Start a Packaged Food Brand

Packaged Food Launch Checklist

Companion to "Your First Ninety Days."

Work the days in order; each block earns the next. Season timing: if your ninety days run through the cold half of the year, invert month three's order: online and holiday bundles now, market launch when the season opens, buyer emails out in January.

Days 1 to 30: paper and proof

Form the entity, get the EIN, open the business account
Call both your state's health and agriculture departments; ask the three questions: where may this product legally be made, what registration does it need, who inspects that kitchen
Tour two shared kitchens and book a first slot
Convert the recipe to weights; write the first SOP; run it twice and fix what drifts
Order the shelf-life study in week two (its clock runs in calendar time; everything else waits on it)
Draft the label against the five mandatory elements; take the free state review if offered
Buy the real GS1 barcode ($30, no renewal)
Price the product from the shelf backward using the channel table; if the quarter-of-retail rule fails, reformulate now, this month, before anything is printed

Days 31 to 60: first product, first market

Book and run the first production day: batch record on a clipboard, weights to the gram, overfill when in doubt, lot code every unit
Buy the insurance policy and download the certificate (markets want it before they take your booth fee)
Reserve the market spot, the small inconvenient one; build the booth kit
Sell: two to four market days this month, three product options maximum, samples flowing
Objections written down nightly; email clipboard working every hour
Set the table price at the shelf-compatible price and leave it there
End of month: read the data like an adult (repeat faces, objections list, units by flavor)

Days 61 to 90: stores and online

Walk into five independent stores with the pitch script; expect one yes out of five
Set the account up honestly: real wholesale price, net-thirty invoice, insurance certificate on file, standing weekly restock visit
Stand up the simple online store: one bundle, one photo set from a production day, email list imported
Shipping tested by mailing yourself a box and opening it like a stranger

Ninety-day completion gate

Entity, registrations, insurance certificate, and kitchen agreement filed in one folder
Shelf-life study completed or in process, date stamped only from results
Label passed the five-element check, lot codes on every unit, GS1 barcode purchased
Unit economics on paper: landed cost at or under a quarter of retail
Market data: at least two market days, objections logged, repeat customers counted
One wholesale account or five store pitches completed, velocity sheet running weekly
Online store live with one bundle and the email list sending monthly

Season checkpoint (day 90: a fork, not a grade)

Spring start: market data is in; choose between deepening local stores all summer or adding a second market day
Fall start: online and holiday push carries revenue; market season is next year's plan; distributor conversations scheduled for the winter build window

Neither fork is behind. If the gate items are checked, you have a business: small, legal, priced, and attached to real customers who come back.