pay employees, could volunteers be safe and legal? By the way, I don't drive and I don't have a driver's license, but some of my older friends do, so I could ask them to volunteer in selling the products to customers.
Like I said, I don't have funds, but I'm also working of finding recipe contests that awards money, which I need to build my business from a food event business to a brick and mortar concept. Of course, I'll need an investor to invest in the brick and mortar part, so I'll need to predict the revenue for the next three years as well as the profits and valuation. But I'm ready to sell the donut varieties that I have made so far. What do you guys think?
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1) Is there a market for $2+ donuts in your town? And is anyone already serving that market?
2) Your ingredient list sounds fancy, and therefore expensive. Can you make a profit?
3) You should really consider getting a driver's license and a van if at all possible. Running a business (especially a bakery) involves a lot of driving, and your friends won't drive you around forever.
4) You'll have an extremely difficult time getting people to work for free to make you money. And it is probably illegal once you start actually making money.
5) If you did actually start a business in your church's kitchen, they would definitely be subject to health and safety regulations. Though whether those are actually enforced is another matter.
6) Figure out what stuff is going to cost. It's easier to get something if you know what you need.
7) Do baked donuts actually taste any good? If you haven't tried one, find one and eat it. See if this is something you'd actually be willing to serve. Also, fried food isn't inherently unhealthy. There are tricks you can do to make it less bad.
Also, read this website. The SBA can also help you get loans to start your business, if you meet certain criteria.
The reason my gourmet donuts are going to sell at the starting point of $2.00 is because all the donut varieties are sweetened with agave nectar (in which a gallon of agave would cost $50-70 for 16 cups of agave; $235.00 for a 5-gallon that measures 80 cups). That's $3.12-4.38 per cup for a gallon of agave and $2.94/cup for a 5 gallon. Another reason that I'm using agave in my baked donuts is because I'm tolerant to sucrose, so I can't use sucrose (processed or organic). I also use whole wheat flour. A bulk 50 pound-wwf would cost $45.00, which measures for 167 cups, which is about 27 cents per cup. I also use unsweetened almond milk to make glazes and jams and in my donut variety batters, but I might have to use whipped heavy cream to lower my costs or make my own almond milk.
I tasted my baked donut varieties as I come up with the ideas and they're mixed with naturally sweet and savory flavors. They actually shape as well as their fried versions. The difference is the ingredients are mixed in the batter. There are no donut shops other the Holy Donut in Portland, Oregon that puts lobster inside a batter or dough. There are no donut shops that puts ground meat of any kind or turkey bacon inside a batter or dough or even on the top of the donuts. Yes, this would be the first baked donut shop in Michigan, although it's not the first in America. I've read the story about Fonuts recently yesterday about their story. Their donut shop is successful because more than half of their donut varieties are vegan and gluten-free. I can't afford to make a single variety gluten-free, and I can't afford to make a single variety completely vegan, but I use heart-healthy ingredients that have omega 3 fats. I don't use regular butter, but I use olive oil in all donut varieties. Speaking of varieties, I plan of having a menu on 12-13 donut varieties when I have a brick and mortar location. But I'll deal with 6-7 varieties, including the ones I invented. Glazed Vanilla & Paprika Lobster, Glazed Chocolate & Bacon Lobster, Dark Berry Sea (lobster & shrimp), Dark Berry Cheese (blueberries, blackberries, blue cheese, cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese [grated]), Chocolate Lobster are my current varieties. I'll still have to network with farmers.
I've researched the equipment that I'll need for my business, which is going to cost around $6,000-$12,000, which is part of my budget. I plan of using used equipment, except the doughnut pans, which I'll have custom-made. Convection ovens (decked), commercial blenders, burners, refrigeration cases, coolers, freezers, insulation containers and boxes with ice gels, and shipping costs are what I need. Of course, if I started at my church's commercial kitchen, I'd have to obey the food laws, which I read, and get it inspected before I start baking. Plus, I'm thinking of using FedEx as my deliverer because they have refrigeration trucks to deliver to my customers. Plus, if I were to drive my own way, I'll have to get a used, full size van and coolers with ice gels to keep my donuts at their specific temperatures and calculate the delivery costs based on packaging and gas costs per gallon. I estimate it'll cost $2,500-$7,000 for a full size used van. Plus, it'll cost altogether $3,000/month for the ingredients that I use.
