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10 STEPS For A Successful Freeze Dried Business | Starting A Freeze Dried Business
May 15, 2025
How do you put yourself in a better position to be successful in a freeze-dried business? In this video, I share my top 10 steps to start a freeze-dried business based on my experience as an owner of a freeze-dried business and the mistakes and successes I've made along the way.
You can support my channel by purchasing items from the links below for either personal use or your freeze-dried business. Thank you!
Here are several freeze-dryers I use in my business and I would recommend considering them for your existing freeze-dried business or just starting out.
- Harvest Right Freeze Dryers - https://affiliates.harvestright.com/1974.html
- StayFresh Freeze Dryers - https://stayfreshfreezedry.com/?sca_ref=3292008.4uBi4MIG3W&sca_source=YouTube
Create an Amazon Business Account like I did to save on Amazon purchases: https://amzn.to/40HUntM
Here are other tools I use for my freeze-dried business:
- Cookie/Ice Cream Scoop (1/2 or 1 tablespoon size) - https://amzn.to/3utyX4H
- 5 Gallon Storage Pails with Gamma Screw Lid - https://amzn.to/3ICnXdT
- Hefty 2.5 Gallon Jumbo Bags - https://amzn.to/3GpQ90P
- Cutco Scissors - https://amzn.to/3vORJ7A
- Knife Sharpener - https://amzn.to/3Vrttml
- Large cutting board - https://amzn.to/3GqhIYN
- Food Scale - https://amzn.to/3FyO9DW
Here are several frequently purchased items, I buy for my freeze-dried business:
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0:00
hey welcome to the freeze Drive business
0:01
Channel my name is David and I've been
0:03
running a freeze-dried business for the
0:05
past three years in Idaho and if I were
0:07
gonna start over and start a business in
0:09
freeze drying this year there are 10
0:11
things that I definitely would be doing
0:13
first and I'm going to share those with
0:14
you today
0:15
[Music]
0:18
hey welcome to the freestyle business
0:20
Channel my name is David I've been
0:22
running a freeze-dried business for
0:24
about three years in the state of Idaho
0:25
there's a lot of things that I've
0:27
learned and there's also a lot of
0:28
mistakes that I've made throughout that
0:30
three-year period so this video is not
0:31
only for people just starting out on a
0:33
business but people who currently have a
0:36
business maybe you haven't thought
0:37
through some of the things that I'm
0:38
going to share with you today and that's
0:40
what this video is all about so let's
0:41
get started
0:45
all right the first thing I would do
0:47
before you start a freeze dry business
0:49
is look at the cottage food laws for
0:51
your state Idaho for example is actually
0:53
very flexible with cottage food laws but
0:55
I've seen other states that are more
0:57
strict so you want to look at those cost
0:59
food laws and that'll give you a good
1:00
picture of what you can actually sell
1:02
now it's very easy to look this up go to
1:04
Google type in cottage food laws in your
1:07
particular State you'll be able to read
1:08
what is allowed under Cottage food law
1:10
and if you need more clarification
1:11
contact your local health district for
1:14
your county and they might be able to
1:15
give you more information on what those
1:17
Cottage food laws and how to go about
1:19
that process
1:23
number two is for those of you that
1:25
already have a freeze-dried business and
1:27
you're just small but you want to kind
1:28
of grow it to the next level and be able
1:30
to do wholesale and do a little bit more
1:32
with your business now getting a little
1:33
creative here I'm going to share with
1:35
you some Secret Sauce that I have found
1:37
through researching how to get the most
1:39
affordable way into a commercial kitchen
1:41
without having to invest in that large
1:43
least space or the all the equipment and
1:46
that is to look at churches churches
1:49
have usually a commercial kitchen that
1:51
is licensed they're only using it on the
1:54
weekends on a Saturday or Sunday overall
1:56
during the day and for most days during
1:58
the week they are not using that
2:00
commercial kitchen and you might be able
2:02
to negotiate a really good deal with
2:04
that you might also want to look at
2:05
schools some of those schools that are
2:07
private Charter Schools things like that
2:09
have a commercial kitchen and they're
2:11
not ran by the city or the state they're
2:13
just a private organization that does
2:15
look for ways to bring in more Revenue
2:17
so I would look at private schools and
2:20
churches to find that commercial kitchen
