As a food entrepreneur you often have new ideas and want to launch new lines. We love being creative. But how do we manage that creativity so it doesn’t spiral and become a beast we can’t control? Trying to force it can lead to sloppy deliverables, which is always an outcome we want to avoid.

Here are 5 questions I lead my clients through when they have an idea about a new product or service. These questions help plan and shape the thinking around what you’re putting out so that you can produce a product that lives up to what you envisioned.

1. Who is the best customer for this?

You can’t sell to everyone. When you try to you end up with a diluted offer that serves no one fully.

Choose the person in your audience or network who feels like a perfect match for what you want to put together and create it for them.

2. What am I promising?

Pick a simple result. Beware of over-complicating what you are promising.

You will learn how to fold dumplings and have fun doing it is much easier to deliver on than You will learn everything about Korean cuisine.

The first is an easy achievement. The second is setting yourself up for failure.

3. What setup will serve them, and me, best to get the promised result?

Choose a set-up that allows you to deliver what you are promising. Don’t offer a 3 day class if it will burn you out. Don’t promise to serve 30 courses if your kitchen can’t handle it.

Pick what works for everyone, including you.

4. How long do they, and you, need to get the result?

Always ask yourself how much time is required – this includes making the decision to purchase, and for you to deliver. This also includes your development time and process. Once again, don’t try to force a result you can’t deliver on. If it takes you 3 days to successfully create a new product don’t try to do it in 2.

5. What is the best price for this that I know I can over-deliver on?

Something I see frequently is food entrepreneurs charging prices that they feel uncomfortable with. **********Don’t price yourself out of your comfort zone. Ensure you have your costs and profit covered and go with a price that is easy for you to sell. If you charge more than you feel you are worth you won’t do the work necessary to sell because you’ll feel fear and shame every time you try to. Pick a price that you know is right.

At least once I week I meet a food business owner who isn’t making enough money. Somewhere in the chat, we’ll talk about their costs and prices. And I’ll suggest they raise their prices.

That always triggers at least one of these responses

• “Don’t you think people would get pissed off with me?”
• “I just don’t know if I could get away with that”
• “I feel bad. Like, things are already so tough out there and now we are raising our prices too”
• “We’re already an expensive option, and I don’t want to drive away the few customers that we have”
• “I want customers to feel like they’re getting great value”

Hmm. These are reflex responses and I know that they feel like the truth, because everyone in the food industry says them. But they’re not.

I need to be honest with you:

Being the cheapest is doing nothing for your business.

You’re underselling yourself because you’re too scared to deal with slight discomfort. So it’s easier to fly under the radar, never quite making money and making things difficult for yourself. You’d rather do that than show up as the most expensive option.

You can’t continue as the low-budget option.

So here are a few quick thoughts on why being the bargain isn’t good for your business. In fact, it’s harming it.

If you’re the cheapest, no one thinks you’re the best. If you’re the best, no one expects you to be the cheapest.

How many times have you glossed over the cheaper dish soap when grocery shopping and picked up the more expensive? Because the more expensive one must be better, right?

I rest my case.

Competing to be the cheapest is literally a race to the bottom.

You’re pricing yourself compared to your competitors. But what if they’re desperate? What if their business is failing? What if they’re pricing based on you?

You don’t know. You’ll keep undercutting each other until neither of you is making money. Have the confidence to charge what you’re worth.

Your goal shouldn’t be to offer the lowest possible price. It should be to provide the greatest value.

If you’ve got the best quality and promise, you’re definitely offering amazing value.

Pick two: good, fast or cheap.

There’s a reason this is called The Golden Triangle.

Good and fast both need people, equipment. Cheap means you’re sacrificing quality in raw ingredients, and you have fewer people on hand so you’re not fast.

The person offering the cheapest is usually cutting a corner somewhere.

It’s better to explain your price and value once than have to apologise forever for a poor quality experience.

I’ll take one uncomfortable conversation and learning over years of shame anytime.

When people STOP buying completely you might be too expensive.

If you’re selling ANY you have proof that people can afford it. Your job is to find more of those people.

Not many people are price shopping to that extent. They’re not going to your competitor because of a fraction in price. They’re going because the value was better communicated.

I know you think that is why they went there. But people are going to your more expensive competitors too. Being a tiny bit cheaper won’t influence someone’s decision. Do you know what will?

• When they can see it will be worth it
• When it’s presented as the only option
• When other people have told them how good it is.

None of these has anything to do with price.

Stop making price your excuse.

Is your costing on track? Pick up my Intro to Costing Workbook below and find out.

You know you should create content. But, it’s a pain. This is exactly why it’s the first thing to fall to the side in the face of all your other pressing concerns. You know like, running your business, serving food to people and dealing with your staff.

If you don’t plan for it and make time, it doesn’t get done. So here is the plan I introduce to all busy food business owners.

It’s a simple set of workflows and tips to help you fit it in. All it needs from you is a little bit of time to plan each week, and then a commitment to stay on top of it.

Tip 1: Set yourself up

Step 1

Find a scheduling app you like and can work with. Working with a scheduler will change your life.

The most recommended are

• Using Facebook & Instagram’s internal schedulers
• Planoly
• Later

Using a scheduler means you pre-schedule content to post, and remove it from your brain. You can now create content ahead of time, instead of on the fly (which, let’s be honest, will always be the last thing you do.)

You’ll also now be able to plan your content, which means better quality posts.

(Don’t like planning content? Feel like it ruins your creativity? That’s ok! But then you shouldn’t be reading this article. This article is all about helping you manage the time you have, to do what you need to do.)