If I were to hire people, I'll have to pay them mininum wage until I make enough profits to increase their wages, but I will have to hire enough people, not too many. And I checked the low-interest loans, which I will have to take out, even if I were to win contests that award money. Eventually, I'm going to need a baking assistant and get my driver's license.
Notwithstanding how your product tastes, how long does it take you to make a dozen or 10 dozen donuts? If you are running this like a donut shop that's where I see your main bottleneck is cause just frying in a pot at home (prepared dough) I can turn out a dozen in 5 minutes, and if I had a commercial deep fryer that would be more like 10-20 dozen (if not more) in 5 minutes. If you had all the baking pans you could fill, and all the oven space to support, then how many donuts you can turn out per minute/hour. You're a VAR. You have ingredients you buy, you work them (add value) and then you sell them. You are way more constrained to cost of inputs and efficiencies of volume production than a service-oriented business.
I think you're backing a loser to be honest. If you want to go specialty ingredients and baking then you'll need to branch out from donuts into other things (muffins? bread? cakes? catering? cakes and catering is probably how you are going to pay the bills until the "healthy donut" fad catches on). Anyone who has decided to buy a donut really isn't thinking about how healthy it is. They've probably said fuck it I want a donut and i don't care that it is bad for me cause it's awesomely delicious. When I think "gourmet donut" I think of fried bread glazed with strawberry extract and bacon or something like that. I'm not thinking about a baked cake donut that doesn't have sugar.
I think you need to decide what you are, and $2 healthy donuts is probably a non-starter. If you could make gluten-free donuts, or Jain-friendly (eggs bad, milk is fine) donuts then you may be able to serve and unserved market.
Anyways, I like your enthusiasm and you can get something for that, I think your idea and execution needs work.
Edit: Not being able to deliver gluten-free or true vegan donuts I think is a real problem. Looks like you are paying attention to cost, but also look at what you can produce. I'm not sure how many donuts would fit into a custom pan (4? 6?), but that is a huge startup cost. I would lok into modifying your production to traditional fryers at least until you can prove cash flow.
How will setting up your own business or getting a job affect your benefits? Will they cut off, leaving you with no money?
Yes, I want my idea to work because it's something people are looking for in a donut. It would be cost-effective if I were to bake mini-donuts instead because not only there're donut pans in existence for mini-donuts, but it'd save me money in baking equipment for the commercial kitchen. I would have to modify my recipes to fit a commercial oven. For example, a convection oven (double door) with twelve racks would fit 24 7x10 donut pans with 24 dozens of mini-donuts. Plus, if there were a 14x20 donut pan for a dozen of standard size, 12 dozens would bake at the same time but at 400 degrees for less time of 8 minutes. In a hour, 72 dozens would be baked (full size). Since a mini-dozen would bake for six minutes maximum, 240 dozen would bake in a hour. I haven't thought of a mini-donut concept, but it would work. I just need to get into a commercial kitchen and experiment the idea. No one in Flint makes mini-doughnuts, so that would be a first in a doughnut shop.
This would do great in a place like the Bay Area, Seattle, Portland, etc. though.
I'm just not sure that even if you worked out all of the logistics of running this business that you'd be able to get together a sustainable clientele in Flint.
I don't sell donuts, but I think that industry is going to have the same kind of business fluctuation as anything food-service related (you're probably going to get slammed between 6 and 9 AM as I'd think that's when people most often buy donuts) and your production capacity has to be able to meet demand during peak hours.
As weird as it sounds consider selling tacos as well. I have no clue why there is such a convergence, but I've noticed that outside of dedicated bakeries and dunkin donuts/krispy kremes, that donut and taco shops seem to be successful. I live in Texas and so I'm not sure of what might work in Michigan, but you might consider other breakfast-type or savory foods that are locally popular and can scale up production-wise easily.
