Food co-operative as a business [General]

2019 Jul 5
I have among other thing a croissant recipe that has been getting rave reviews. Comments such as 'They are the best I have ever had in my entire life'... Honest... no kidding they are that good. I brought them to Duc De Lorraine in Montréal and the staff was floored that mine tasted just as good as theirs. I brought them to a bakery in Wakefield and was offered a job on the spot. Yes they are that good!
There is really a business opportunity here. However I am 66 years old, and starting a new business is a big time commitment. I have a business degree from l'Université de Montréal. And from those studies I got that one of the most effective business model is the co-operative model. To clarify, I am thinking that a group of maybe 10-20 peoples with background in the Bakery, Pastry and Restauration industry coming together would be able to come up with a vision, objectives, strategies as well as operating procedures. I do not know what the business will look like as it will have to be determined by the group. It could be from strictly producing viennoiseries, to having a full blown bakery and café type of model. I do not know the cost of starting this business as it all depends on the type of operation the group will want to open. But I would think that 10-20 participants would be able to start a business by contributing between $10,000 to $20,000 each to the venture.

I would really appreciate your comments. As I am using this site to float this idea, I am hopefully not contravening any rules and regulation. If I am, maybe you could point me toward another site!
Regards
Louis

2019 Jul 5
This is a scam isn't it? Your entire proposal is "I make tasty croissants, give me $100K-$200K and we can start a business!" You don't need hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business and you certainly don't need 10-20 people involved to do it either, co-op or not.

2019 Jul 5
No totally legit... A Dough laminator will cost you $15K, a commercial mixer another $6K... It goes up pretty fast. Most successful pastry store that I see around have at least 10-20 employees working the counter, kitchen, serving, that is if you are open 7 days a week. And I did not say give me your money... I do not need your money, I said there is a business opportunity here and I think that deviating from traditional Boss/employee model has some definite benefits. I have seen this organizational model work... and it is pretty powerful. It is one of co-operation, sharing, majority rule,communication... something the traditional organization fails to do well... so very often.

2019 Jul 6
I'm not questioning the cost of setting up a commercial kitchen (which you wouldn't have to do) nor the coop business structure. I'm questioning your statement that there's an opportunity. "I make good croissants" is not a business opportunity, it's just a subjective statement.

If you want to make a go at this then try getting local coffee shops, bakeries and any other food based business to sell your product. Get some recurring buyers of your product, prove there's a market for it. Then, as you need to, bring people on and if you want to offer a coop structure that's great. Without sales there is no reason anyone should put their own money into you or this operation. That's where this starts, not with trying to set up a commercial kitchen and storefront. That's just throwing a bunch of money at an unproven product, person and plan. This is Dragon's Den 101 stuff.

2019 Jul 7
Popcorn anyone ?

2019 Jul 8
Again totally agree with you. The dragon den model is definitively one of 'show me the money' and due diligence... and if it is something they see can scale up to make millions out of... they will invest in. I am far from being at that stage and if I was there is no way I would be conversing here... Because I would have had a proven business model to present. I am only looking for others with similar passion to see if there is a common vision and by pooling talent, knowledge, enthusiasm... We can build something... and then pool our resources to make it happen