How Much Does It Cost To Start An Online Food Business? (In 2024)

"After successfully raising* $130K** in investment funds last year, we purchased equipment and began leasing our own shared facility to create and produce our products in 2018."*

Ethan Holmes is the founder of Holmes Mouthwatering Applesauce, a natural applesauce business that started in 2015 and has since expanded to hundreds of grocery stores throughout the Midwest.

"It has been a slow progression of acquiring equipment, product development and figuring out our packaging and up until this point we have not had to take out any significant loans."

Katie Young is the founder of Klondike Kettle Corn, a gourmet popcorn business that supplies its products throughout the Yukon Territory and across Canada.

"We were not a heavily funded company, about $300K put in. With this we had to buy packaging machines (plural), straddle stackers, sealers, industrial shelving, electrical facility work, and ‘get off the ground’ costs and a completed supply chain that, for some products, goes from China (bags) --🡪 Colombia(packaging) -🡪 Miami (import) -🡪 Ohio (Flex Fulfillment from parcel to pallet)."

Scott Unkefer is the founder of Just Panela LLC, a cane sugar business that achieved impressive market penetration, including being featured in Whole Foods Market – Global, and earning around $1,500,000 in annual income.

"For our start-up costs, we spent about $150,000 to set up, which is a fraction of what it costs to build our restaurants now!"

Alexander Moore is the founder of Rosa's Thai Cafe, a Thai food restaurant business that started in 2006 with a weekend market stall and has since grown to 18 locations across the UK.

"I sold the diamond out of my wedding ring. I maxed out credit cards and got an angel investment of *$62,000** to start the very first iteration of our bakeshop."*

Kyra Bussanich is the founder of Kyra’s Bake Shop, an exclusively gluten-free bakery in Portland, Oregon, that has gained significant popularity, partly due to its success on Food Network's Cupcake Wars.

"At this point, I had invested a few $1000 of saving and credit cards on graphic design, website creation, incorporation of the business, and lastly, partnering with a local film student to make my Kickstarter video."

Andrew Buehler is the founder of Urban Smokehouse, a digitally native BBQ brand that started in 2022 and has been profitable since day one.

"In the first year and a half, we spent around $30,000 to get the business up and running. This money was spent on things like city and town permit fees, the dough sheeter, kitchen supplies, and packaging materials."

Casey White is the co-founder of Jaju Pierogi, a pierogi manufacturing business started in 2016 that makes between $80,000-$100,000 per month.

"The MVP took just 2 weeks to build and cost only $400. I registered the domain and it cost $12.99. It really didn't cost much."

Tique Chandler is the founder of Chandler Honey, an infused honey brand that has grown to be featured in 150+ stores in Canada in under 2 years.

"Initially, we bootstrapped. When the design was complete we took out a loan to print the book."

Sadaf is the co-founder of Karachi Kitchen Foods, a business specializing in small-batch traditional Pakistani chutneys and spice blends, featuring handcrafted products made from locally sourced ingredients.

"Auric started as a bootstrapped venture. Even after almost 3 years later, Auric is still 95% bootstrapped."

Deepak Agarwal is the founder of Auric, an Ayurveda beauty & wellness beverage business that has seen significant growth, selling 150k bottles monthly.