40% of the Flint population makes less than 20 grand, which is the most people in poverty. In recent years, the downtown area has been changing as far as businesses goes. A seven-year old pizza shop called Wize Guys closed down because the quality of the flavors of pizza has suffered. It's because the owners had hired part-time employees to cook the pizzas and the foods. The problem was the employees weren't passionate about their positions or the food. The owner of the pizza place who also owns the grill shop called the 501 Bar & Grill had closed it down and expanded his business to a full-fledged restaurant with more chairs and tables for people to dine out. Less than a year ago, a new restaurant called Table and Tap opened up, it's a bbq restaurant. Of course, their menus consists of beer and pork products, but they serve mac and cheese and bbq baked beans, which are what most people eat, including me, and that I'm working on incorporating into my donut recipe ideas. I don't eat pork or beef, so I won't put any of that. In Flint, there is a turkey restaurant that serve turkey-based meals, including turkey bacon, and they also have a vendor location at the Farmer's Market. I've been in that location, and it's like heaven. People come and visit, and the food is delicious. It's been in business for ten years now. Currently, I use turkey bacon, which costs $4.49/lb. I'll use just the turkey bacon instead of using both the bacon and the ground meat. Plus, the downtown area is safest, for the crime rate is low, compared to other neighborhoods where it's poverty-filled and where mostly soul food, chinese, and coney island restaurants are at runs. Of course, I'm talking about the city, not the townships, where there is a diversity of restaurants ranging from Asian to ice cream and cafes.
Of course, there's no food truck driving in the city. However, I talked to one classmate that runs her food truck in Fenton, where is a nice town.
Would safflower oil working in a baking method? To me, olive oil works excellently in baking and cooking, especially when it's heated at 420 degrees, which is higher than any other cooking oil. I'm trying to differentiate my business plan and vision from donut shops so I can be the one that stand out the most. At the same time, I want to be able to keep my food costs low enough so I can produce healthy products with ingredients. People are health-conscious, especially white and black Americans, which makes the majority of the Flint population as well as Genesee County area. How about that I serve mini-donuts (gourmet) with smoothies, milkshakes, and ice cream? This is crazy, but people are crazy with smoothies and milkshakes, especially those in the area. In fact, there's a smoothie cafe in the downtown at the University of Michigan-Flint, but as delicious as they are, theirs aren't sweetened with agave. If I were to go on and make my idea a gourmet donut and smoothie cafe, I'll be the first to say that every gourmet donut and smoothie is made with agave nectar and natural Michigan fruits and vegetables. I've analyzed the donut shops and there's not a single one that sells smoothies.
Judging from what you have written so far, it sounds like right now you are at the hobby stage. You sound pretty passionate about healthy cooking, and healthy doughnuts in particular, but it doesn't sound like you have a lot of experience or hard feedback. Being passionate is a great thing. You should pursue this as a hobby as much as possible (so long as it keeps making you happy). Pursuing it as a hobby means you really shouldn't be expecting to make any money at all yet. Instead it's all about gaining experience, getting as much feedback as possible, and above all enjoying yourself. Mostly I see you doing things like food competitions, bake sales for the church you go to, house parties, giving out free samples at farmers market and asking for feedback (is this even legal?), that kind of thing. Anything and everything where you can give away stuff you've made and ask people what they think. This shouldn't require anything more than your own kitchen, some small amount of ingredients, and consistent hard work on your part.
To aid this hobby, and possible help turn it into a career, you should get a drivers license and a job as soon as possible. If you've got friends close enough that you were thinking about asking them to volunteer driving around for your business, you definitely have close enough friends to get some help learning how to drive and get a drivers license, which will be pretty much mandatory for starting a business. Second, while it's most important to have a job to support you hobby cash wise, if at all possible getting a job in the food industry will provide more invaluable experience. The more closely related the better, but anything that will give you experience in the ins and outs of dealing with food safety/regulations and customers is good.
If after a while you find that everywhere you go people rave about your healthy doughnuts (you're winning competitions, people come to the farmers market specifically to get some free samples of your stuff, you're doughnuts generate the most money for the church bake sale, ect...), and you've built up a little savings, then you can revisit the idea of starting to generate income. Almost certainly you'll need to start smaller than a full brick and mortar store front. Probably something like getting a full time stall at a farmers marker, or some sort of food truck.