2:22
that you can rent to really see if you
2:24
can scale at the growth that you want to
2:30
the third thing that I would do if I
2:32
were starting a free stripe business is
2:34
something that I did when I first
2:35
started and that is to create an LLC
2:37
with a secretary of state now it helps
2:40
you protect yourself from personal
2:42
liability from your business but it also
2:44
allows you to use your business as a
2:47
business for expenses and other
2:49
different benefits for taxes now the
2:51
cost is pretty minimal to create an LLC
2:54
for your business and have it registered
2:55
with the state usually it's only a
2:57
couple hundred dollars and I think it's
2:59
definitely worth it so it protects
3:00
yourself from personal liability but
3:02
also allows you to run an effective
3:04
business and have the tax benefits for
3:06
that as well
3:11
and number four is to create a separate
3:13
business account for your business that
3:16
way you're directly tying any type of
3:18
Revenue or expenses directly to the
3:20
business and that way the liability and
3:22
for tax return purposes is all very
3:24
clear you've got the business on this
3:26
side running with this bank account and
3:28
you've got your personal bank account
3:29
and your personal tax return on the
3:32
other end
3:36
number five is to establish your own
3:38
name and logo as well as brand
3:40
guidelines now you can get as serious as
3:43
you want in a business as whether side
3:45
hustle or you have big Ambitions for
3:47
future growth but overall you want to
3:49
really represent your brand and it's
3:51
something to be proud of and I've used
3:53
two different types of online resources
3:55
to create logos and brand designs and
3:57
that is Taylor Brands this is a great
3:59
online tool it provides you an annual
4:02
membership or something monthly and you
4:04
basically get logo design plus tag lines
4:07
and colors and brand guidelines so you
4:10
can create your business cards and
4:11
posters and things like that and I think
4:13
it's a really great membership that's
4:14
all-encompassing the second area you
4:17
could try is also canva canva.com is
4:20
really great for creating social media
4:21
posts posters things like that and they
4:23
do have a logo option and you can find a
4:26
link to that in my description as well
4:31
number six is to decide what type of
4:34
product lineup you're going to have I
4:36
would do two things in this area to get
4:38
started one I would find products that
4:40
are selling well all across the country
4:42
you can join Facebook groups you can
4:44
also look at my video the top 20 items
4:47
to freeze dry for your business I think
4:49
those items have done very well these
4:51
are items that everyone is selling and
4:54
everyone is doing in their freeze dryer
4:55
there's no real need to reinvent the
4:57
wheel because it's always selling candy
5:00
is always selling ice cream is selling
5:02
if you can do it and fruit is always
5:03
selling now the second thing is to find
5:05
something unique that can differentiate
5:07
you across your market now as more and
5:09
more people start a freeze dry business
5:11
and there's more and more freeze dryers
5:12
out there you're going to have
5:14
competition and so everyone can sell the
5:16
same thing but try to find or start
5:19
researching as you're generating
5:21
interest in your business of something
5:23
that can differentiate you are you going
5:25
to freeze dry more fruit or vegetables
5:28
or are you going to do something that's
5:29
more recipe based just find something
5:31
can differentiate you so that you can
5:33
have your own unique product that you
5:36
can start marketing so it's not just the
5:38
same old thing and something you can be
5:40
proud of
5:44
now the seventh thing that I would do to
5:46
start out as a freeze-dried business is
5:48
I would look at your competition and
5:51
research to find out what you might be
5:53
able to do better or to differentiate
5:55
yourself which is kind of similar to
5:57
number six so start looking at packaging
5:59
maybe you're going to do the non-window
6:01
list bag maybe you're going to do craft
6:03
mylar bag like I do or maybe you're
6:05
going to do more silver bags or black
6:08
bags or you're going to actually spend
6:10
the time to create an actual full-size
6:12
label of your bag and you're not going
6:14
to have stickers on it or you're not
6:15
going to have stamping on it find
6:17
something that you can do to
6:18
differentiate yourself and build better
6:20
than your competition the second part of
