What do you need to do to make your product special.

This is an interesting question and the truth is that I do not think any one really knows.  The thing about food is that it all has probably been done before and nothing is new.  So if that is true then what is the point of trying , well like most things you have to keep on reinventing and making things new or you will find that people will move on to some other product not yours.

So lest just say you want to produce a pie.  It is a new recipe has your own special pastry and fill and you think it is the best.  But at the end of the day it is a pie. So what can you do to make it truly new and individual to set it our from the rest , what will be its USP , unique selling point , with a me to product .

What can set you out from the rest, what will make it look like the sort of thing that will make the end buyer pick it up and say, I will take this one.  Well that must come down to three things together and one big thing in the end.

So let us start with the three things you have to do before you get to the one big thing.

First price, now you know what kind of product it is that you want to make and you have to know what it is that you are going to be making it with.  If you have the very best it will cost a lot and if you use the very cheapest ingredients. That is a very easy thing to figure out but what you need to do is use the best that you can afford to use to make it work in the market.  An average pie in the market will cost say £1.50, this includes the very cheapest and the most expensive, say the most expensive costing £ 3.00 and the cheapest just £0.85. Once you know that you can understand what price point you need to be at.

Now what you need to do is make it to that price point or find some one who can make it for you.  It is crucial that you buy the ingredients as best price you can, control the cost of labour and all of that.  It will cost you more than you think and that will it always does.  Also, make sure that you cover every thing in your cost from heat light and power to insurance or you might find that it cost more than you think. You have to get the cost right and make allowances for promotions a all of the other things that will come out of the wood work when you start to get in to the big retailers.

Ingredients, no matter what you are making you need to make it with the best that you can afford. If you cannot afford to put those ingredients in and you them move to a poor quality ingredient but still think you are making the same thing the only person you will be fooling will be your self. Also, do not expect your ingredients to give you magical qualities.  By this, I mean yes you might find that you can have a two week shelf life on the product, but is it really any good after two weeks. You might find that retailer would like a longer and better shelf life but what you have to ask is do you think it is a good idea.  Compromising on things like this can in the long run undervalue your product.  If  your customer has a pie in week one and then have it again at the end of its self life and it has all gone soft , is that good.

Second marketing, know who you think will be buying your product.  Who will be your end customer and what they might be like?  This cover packaging, product placement, target markets, customer profiling and much, much more.  Now you have web sites social mead and just about every thing in the world to promote your products but make sure that what you are promoting is a consistent and appropriate to the market that you are trying to attract .

And all of the tree things that I have just mention will make your product.  Then you get a customer base and they will believe and buy your product and you will have to look after that. In a way this is the hardest thing to do as you no doubt will at the very beginning think that you have got it al wrong and that you must change every thing.  And you might be right, but do not just jump at the first siren of trouble. Think long and hard as it takes a long time to build up a reputation, but it can be lost in the blink of an eye.

Most of this is common sense and you will know this probably with out any one telling you. But the first thing you will find is that as soon as you start to look at doing any thing like this every one will have a opinion.  And every opinion is valid but you will not pleas every one all the time so you have to please at best the majority. And to do that is only really please 50% of them.  But as long as you do that be satisfied that 25% will probably go along with it and 10% will neither like or dislike only leaving you the small 15% that do not like it.

Then all you have to do is maintain and keep growing , and that is probably just as hard as getting started so good luck to you all , you will need it.