The details for that last part are something I have no idea about, but honestly the important point here is not to put the cart before the horse. Expecting to generate money before you've consistently and convincingly proven you can cook something so good that people would pay you to eat it is only going to lead to frustration.
to win those dollars as I build up savings towards my business, found my ideas to be delicious. Forty five people tried them, and only two of them, as I remembered, didn't.find it enjoyable. Based on the feedback, Im on something big. I'm just working like I said to raise funds through church bake sales and recipe competitions. Yes, people love them, it's just that sadly Im going to have to drop the seafood varieties, but not to put them off the table. They'll be served someday when I'm years into my business making profits. Yes, I have savings to my name generated from my previous businesses that I had pursued, plus from writing books and editing ebooks, and also from benefits, work study jobs, and tax refunds. I have taken drivers training before but it didn't work out because the instructor neglected on his job by taking a vacation for a month instead of a week. There's more training to be done, but I don't plan of using any drivers school with a lone trainer. Most of my friends are in the late 20s to early 70s and about 45% of them in the flint area. Eventually, they'll have to teach me to drive, so I can pass the drivers test and get licensed. Quite frankly, even though I live in a nearby studio apartment, I don't plan on taking the bus, for people who ride the bus arent motivated to do anything decent with their lives. So I plan on be taught this summer to drive.
As well as the brick and mortar goes, it will happen because the ideas for donut varieties that Im working with will work with savory foods like wings. Ill have to keep the donuts refrigerated while the wings are hot. But there's nothing with researching the equipment that I need, which I did. Now it's about get into competitions and doing fundraisers and shadowing local donut shops.
First and foremost, you used somebody's real, full name here and you can't do that, so please edit it out of your post.
I think something that professionals you've spoken with and people here (or it could just be me) are trying really hard not to say is that what you are making, even putting the fact that they are savory aside, are not donuts. Donuts are, by definition, a fried dessert. Fried. Dessert. If you bake it, it's not a donut. If I happened upon a shop selling donuts that were baked there is no way I would try them, especially not if I had to pay more than $1 for one, because if the proprietor clearly has no idea what a donut is or how to make one then there is no telling what else is wrong with them.
I'm sure what you are making is delicious, but you should find out what it is and call it that so that you can market it properly and people don't look at it and go "but donuts are fried." Or maybe even make up a word for it, which is what fonuts did. They go out of their way to distinguish their baked rings from traditional donuts, because donuts are fried and that's not what they make, which is clever and shows that they really understand their product and what they are doing. If you have a particular distaste for frying cakes, fine, don't fry them. But let the product shine for what it is rather than calling it what you wish it was. You are going to confuse your potential customers who are looking for a fried treat. Very few people are going to stick around for that, and even fewer are going to pay the high price you are asking when they have no clue what it is you're trying to serve them.
It's a good dream. I like dreams, they're good things to have, and this is a very nice one. But you come across to me as uneducated about your product, and as it stands you can't afford to completely fill any of the "healthy" criteria people actually look for in such a niche product. My advice is to properly label your product and send it out with the hopes of winning award money you can sock away toward your future business, but in the mean time, learn to drive and get a job that will pay your bills and allow you to save up some more money toward it as well. You NEED to be able to drive to make this happen, and people are a LOT more likely to give you money for your business if you already have a nice chunk of change to throw at it.
Basnuts can be eaten with sweet healthy drinks like smoothies, but they can also be eaten alongside savory meats like wings. They can be ovenbaked with naturally sweet flavors, with a mixture of sweet and savory flavors, or with naturally savory flavors. It's a baked dessert, but it's also a side dish.
You seem pretty scattered on what you even want. You've already mentioned a donut/taco shop and now are bringing up wings and smoothies. I think you really need to do a lot more research and planning to narrow down your focus before you try to take any big/expensive steps.
And as a personal comment, I feel like you have lobster in far too many of the flavor combinations you've mentioned. But even then you were immediately willing to use imitation crab meat to replace it. The kind of person who wants to spend 2 dollars on a unique savory donut is probably not going to appreciate you skimping on those ingredients.
I'm well aware of the cottage laws in Michigan, which I read well before I even posted here. It'd be illegal for me to sell any baked goods with meat or seafood made in an noninspected kitchen. That's why they have to be made an inspected kitchen in order for me to sell them. But I'm not going to sell meat mixed baked goods until much larger. Basnuts with meat and seafood can wait. Basnuts with beans, pasta, friuts, and vegetables are acceptable to sell at Farmers markets. I'll be doing research on where.to find a meat supplier for the chicken wings, for they are inexpensive meats and the price for them.
You should not consider opening any donut shop without having worked in a restaurant or cafe. Even a job as a Starbucks barista would allow you to understand how people think about coffee and cakes, and how food hygiene laws work in practice.