Step 2

Find a place to store all your pictures and videos. I upload pictures to Dropbox so I can access them from both my phone and my laptop. You can also use your Google Drive.

Saving your pictures centrally saves you from having to scroll through your phone to find the picture you want. They’ll all be in one place. And you’re less likely to lose them, so you can re-use pictures. It’s great!

Step 3

Set up a spot in your kitchen or restaurant where you can take pictures. Make sure you have good light, and it’s a spot that can sit undisturbed.

Tip 2: Organize

Mark out in your calendar when you will be planning and creating content. Plot out your sessions for the month. Book times when you are able to concentrate and won’t be pulled in 100 directions.

Tip 3: Plan

Once a month, take 2 hours and plot out your posts and reels in your calendar, like the example below.

Decide what types of content you will need: images, graphics and videos.

Use this session to start drafting captions, and gathering your images.

In another 2 hour session get the rest done:

• Design carousels if you’re posting any
• Design reels cover images
• Finish captions
• Schedule your photographs and videos for the month

Use a final session to do your filming and editing.

Schedule your content as you go and post it automatically. Set reminders to manually post non-scheduled content, like reels and videos.

Tip 3: Build a content bank

At the start of each week

• Decide which orders you want to photograph/film
• Write them up in your kitchen or near your desk

When those orders come up

• Photograph or film
• Upload to your Dropbox or Google Drive

You can edit when you have an hour to spare.

The great thing about content is that it doesn’t have to be real-time. You can post items that were taken months ago. No one will know the difference.

Tip 4: Outsource what you can

1. If you use graphics, it helps hugely to have a designer set up some Canva templates. You can quickly edit them, and they’ll have your branding already.
2. If you battle to take pictures book a shoot with a photographer. The benefit of having 2 months of pre-shot content far outweighs the cost.

Earlier this week I sat with a friend who owns a fantastic coffee shop. She was telling me the same thing I’ve heard from countless restaurant owners.

“My staff know how to make the sandwiches. I’ve shown them so many times. And then today one went out, and I could see the bread wasn’t toasted, and it had half the filling it should have, and there was no garnish. I don’t know what I must do to get them to do it right.”

I get where she’s coming from.

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like having to follow up on team members. I don’t have enough energy to chase mistakes and hold endless training sessions. I like to know that I can trust my team to serve quality and that I can focus on the 200 other things on my list.

Having worked with over 30 food businesses I’ve built a great arsenal of tools. The processes I’ve developed ensure that once I leave the team will be ok without me.

This is the one I call on the most and recommend all the time.

Recipe cards.

Recipe cards are deceptive in their simplicity, and brilliant because of it.

A recipe card is a step by step recipe, printed out and laminated and displayed in the kitchen.

They work because they are always visible. No need to page through books to find the one you need.

This is a recipe card.

You need recipe cards if

• What comes out of the kitchen depends on who is on shift
• There’s no consistency in portions
• You find things change without your knowledge. Like butter lettuce plated instead of rocket. The burger sometimes has mayo, and sometimes it just doesn’t
• You feel panic at the idea of taking time off because you know you’ll get food complaints

It doesn’t matter if you’re a restaurant, coffee shop, caterer, bakery or sell packaged food. If you have a team you can introduce these today.

As well as being accessible, recipe cards work because

• People in kitchens are more-than likely visual learners.
• Kitchens are busy places. I 100% promise you that NO chef is leaving what they’re in the middle of to run over to a corner, pick up the book, find the right page and then double check the recipe. It isn’t happening. I’ve been that chef.
• No one has time to read through and double check that everything is there. A picture takes a quick glance to reference.

It’s a simple system, but surprisingly effective. I know from personal experience that if the recipe is on a wall somewhere and laid out easily I’ll absolutely follow it.

How to make your recipe cards

Now you’re convinced you need them, here’s how you make them.

1. Standardize your recipe.

Do this before you train and introduce the cards so you know you’re using the correct recipe.

Follow this process:

• Make the dish as you want it served
• Take notes as you go along, weighing every ingredient
• Test your recipe

2. Photograph the dish

A quick pic using your phone will do.

Make sure

• It’s taken in good light
• You can see the whole dish, and all the elements
• The meal is plated exactly as it should be served

3. Transfer the recipe onto the template, and add your picture.

Every recipe card should include

• The ingredients
• The method
• A picture of the finished dish

Those are the essentials. The rest is up to you.

Some places include the equipment needed, and which plate it will be served on. If you have specific plates, definitely include that.

Display them

There are lots of ways to display your cards. I personally prefer to laminate them and stick them on the kitchen walls.

Other options include

• Get the cards ring bound and hang them on an overhead rod in the kitchen
• Create a flip file for each section in the resaurant
• Put them together and have a big poster
• Frame each one and attach them to the walls

Whatever you do, keep them visible and accessible and you’ll be on your way.

Do you want to get recipe cards up quickly? Download my templates and introduce them today. These templates come in Canva, Excel and Word format, so you can find the one that works best for you.

Do you feel frustrated by costing? Knowing how to cost is one of the cornerstones of any food business.

But the act of costing is tough. There are many explanations but few that break it down into a step-by-step process. Until now.

If you wish you had a simple work-through, this is for you. In this guide I walk you through the process, breaking it down, so it isn’t as overwhelming. Download this workbook, do the exercises, and soon costing won’t feel as confusing and painful.

• Are you confident that your team can cook perfectly without you?
• Do you know precisely how each dish will turn out?
• Can you easily calculate order quantities ahead of time, because you know what each recipe produces?

If not, you need this guide.

If your business sells food, you need reliable recipes.

This is the process I’ve used in over 40 food businesses to create reliable, consistent recipes.