You only need £100 to launch your own food brand. With these low budgets, you will be able to think smartly, which in many cases produces a better outcome. New products can be tested quickly without the hierarchies of bosses. You already have most of the tools you are going to use in your kitchen.
To begin with, you can sell to people you know. They provide unbiased opinions about taste, price, and appearance. They share your word with others when they like what you produce. Weekend traders have cheap stalls in the local markets. Most of them ask a fee of only 20-30 pounds to experiment with ales among new customers.
Your day job allows you to test out your food dream on a part-time basis. This relieves the financial burden from their new brand.
Pick One Food and One Drink to Start
You can pick just one food and one drink to begin your journey. This focus helps you master your craft before growing bigger. Homemade hot sauce could be your perfect food starter. It needs a few raw items, mixes up quickly, and keeps well without fancy storage. Most hot sauce recipes use cheap chillies, vinegar, and spices.
You can think about selling fresh lemonade or fruit cordials for drinks. These need just lemons or seasonal fruits, sugar, and water. You can make these in your kitchen with tools you likely own already.
You can buy whole spices in bulk, grind them fresh, and package them in small jars. You can stay away from items needing cold storage or special handling. Ice cream might seem tempting, but you’d spend most of your budget on freezers. You can skip fresh-baked goods that go stale quickly.
Your £100 can stretch further with smart packaging choices. You can look for affordable glass jars at pound shops or online suppliers. The simple labels made at home save cash while still looking good. Your family can give you honest feedback to help you refine your recipe without wasting money.
Buy Small Equipment and Use What You Have
Your kitchen likely has the most equipment needed to start a food brand. You can check cupboards for blenders, mixers, and pots before buying anything new. Most home cooks already own the basics for small batches.
Second-hand shops offer amazing deals on kitchen gear you lack. Facebook Marketplace and charity shops offer good-quality items at low prices. You can set aside a spot in your kitchen just for product making. Scrub surfaces with food-safe cleaners before and after each session.
If cash is tight, small and quick loans without credit checks might help buy key items. Some lenders offer quick £50-£200 loans without tough credit checks. You can try direct lenders for better terms than payday firms.
Digital scales are worth buying new for exact recipes. The precise amounts keep your products tasting the same each time. A good scale costs around £15-20 and saves recipe failures.
Mason jars work well for storing both foods and drinks. You can buy these in bulk from craft shops or online markets. You can borrow rare tools from friends when making test batches. You can see which equipment helps most with your making process. Only then should you spend on upgrades that speed things up.
Get Basic Labels and Simple Packaging
You can use free design tools like Canva for label templates for beginners. You can also use home printers for small batch label making. You can buy sticky label paper from craft shops for about £5-8 per pack. The sheet makes several labels when cut carefully with scissors.
You can get glass jars for your food products. Many pound shops there sell small jars in packs of three or four. You can clean them well with hot, soapy water before first use. Many charge just 50p per colour page of labels. This keeps costs low while still looking proper and clean.
You can ask friends for empty wine bottles for drink products. Soak off old labels using warm water and baking soda. A quick wash makes them look brand new again.
Paper bags are good for dry goods like spice mixes. These cost pennies when bought in bulk online. You can try brown Kraft pouches for foods with a longer shelf life. These stand up nicely on market stalls and protect contents well. A pack of 50 costs around £12-15 online.
Your brand name should appear clearly on every item. You can pick one easy-to-read font rather than mixing many styles. Any black text on white often looks the sharpest.
You can test how your packaging holds up during handling. Send samples to friends and ask how they arrived. You can fix any leaks or breaks before selling to paying folks.
Get Extra Money from Lenders If You Fall Short
Sometimes your £100 won’t be able to fulfil all your monetary needs for starting this business. Direct lenders now offer small and quick loans without credit checks, which might help. These loans often need fewer checks than bank options do.
Online lenders can send £50-300 to your account very fast. Many just review your income rather than your full credit history. Be sure to check their fees before signing any deals.
You can avoid high-cost lenders that charge massive fees or rates.
Some ask for over 50% back on top of what you borrow. Many local groups sometimes give grants to new food makers. You can ask at your town hall about small business boost funds. These might give £50-200 that you won’t need to pay back.
You keep loan amounts very small at first, just enough to help. So you can start with what you truly need, not what you want. You can pay back any loans from your first sale right away. This builds good trust with those who helped you start. It also keeps debt from hanging over your new brand.
Conclusion
Growth should come step by step, not all at once. You can add new items only when the first ones sell well. Then, you can expand to new spots after mastering your home patch. The path from the kitchen table to the shop shelf takes time. But smart moves with your £100 start might grow into something much bigger. Many food stars began just where you stand now.