You do understand that if you sell your baked desserts alongside wings then you'll be a wing shop that also has an interesting dessert thing, and not a basnut shop that also sells wings, right? If I belly up to a wing shop I will definitely order a half dozen to a dozen wings, picking from the interesting sauces you offer, and I'll want a beer/pitcher, and looking around for a tv to look at. There will never be a situation where I go into some place and order a half dozen donuts and sit and eat them there. If you want basnuts to be the hero and not the wings then I think you'll need to reconsider your menu/concept.
This is more of a marketing/branding comment, but I don't like the name basnuts, and I think you maybe want to key off the name "cakes" instead of "nuts". Fonuts still sounds like donuts, and plays off of faux-nuts (fake donuts). Even cronuts sounds like donuts. Basnuts doesn't sound like donuts.
A common failing for many businesses and salespeople in general (and all business is selling) is that they fail to identify and properly target their customer.
There is such a thing as being too general and trying to get too much of the market at once. Your product is not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing, and products that are one-size-fits-all generally fall on the cheap/mainstream side of the spectrum (so, for example, rich people don't buy them).
Pick a customer, and cater to that customer. Do you want the health nuts? Make healthy recipes, go all-out on the healthiness of the food, and advertise in places like gyms, yoga studios, and Whole Foods. Do you want the daily commuters? Then get a spot on local radio at rush hour, and focus on making sure you have a lot of good-tasting food that is quickly available for a reasonable price.
I'm not saying that your product can't be all of these things (cheap, healthy, fast, etc.), but it can't be all of these things to everyone at once. Everything has to have an identity. You must define your product and cater that definition to the customer you want, not just generalize everything in the hopes of getting as many people through the doors for any reason you can gum up whatsoever. Don't worry about getting everyone. Worry about getting the right people - the kind of clientele that will actually be able to support your business long-term.
Also, it's clear from your responses that you have no experience in retail cooking or running a business of any kind. As much passion and work ethic as you have, you will fail. Many times. The distinction here is that literally thousands of people have failed before you, and there is no reason not to learn form their failures. In addition, there are actual successful businesses out there that you can learn from, so there is no reason you can't learn from their successes, either. You do not need to bet everything you own on your dream right at this moment. There are tons of intermediary steps you can take along the way (working for someone else, shadowing another business, starting as a catering business and scaling upwards, etc. etc. etc.).
And it was flagged before but I'm going to flag it again. Your location is a huge, huge problem. If you're at all serious about this, you need to assess the location as part of your customer-focused strategy (i.e., if you want health nuts, you need to open in a place with hundreds/thousands of them around).
Flint, MI may be a dangerous city history-wise, but it's because of association with the wrong people. Flint, MI has improved business-wise when it comes with food businesses. My choice for a food business, according to the food that are grown here in this state, the laws, the location, the popularity of the food we eat, and the fact that businesses are right on the mark with targeting their specific audiences, it's the right place and downtown area is the right place, rather than Flint township, which I may add is a good place for me to open a brick-and-mortar version because people shop for clothes and dine out, but downtown is the right area.
Let me correct you with me having no experience with running a business of any kind. When I said that "other businesses that I experienced" that included operating a landscaping business using public transit and using people's landscaping equipment to do people's lawns and gardens, and I did it for 16 months. I charged decent amount of money for my services. As I have said before, I have run an e-book editorial business in which I offered editing services for e-books written by authors, and that lasted for 6 months.
I have the right idea about the kind of customers that I want to attract. I'm not disagreeing with you. I'm on the right track of what kind of foods I am set on serving, and the pricing I want to set for my products, based on my calculations of the ingredients cost, food cost, and equipment cost. Like you, I also think of other people, about what they would be open to trying. Yes, they want new products that they would love to enjoy eating, but they want twists to the foods they're used to eating, and that is exactly what I am doing. As I am saying again, I am working towards making my business a reality, but at the same time, I'm being careful not making so many mistakes. I'm taking as many advices as possible so I can succeed in my business plan, and taking many steps towards making my business plan succeed. Although I plan of making my business plan a brick and mortar, I am not doing it that easily by skipping steps.
As professionals and I agreed, I'll do the tasks needed to do towards that ultimate goal. Thanks, guys. You have been helpful. I'll take any and all advice you've given to me and I'll work them out. Now I know what I must do.
