Owning your own business sounds fancy, but starting a business is no easy feat and a home-based food business is no exception.

But what if we told you it isn’t as hard as you think?

Online channels remove the hassle of building your own platform, so you can sell your homemade dishes on a user-friendly marketplace. These channels offer one of the easiest ways to gain exposure, and for cheap too, perhaps even free.

But other than simply listing your food and hoping for the best, there are some basic strategies you can apply to help you increase your sales volume.

Build reputation - Collect reviews

It might be tough in the beginning to gain trust when you have no reviews. But when you do get your first earning from you first sale, grab onto that momentum! You can then slowly build your reputation and ask the customer for reviews and feedback. The more positive reviews you earn, the better your reputation in the eyes of the customers, and the more confident they will be in buying your food!

Leave a good first impression - Take nice photos

First impressions are very important for enticing customers into buying your product. This is especially so for your food business, as there are plenty of competitors out there and you would want to stand out and pique the interest of as many customers as possible. Spending a little extra time to take a better picture of your food can improve the higher your chance in getting queries from your potential customers. Check out our tips of taking nice food photography here – https://www.frea.io/blogs/4-photography-tips-to-make-your-dishes-stand-out

Maintain brand loyalty - Follow up and push for repeat order

There is a saying that goes “the most important sale is not earning the first sale, but the second sale”. Certainly a good principle to go by for your business. Try to follow up on your satisfied customers (hint: the ones giving you 5 stars review), and you can let them know whenever you have a new menu on your lists. Once you earn that second sale from a customer and get similarly great feedback, there is a high chance that they could be become a regular customer!

Be unique - Well, sell unique dishes

We are no stranger to Singaporeans’ love for food, especially novelty dishes. Bonus points if they get bragging rights for trying good food that their friends’ have yet to try! If the food happens to be particularly good, they might even share it to their friends! So if you have that one recipe that has been passed down in your family from generations to generations, or that one dish that your family craves almost every day, start sharing your awesome food with your customers! Who knows, you could even build a whole food retail chain from just one killer recipe!

Last but not least, do comply with the Covid-19 safety regulations imposed by Ministry of Health (MOH) and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA)! Be sure to check out this link (https://www.ura.gov.sg/Corporate/Guidelines/Home-Business/Home-Based-Businesses) and abide by all the stated guidelines on the article to ensure business is smooth sailing.

Hopefully, these basic tips can help increase your sales! So let’s follow your calling and start a successful home-based business!