If you love food - who doesn’t - a gourmet foods business might be right for you. With a consumable product that people will buy over and over again, there are tremendous opportunities available to you.

You might try your hand at creating delicious gourmet mixes like:

cookies
brownies
smoothies
healthy/power drinks
soup
bread
pizza crust
pancakes
cappucino
lattes
flavored creamers

the possibilities are endless and your customers can simply add the wet ingredients they need to prepare a fresh and tasty product.

Or you can sell fully-prepared foods. Put them in gift baskets or sell items individually. The choice is yours or do them both!

Some skills & attributes you’ll want to have:

1. A love of food and hopefully, cooking.

2. Some creativity for creating great new recipes and unique packaging ideas.

3. Time management - For the freshest product possible, you will likely be making your products as ordered. You’ll need to be prepared for multiple and large orders, when they come.

4. Organizational skills - Make sure you always have all the supplies you need on hand.

The only trick is that you will need to check with your local health authorities regarding selling of food. Some states may require you have a separate kitchen, just for your commercial food preparation. There will be other requirements as well, so be sure to check before you jump right in.

Equipment required will include (and this is not an exhaustive list):

- Food preparation area
- Appropriate ingredients in bulk
- Appropriate storage area
- Packaging - bags, jars, ribbon, labels, etc.

If you don’t have the space or aren’t sure you can comply with the health regulations in your area, there are plenty of direct sales companies that will do all the food preparation and legislation compliance. All you have to do is share the yummy food.

Gourmet food direct sales companies sell a variety of products including

- mixes
- coffee & tea
- other beverages
- chocolates
- herbs & spices
…and plenty more.

One place to start your research for a reputable gourmet food direct sales company is at http://www.goodfoodbusiness.com. They have company profiles on a variety of business and you can connect directly with representatives to compare opportunities and ask all the questions you need to make the right decision for you.