I generally agree with most of the advice given in this thread so far, but baked doughnuts are still doughnuts, regardless of what Fonuts does. The play on faux-donut is clever, and a nice way to call attention to the fact that they bake rather than fry their donuts, but is much more marketing gimmick than semantic necessity. Baking doughnuts to make them less unhealthy isn't uncommon at all - just take a look at the number of doughnut pans available on amazon.com or at stores that specialize in cookware. I bake doughnuts from time to time to share with family or friends and nobody ever accuses them of being something other than a doughnut. Depending on what type I make sometimes I do get a comment or two about how they might be better fried, but some of the cake doghnuts I do would actually pass for a more typical fried doughnut with someone who wasn't paying close attention since the flavor is right and I glaze them well.
The Top Pot doughnut recipe book includes a recipe for baked doughnuts. King Arthur Flour, Wilton, Betty Crocker and Food Network all have recipes available online for baked doughnuts. As do countless number of food bloggers and recipes on sites like allrecipes.com. None of them call the product anything other than doughnuts (though a few do point out that what you would get in a bakery would normally be fried, not baked). I can find other recipe books online for baked doughnuts as well, including this one, a book of 101 baked doughnut recipes that even includes a chapter on savory baked doughnuts.
OP, if you want to go with a name like Basnuts because you think it will catch on and help your product to stand out, you should do so. But don't feel compelled to call what you're making anything other than a doughnut if you don't want to. You're making doughnuts. Unorthodox doughnuts, but still doughnuts nonetheless.
Being the person that I am, which is refined sucrose-free, of course I'm not diabetic but I don't plan on getting diabetes, I first imagine donut varieties naturally. Next, I find online recipes closely related to my imagined donut varieties, and then after I write out the ingredients in my recipe book, including the ingredients I substitute the old ingredients with, I test them out. At first, some of the donuts I bake will come out effectively in shape and in taste when people that I ask taste-test them. If they don't turn out well the first time, I lower the amount of that ingredient or increase the amount of that ingredient and if that switch works, I keep the recipe and write them down. That way, I'll memorize them. Right now, they're dozen-based recipes, but the amount will change overtime. Plus, I make glazes and sauces that go well with my donuts.
Going back to what Inquistor77 said about the reason that food businesses fail because they fail to identify and target their customers, the ingredients I use to make my donuts have are linked to reducing risks of diabetes, heart attacks, and memory loss, plus they're full of proteins and vitamins. For example, agave nectar and olive oil, main ingredients, reduces blood sugar. Another main ingredient, whole wheat flour, has B vitamins and nutrients, plus it doesn't increase blood sugar as much as enriched flour. Of course, lobster reduces risks of heart attacks, plus it has the same B vitamins and omega 3 fats as turkey bacon, which I also use. Blueberries, grown in Michigan, strengthen the brain in memory storage capacity, while blackberries prevent aging to occur. Lastly, macaroni (and cheese) (donut variety) has fiber, so it battles type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases. Frankly, my donut varieties are healthy because of the health benefits and the flavors go well together because of them. I keep using my recipes over and over again so I know they work. I don't want my audience to get their cholestrol too low, and I don't want my audience to get their cholestrol too high. My gourmet mindset is on the healthy mark, and while Flint, MI doesn't seem like a gourmet city, it fits the mold for health nuts, especially the downtown area where people exercise and participate in annual marathons like the Crim Festival of Races. In fact, my university has a recreational center where people go to exercise. If you were to visit the downtown area of Flint, you would be in awe with the condition of the area is. So, with that said, I've chosen the right area for my future business, both as an farmer's market vendor (definitely) and as a brick-and-mortar business (possibly). Also paying attention to the ingredients' effectiveness in taste, cooking, value, and condition helps me decide whether I should the donut varieties as everyday items, limited-time specialties, part of combo meals along with chicken wings and smoothies, or discard them.
On weekends make some of your goodies and sell them at farmers markets.
If you go from zero to restaurateur you will probably fail hard.
In Portland, where there will be a market for it. After you get a bunch of experience working in a commercial kitchen and operating a restaurant.
Trying to sell lobster donuts in Flint Michigan will send you broke faster than trying to sell rocks to miners.
This seems like a strange thing to say.
Second, a quick google search brought exactly one place that sells lobster donuts, in Maine where it is probably fresh, for nine dollars. If you're going to sell food like this, so be it, but I don't see how you can keep it 2 bucks a pop. And don't use imitation meat, that would defeat the whole purpose.