6:22
that with competition is research to
6:24
find out if everyone is Cottage food
6:26
then you have an opportunity to maybe
6:28
get into that commercial kitchen and get
6:30
into the wholesale Market first and even
6:32
if there are people that are doing
6:34
commercial there's plenty of other
6:35
stores that would love to have your
6:37
product and have something unique and
6:38
different and there's only so much that
6:40
people can handle so there's plenty to
6:43
go around
6:45
foreign
6:47
number eight is to build your own
6:48
website if you're running a cottage Food
6:51
business or you're looking at doing
6:52
commercial you need to have a website
6:54
rather than just relying on Facebook or
6:57
Instagram a website provides a lot of
6:59
digital presence for you as well as
7:01
getting up on the search engines people
7:03
are going to be searching for you
7:04
they're going to be Googling and trying
7:06
to find you and a website provides more
7:09
of an outlet for them to understand who
7:10
you are and why they should buy your
7:12
product and it gives you an opportunity
7:14
to build something that's going to be
7:16
there for the long term instead of just
7:18
looking at it as Facebook and Instagram
7:20
so whether you're a college food law or
7:22
commercial get that website going
7:24
there's a lot of free avenues for
7:25
building websites as well as paid you
7:27
can take a look at some of the
7:28
suggestions that I have in this video
7:30
description
7:34
and number nine is building off of
7:36
number eight you need to have a social
7:38
media presence build a Facebook page
7:40
build an Instagram page if you have Tick
7:43
Tock do Tick Tock but build something on
7:46
social media so that you can quickly get
7:48
information out to your users now these
7:50
social media pages are exactly why I'm
7:52
on YouTube is it gives me a way to talk
7:54
to people immediately and show them
7:56
what's happening now in my business now
7:58
what I would suggest is get really good
8:00
at one particular social media
8:02
environment Facebook and Instagram are
8:04
really nice because they're both owned
8:06
by the same parent company meta which
8:08
allows you to post cross-functionally
8:10
between both pages when you want to
8:12
create a post so I would get those
8:13
started or if you just want to do
8:15
YouTube shorts or just do Tick Tock do
8:17
those really really well so that people
8:20
know why they're coming to that Channel
8:22
versus trying to find all four of yours
8:24
and get to know what your strategy is
8:26
and get a better feel for how you can be
8:28
consistent with your posting
8:34
and number 10 is be willing to say no
8:36
there is so much fun and creative ways
8:38
for you to run a free stripe business
8:40
that you're going to have your hands
8:41
full just doing the successful ones that
8:43
I've listed in my 20 items to freeze dry
8:45
as a business and the reason I created
8:47
that video is because I found that those
8:50
items sell the most it doesn't matter
8:52
whether someone suggested hey you should
8:54
go sell marshmallows or you should go
8:56
sell Milk Duds I was generating enough
8:58
business from those 20 items that I
9:01
didn't need to venture out even though
9:02
people were suggesting it and my
9:04
suggestion to you is just get started
9:06
get a freeze dry business started start
9:08
that side hustle start having some fun
9:10
with freeze drying and see what people
9:12
are most interested in and find what you
9:14
want to do you're going to find that
9:16
some candies are really difficult to
9:18
freeze dry you're going to find some
9:19
candies are really time consuming to
9:22
prep like taffy I've done a video like
9:24
that but you'll also find ones that you
9:26
really like to do and I love doing fruit
9:28
I don't mind the prep work I just really
9:31
think it's on a healthy option and it's
9:33
really fun for me to freeze dry and I
9:35
use it for my own personal use but
9:37
people also really know me in the market
9:38
for my freeze-dried fruit so find
9:40
something that differentiates you but
9:42
also stick to the core items that you
9:45
know will sell well and just be willing
9:47
to say no and stick to that and you'll
9:49
be successful well that concludes the 10
9:51
things that I would do if I were
9:52
starting a free stripe business I hope
9:54
this helped you gave you some guidelines
9:56
as to how you can get started running a
9:58
freeze-dried business go out and do
10:00
something great for your community we'll
10:02
see you again next time
10:03
[Music]
#Business Formation