Cooking Up a Business: Lessons from Food Lovers Who Turned Their Passion into a Career -- and How You C an, Too

I am not sure which I am enjoying more - this very interesting book about food entrepreneurs or the food itself. Rachel Hofstetter's account of how roughly 10 food start ups made success from their idea is a fast paced, informative and thoroughly enjoyable read. Her criterion was that each company had to begin in the last 10 years and still be majority owned by the founders at time of publication.Hofstetter's background at a food editor at O and Reader's Digest has exposed her to possibly hundreds of interesting companies competing against the big food conglamerates that now dominant the shelves of our main stream grocers.She has chosen wonderful David vs Goliath anecdotes of start ups working both against the popular conventions of the market place and entrenched products by largely working with elbow grease, a belief in their products and incredible fortitude.The products range from wine, chocolate to granola, chips. burritos, baby food and flavored waters. In each case there are both competitors and an opportunity to redefine the space. Cameron Hughes' wine business is big and completely challenges the contradiction of cheap high quality wine. Evol's burrito's and prepared frozen plates both taste good and won't kill you with chemicals, nor will the innovative Popchips or new style microwave popcorn.The book focuses on the challenges of successful start ups. Each chapter both profiles the founder's and their product and provides some unique learning lessons for the reader ranging from patience, budgeting, research, marketing and of course hard work.It's meant to inform, inspire and make the reader feel good and it certainly does. It also succeeds in raising one's awareness of brands and health. Given the appalling job the FDA is doing at regulating and educating the public on the use of drugs, chemicals, pesticides and hormones in all strains of our food chain it's imperative for us to have more food entrepreneurs that bring us the food that tastes good and won't kill us and writers that can equally keep us informed on their progress and important trends.

While this book was part of an Entrepreneurship class, I decided to choose it because of the title. I love to cook and experiment with new recipes so I thought it would be intriguing to read. This book was pleasingly different from what I expected. I was anticipating more of novel type read but every chapter is a new story unto itself. Hofstetter did a fantastic job of covering a lot of hurdles new businesses face. Each chapter covered a different issue or issues that particular company encountered. While all food related, each company had different experiences regarding which obstacles they had to overcome. While I think Hofstetter did a good job revealing the different growing pains of each company, I think she did sugar coat their ordeals a little. The way each company overcame their obstacles makes it seem like anyone can go out and be an entrepreneur and succeed. I guess I would have liked to read about one or two companies that failed, fell flat on their faces, and why. How could they have done things differently to succeed? But hey, that’s not what this book was about. At the end of each chapter, Hofstetter summarizes the main learning points which were a nice recap. If nothing else, reading this book will give you insight into real-life companies and how they go there. And then you can go out and try their foods – maybe you’ll have a new appreciation for them after learning what companies had to go through to get them on the shelves. #ENTR300

This is a cute book but it wasn't quite what I expected based on the title. It is primarily full of profiles of businesses that manufacture food to be sold in grocery stores, with relatively little direct advice or mention of other models of food business (restaurants, food carts, caterers, etc.) Granted, I should've read the description more thoroughly and looked up the companies mentioned to see what sort of businesses they were. But even so, a good deal of the advice is anecdotal ("this is what worked for this one company") and some of the stories featured a lot of luck and missteps that you couldn't or shouldn't (respectively) repeat... one company, for example, was operating totally outside of health laws for awhile (and if he hadn't he may not have had the money to begin working within those laws- renting commercial kitchens, etc- later.)But still, an interesting read, and definitely a good one if manufacturing packaged goods is the sort of food entrepreneurship you're interested in.

Good read. I got a couple of Golden ideas I had not thought of. The thing I like the most is different stories, realty check I must add

I was presented the opportunity to take an entrepreneur course at the University of Baltimore (ENTR 300) this Fall 2015 semester. Little did I know of the value of this course when applied to the different types of business out there, in particular food. We were assigned many texts this semester and as a foodie I instantly gravitated to Cooking up business. A "how to" on health awareness and the redefining of the food industry and the dangerous products that line the shelves of grocery stores and families kitchen cabinets. This book inspires the entrepreneur to take an existing problem and find a solution for it rather than creating a new product. The search for a healthier food product is an admirable one.

This is a surprisingly interesting read. Each of the parties studied have been interviewed and described in generous and sympathetic detail. The author obviously has spent time with the entrepreneurs and gotten to know their intimate stories. Although the stories differ in content - all have a common thread of love of the food they develop and the strong motivation to see it on the shelves. Availability of the foods make it challenging for a reader to go out and make a purchase. I have already tried several of the items. So -ONE-- it is a fascinating story (or 10 stories) and TWO-- it introduces one to some new dining experiences.

One of the most inspirational books I have ever read! Rachel Hofstetter knows exactly what a new food entrepreneur needs to hear. I devoured every page and this booked confirmed to me that I'm on the right path. It's bulshit fee, easily accessible and authoritative. The only downside is the case studies are from the States but the journey to success is very transferable to the UK.

A good read with several people explaining how they made it. Well worth it.

I read this from cover to cover and found it to be extremely applicable across countries and businesses.Written for the food business, I found it could be easily applied to other businesses.Sound, sage advice. I've read it three times already. 5 out of 5.