Setting up a food company in my house

[Nepal4me]

My wife is a great cook and wants to set up a company to deliver frozen foods.  This would be many of the traditional Thai dishes that include pork and chicken and can be frozen.  

 

She wants to set it up officially, i.e. set up a legal entity.  She also wants to do all the cooking and prep work in our house as well as storing the food in freezers.  

 

I would like to know what health regulations are required for her to make a "factory" so to speak in our house.  We live in a normal moobaan and have an older and quite large house so space is not an issue.  

 

Are there zoning laws that would disallow us to make a room in our house a "factory"?  

 

Any help on pointing us in the right direction for understanding Thai rules and reg's on the issue would be appreciated.

[seancbk]

These links should help

 

http://www.interactivethailand.com/corporate/business-licenses/thailand-fda-license/

http://eng.moph.go.th/index.php/safety/96-food-control-in-thailand

 

You will also need a blast freezer as freezing food in a normal freezer will create too many large ice crystals that will spoil the food.   

http://www.patkol.com/index.php?tpid=0021

http://welbilt-thailand.com/blast-mobile-cold-cart/

 

 

Best of luck, food is a great business if you get it right.

 

 

[cracker1]

I owned a business for 15 years making and selling Frozen meals. It was quite small and we made about 1000 meals each day and delivered four days a week.

I would be very concerned about buying such meals here in Thailand because I have never met any Thai person who has been trained about "critical food storage temperatures"

[abab]

1 minute ago, cracker1 said:

I owned a business for 15 years making and selling Frozen meals. It was quite small and we made about 1000 meals each day and delivered four days a week.

I would be very concerned about buying such meals here in Thailand because I have never met any Thai person who has been trained about "critical food storage temperatures"

 

He doesn't care your opinion, he is not going to buy but to SELL food !

 

OP,  your wife is ridiculous to want to make it legal, for what, which benefits ? Just do it without worrying about anything and that's all !

 

 

Edited April 19, 2017 by abab

[cracker1]

27 minutes ago, abab said:

 

He doesn't care your opinion, he is not going to buy but to SELL food !

 

OP,  your wife is ridiculous to want to make it legal, for what, which benefits ? Just do it without worrying about anything and that's all !

 

 

Did he tell you he doesn't care of my opinion ?

Do you think he is going to sell food to people who don't care where it is made ?

[abab]

1 hour ago, cracker1 said:

Did he tell you he doesn't care of my opinion ?

Do you think he is going to sell food to people who don't care where it is made ?

 

People will never buy any food from him, CP frozen food are everywhere and many other brands sell at 7/11. It's even crazy to imagine being able to do it, and not surprising that the idea come from the wife who certainly never made any business in her life.

 

 

[BWPattaya]

You will need FDA approval. They will tell you whether your house is suitable. Non slip floors, preparation areas, freezers and fridges etc etc. FDA approval is not given lightly. 

[seancbk]

2 hours ago, cracker1 said:

I owned a business for 15 years making and selling Frozen meals. It was quite small and we made about 1000 meals each day and delivered four days a week.

I would be very concerned about buying such meals here in Thailand because I have never met any Thai person who has been trained about "critical food storage temperatures"

1000 meals a day is a god business.  Why didn't you expand?
 

Friends of mine started a food delivery company called 'Hello Fresh'  in 2015 they were delivering 4 million meals a month. 
 

One of the food businesses my family has an interest in sells 30,000 items a day at approx 40 baht per item.  
 

Food is one of the best businesses there is, just stay away from restaurants and doing things for ego.  

Be the unknown manufacturer who sells 10's of thousands of food items, instead of the egotistical restaurant owner who sells 100 meals a day, gets loads of press and goes broke in a year.

 

[meatboy]

with so many markets and food vendors everywhere who is goner buy frozen food here in thailand.

better off with a chip,burger or pizza van oh and the odd curry or two.

[abab]

2 hours ago, meatboy said:

with so many markets and food vendors everywhere who is goner buy frozen food here in thailand.

better off with a chip,burger or pizza van oh and the odd curry or two.

 

Yes, some people are so realistic about business, this is why you see them opening and closing everywhere.

 

I was thinking that foreigners were supposed to have a brain ?!

 

 

[Monkeyrobot]

There are a lot of negative comments on this post, the posters wife likes cooking and wants to sell some frozen meals ,maybe she just want to  do it for a hobby, I don't think she is planning on knocking out CP and 7/11. At least she has positive thoughts and want to do something with her life, good luck to her. 

[seancbk]

7 minutes ago, Monkeyrobot said:

There are a lot of negative comments on this post, the posters wife likes cooking and wants to sell some frozen meals ,maybe she just want to  do it for a hobby, I don't think she is planning on knocking out CP and 7/11. At least she has positive thoughts and want to do something with her life, good luck to her. 

 

Well said. 

This could be a very good business, there are loads of people who can't cook for themselves or simply don't want to.   Also not everyone wants to go out to eat all the time.  
 

Sometimes it's nice to stay in and if you can keep a few nice meals in the freezer which can be easily reheated in the microwave or even on the stove, then perfect.

My only advice to the OP would be to do some Western dishes for the boring people who can't live without food from 'home' and also do lots of research into where your customers are and how you'll reach them.

This business seems to be doing well, they've upgraded their website which is a sure sign of increased business - http://www.annsfrozenfood.com/

 

[madusa]

On 2017/4/19 at 8:36 PM, seancbk said:

 

Well said. 

This could be a very good business, there are loads of people who can't cook for themselves or simply don't want to.   Also not everyone wants to go out to eat all the time.  
 

Sometimes it's nice to stay in and if you can keep a few nice meals in the freezer which can be easily reheated in the microwave or even on the stove, then perfect.

My only advice to the OP would be to do some Western dishes for the boring people who can't live without food from 'home' and also do lots of research into where your customers are and how you'll reach them.

This business seems to be doing well, they've upgraded their website which is a sure sign of increased business - http://www.annsfrozenfood.com/

 

Yes you are right Seancbk, if she lives where there are lots of farangs or at least not too far. I always hesitate to buy frozen food from factory because I am not sure how much preservatives and coloring material they put into the food. The color to make foods look attractive.

Western foods are tricky, especially if you froze them. So be aware of this problem. I guess you need to go around eat those frozen foods in supermarket and 7 eleven to find out what they are like and if you can do better than them you stand a good chance.

[seancbk]

31 minutes ago, madusa said:

Yes you are right Seancbk, if she lives where there are lots of farangs or at least not too far. I always hesitate to buy frozen food from factory because I am not sure how much preservatives and coloring material they put into the food. The color to make foods look attractive.

Western foods are tricky, especially if you froze them. So be aware of this problem. I guess you need to go around eat those frozen foods in supermarket and 7 eleven to find out what they are like and if you can do better than them you stand a good chance.

I've been involved in frozen foods and to really do it properly you need a blast freezer.   

I already provided the OP with links to two companies in Thailand that can supply these, although here are some more :- 

http://www.newton.co.th/category.php?id=15

http://www.aerosia.com/machine_irinox.php


 

[abab]

12 hours ago, Monkeyrobot said:

There are a lot of negative comments on this post, the posters wife likes cooking and wants to sell some frozen meals ,maybe she just want to  do it for a hobby, I don't think she is planning on knocking out CP and 7/11. At least she has positive thoughts and want to do something with her life, good luck to her. 

 

 

She has no chance without the big fridge that another poster have talked about, so no need to talk about it anymore.

 

If it was so easy thousands Thai would do it, but as you can clearly see, only very big companies do it !