Third, take this from someone who has tried and failed at my own business, you need a cost analysis of every single piece of equipment you will need, even things like cleaning supplies, paper, printers, some kind of accounting software, food materials, licenses. Then double it at least. I think you are seriously underestimating how much running a brick and mortar costs. Can you sell enough on top of all that, keep up with demand, and also afford to pay employees?
Fourth, narrow down your product. Mac and cheese donuts sound like something I would try exactly once for the novelty, and then never again. If I'm going to get a donut, it's going to be in the morning, and it certainly wouldn't be to enjoy on the side of a plate of wings.
You say your focus is on folks with health problems, and that's fine, but that is a very niche market. When people think health food, they aren't going to think donuts and wings.
Yikes, be very, very, very careful with things like this. If you plan on selling these with a license, you can't be claiming that your food "prevents aging to occur" and "battles chronic diseases."
I'm going to be very blunt here and tell you that these experiences aren't even close to the type of experience you need in running a restaurant. Are you prepared to start at 4 in the morning? Because if you want the morning commute crowd (which you do for donuts) you'll need to start working before dawn. I worked in a restaurant kitchen for 5 years that opened at 11 and we started prepping at 6 a.m. Can you work 16 hours a day, seven days a week? For probably two years?
I think boutique food shops are awesome, and I wish you the best of luck, I really do. But I think you are severely underestimating the task ahead of you.
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I'm well aware that restaurants, bakeries, donut shops, and fast-food restaurants prepping for the morning commute. I'm a morning person. So if I am going to serve in the morning hours, I would have to get in my business at three to do five hours of prep for the day every day that my business is open. Lastly, if I am having selling points, to attract customers to my shop, I'd use agave nectar, because I can claim agave nectar is not refined, it's natural sweetener. For those who never heard of agave, they'd be surprised and open to try an agave sweetened baked donut.
You're making a lot of spurious health claims about agave nectar throughout this thread, and at some point that kind of thing will bite you in the ass if you're making similar claims while running a business, especially if you truly care about the health of your customers as you claim to.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave_nectar
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jonny-bowden/debunking-the-blue-agave_b_450144.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20100711114135/http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/07/03/can-this-popular-alternative-sweetener-spike-uric-acid-into-the-danger-zone.aspx
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-agave
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/QAA401166/Whats-Wrong-with-Agave-Nectar.html
You need to be very careful with any claims as to the health effects of substances or ingredients you use if your plan is to market a food as healthy, especially if your plan is to target those with chronic illnesses. If the mere fact that misleading that market is morally repugnant isn't enough for you, then think carefully on the fact that (although I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice) it seems to me you could potentially be sued for making false claims.
Which of your claims do you think that page supports? As far as I can see it's repeating a lot of the same information I presented in a less detailed format, and missing out some of the information (especially with regards to the effects of the higher fructose concentration).
1. Doughnut pans. Before you ask your church to buy pans make sure they are cool with you using their kitchen. If they're supportive and embracing of your idea (to ensure this I would make a solid business plan) then you could ask them to make those purchases, but always expect the worst. Assume from the get-go you're going to have to front this cost. Until you are an established business I would not go for custom-made pans unless you absolutely had to. Find something that is decently made that you can get plenty of use out of. Likewise until you are an actual bakery it is unlikely any manufacturer of the equipment you'll need is going to cut any deals with you. You're going to need a whole lot of doughnut pans on an order for a favorable discount.
2. Food license and Kitchen inspections. This is an area where this forum may reach its limits. Most of the users here are not legal experts and both of these topics are typically handled at the municipal or local level. This is where the resources of your township come in handy and should be freely available to you. This page is all about food licensing including fees and how to apply. This page is all about starting a food service business in Michigan. This page is all about getting funding to help start your business. There is probably a lot more on that website that I didn't notice. I just skimmed through it.
