SOP or Standard Operating Procedure is a document that details the processes, procedures, responsibility, purpose of the procedures, monitoring and deviation procedures and the record relevant to the procedure. Why is SOP important? SOP is important for a few reasons
Evaluating if Your SOP works?
You may be asking if an SOP is important, how do we know if our SOP is working? At SFPM Consulting, when we evaluate an SOP, we evaluate these factors:
Good practices when it comes to SOP
Work Safe BC resources: https://www.worksafebc.com/en/forms-resources#sort=%40fcomputeditemdatefield343%20descending&f:language-facet=[English]&tags=Covid-19|a96b6c96607345c481bb8621425ea03f Securing loyal customers are essentials for every food business. Apart from commitment to deliver safe food to the consumer, marketing aspect are essential to promote food business and to gather a steady base of loyal consumers.
Marketing, in its most simple way, consist of these 4 elements we call “marketing mix” :
Unless it is a generic product, you would like to have a specific target market that distinguished your company’s product versus competitor’s product. The difference could be product features or even the level of services that we are providing to our customers. Product Defining a product feature that can appeal to our customers is a part of branding the product. For example, a gluten-free product, a convenient pre-mixes or generic products that are cheap, healthy substitute products, etc. Challenge: List what product feature that we want to have. Categorize them into “essential or must–have” and “good to have” section. The ultimate question is why the customer will buy your product instead of our competitor’s. Price Most consumers are price-sensitive especially for generic or common foods in the market place. Price depends on production cost and fixed cost plus profit for everyone in the distribution channels. Pricing strategy is unique that when we price it too high, consumers might not be able to afford it but if we priced it at a premium, consumers that seek for premium product will purchase the product. Eventually, it depends on what product and to whom we are selling it to. Challenge: List the cost of production, shipping and other fixed costs (the cost that needs to be paid regardless of income is received). Set a margin or percentage of profit you want to obtain. Add all costs to determine the selling price to your customer. If your product goes through distribution, consider what is the recommended selling price to the final consumers. Remember, distributors like to have a portion of the margin for carrying the product at their store. Tips: Learn what is the appropriate margin in the industry. The ultimate question is how to price it right for the final customer so that they can afford it but still manage to profit after deduction of production cost and distribution cost. Place I like to categorize three main point of sales (where customers can get a food product): retails (such as stores, market), food services (restaurants, hotels) and online. Having a business model, objectives and goals can help us define which of these point of sales, to choose from. It is not wrong to choose one or all three point of sales but as a start-up, managing all three point of sales can be challenging. Challenge: Do a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat) Analysis to determine the business best point of sales. Is it retail, food services or online? The ultimate question is how do we reach most of our customer with minimal effort? Promotions What I really like about start-up is the food product and the company is totally fresh. There is no restriction of idea to launch and promote the product. Care however, needs to be taken to ensure these product branding are consistent in one direction. Example is for premium product, product placement should be at a more premium outlet to attract customer. Placement of premium product at a common store, can devalued the product. Different promotion strategies can be employed to increase visibility of the product or sales of the product including brochure distribution, banner, in-store demo, discount coupon, early bird pricing, promotion through media such as newspaper, magazine and through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest etc. The ultimate question is how do we employ strategies consistent with the product image and branding that increase visibility and sales of the product? Food business are challenging because not only that the food needs to be safe for consumption, cost of ingredients fluctuate and requirement for consistent marketing effort, it is also about documentation for product listing and product approval for sale at the stores, or by the food services and even online, by the country that we intend to sell to. After defining our marketing strategies, it is time to deal with something more formal -paperwork. You have a good product concept or a good food product that you want to turn it into a food business. However, you are not sure if it is a good idea. Now, where do you start? Let start with the basis:
Allocate time to navigate through business registrations especially if you want to register your food business in Vancouver, BC, Canada. See our guide to navigate through food business registration smoothly. Expect at least 2- 3 months for food business manufacturing/production approval and licensing especially if you are starting up at a brand new unrenovated location. The basic consideration for food business registration in Vancouver are location and zoning, food safety plan and premises/building condition suitability for food production. Good luck registering your food business. In part 2, we will explore how food quality assurance plays a role in the day-to-day operation of a food business. These are inclusive of sourcing and food manufacturing. About this series: Most often, it is difficult to evaluate business feasibilities and starting up your food business. This is a part of the “Building Your Food Business” education series for those who like to start a successful food business with consideration of customer and food safety in mind. |
AuthorFelicia Loo, CFS is a Certified Food Scientist and qualified SQF Practitioner. She has worked with numerous food businesses to develop customized and improved food safety programs. She has worked with different food safety and regulatory schemes such as SQF, ISO 22000, Primus GFS, Organic, Kosher and Health Canada (Natural Health Product). Categories
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