3. Employees/Volunteers. Another sticky area for the likes of a helpful internet forum. This came up in a quick search. Scroll down to the bottom bits where it talks about Work Permits, Volunteers, and Youth Volunteers. The only thing I feel like I know for sure is that if you use under-age volunteer help they still have to get work permits unless you are a charitable organization. However it lists a bunch of really good legal issues you might potentially run into. A liability insurance program for your volunteers is probably not something you're going to be able to afford right off the bat. Again this is really not something this forum is going to be able to easily help you with. You need to get in touch with your local authorities with respect to these sorts of things.
edit: derp
Shogun Streams Vidya
First, I think it's great that you are trying to make donuts that people with diabetes and cardiovascular issues can enjoy. That said, you need to really think about the public health efforts and messaging that are targeting those groups to help with their diseases. Where I'm going here is that being overweight is a key risk factor in developing those conditions. Donuts are one of those foods that are associated with weight gain and unhealthy eating habits. That said, I think when you market, you need to be very careful what you say. You could have a blurb about how your recipes were inspired by the dietary restrictions you experienced, but I would suggest not going any further than that. If you want to sell these as "healthy donuts," you should also figure out how many calories there are in them and what that means for your customers. Wings are also pretty high calorie compared to other food choices.
Second, I think you have a grand idea, but should probably start smaller. You've already got a great network for promoting your donuts through your church and the farmers market. I would suggest that you also do some catering. You could do this out of your own kitchen if you don't need to get specific licensing (depending on your state laws). When you share/sell your donuts at these events, you can have a business card ready that says you cater with contact information to set it up. Someone's having a party - you will provide your unique donuts for their guests' pleasure. You can easily set up a website, even through facebook and grow your customer base that way. As more people try your product, your business will grow by word of mouth. This way you can start your business with very little development. Note: you will need a way to deliver your donuts, because that's just expected with catering. Once you've grown your customer base, you can figure out and will have more experience to determine whether you should move to brick and mortar.
Third, if you really have a viable business case, you could look into getting a small business loan to get you off the ground. There are books a plenty on how to build this, and you should also consider setting yourself up as a limited liability corporation (LLC), so that if someone does get sick from your product (it can happen, no matter how careful you are), you are protected.
So in summary:
Good luck.
That being said it was the most rewarding job I've ever had.
I applaud you for wanting to do something, but you're skipping some important stuff. This all reads (and forgive me for saying so) like the dreams of someone who can't find work, or finds work too difficult.
You need to go get a job as a dishwasher and stick it out until you're a line cook. Then decide if what you're doing sound's like it would be rewarding. I don't think you have any realistic appreciation for the effort or sacrifice the industry requires.
I also have concerns about these savory things. They sound like hot pockets or steamed buns more than anything. Making them ahead of time sounds like food poisoning waiting to happen unless you can keep them above 140 degrees or below 40 degrees. At which point you're no longer making fresh meat things but reheating them or leaving them in a warmer.
What you're left with is the option of making them to order. Which could be done, but not out of a church kitchen. Logistically the idea seems infeasable without your own cafe storefront. You're not ready to run a cafe, any loan officer or business planner who says you are is completely full of it.
Get a real job. Pay your dues.
I only mention this because you seem to romanticize them quite a bit, and it sounds like you've never been there.
The idea of baked, not fried donuts seems novel and interesting. I'm sure that if your town tends to have a lot of resturaunts that are obviously leaning to healthy food over more junkie food (and they have succeeded) then you have a niche area to work with. If on the otherhand, its all standard junkfood locations, you may be fighting an uphill battle.
However heres the kicker. Adding the word Gourmet probably is going to hurt your business. people see Gourmet and think 'expensive' and frankly they also generally get the impression that its delicious and probably not very good for you so its sending the wrong message. You want to differentiate your donuts from fried ones and that is definately the selling point you want to make but I would either make up a new name for your 'healthy' treat that does not use the word donut, or underscore the name of your business with a slogan that includes the phrase "Healthy Donuts". Something that will let people who see the sign know this isnt your regular donut shop.
I do think its a good idea to get some food experience, but successful businesses have been run without it. I think that whats essential here is that you go into this level headed. At my old job, we sold sandwiches in a neighborhood that literally only had one other food option and was exploding with college kids, and it was still a hard road.
Everyone will tell you that you are fucking up from day one. If you want proof, just yelp your favorite place to eat and read all the shitty reviews. Food service is a customer facing job, and one of the hardest, because people are assholes about their food. Doing other retail, services, or internet work does not really compare to the entitlement that people feel once they've handed you dollars for a meal. That in combination with the long hours, is enough, but if you end up hiring someone, you also need to add good management to your skills, because an indignant former employee can give you all sorts of shit.
I wish you the best of luck. Keep your head on as strait as possible, You need a logical mind to run a business, but it can be super fun and rewarding. Just don't turn a blind eye to the advice that is the hardest to hear.