How to Start a Salad Cooking Oil Business

Ever wanted to start a side hustle business that you are guaranteed of returns? While there are many businesses you can venture into, not all can guarantee you of immediate returns or daily sales for that matter. However if you venture into a business that deals with a daily consumed commodity you can be assured that you will get clients. How much profit you make per day depends on a number of factors that we are going to discuss in this post. We will be discussing how to start a salad cooking oil business in this post.

How to start a salad cooking oil business- preparation stage

Do a market research

A good market research has many advantages and here are some of them:

• To determine if the target market is suited for your product- The first and most important thing to do at this stage is to do a market research to determine if the business is viable and if it is suitable for the target location. The thing is, the business might be a viable one but not suitable for that location. For example selling salad cooking oil from an ATM in a wealthy residence like Lavington, Muthaiga, Karen, Runda and such like estates isn’t a good idea because you will barely find clients willing to buy from you. The residents in such estates have the money to buy top brands from supermarkets.

However if you were to set up the business in estates like Githurai, Zimmerman, Umoja, Kayole, Pipeline, Kawangware, Kibera, Mathare, Mlolongo etc, you are assured of getting clients because these localities compose of middle and lower income levels. These are the clients whom it’s more convenient to buy in smaller quantities frequently and aren’t so much attracted by expensive brands. This doesn’t mean if you sell low quality cooking oil they will buy.

• To determine existing competition by similar businesses- you are also able to see if and how many other similar businesses are already in that market and how strong they are or if there are gaps they haven’t filled that you can fill to get that competitive advantage over them.
• To minimize risks– by doing a market research you are well equipped with the right information that helps you see some of the potential risks in that business and you are able to know how you can overcome or mitigate them.
• To determine the density of population in your target area- the bigger the size and the denser it is the better for your business. A scattered and little population will not serve you well at all in this business. You should target a location where it is densely populated because this helps you serve more clients without need to open more shops which are serving few clients. This reduced your overhead costs greatly.
• To determine what gaps are there you can exploit that your competitors haven’t filled- one of the best ways to venture and succeed in a business where there is existing competition is identifying gaps in their way of doing business. You then leverage on these gaps and do what they haven’t been doing.
• By this you will get the attention of customers and win many of them over from your competitors. However this you must implement with speed and high efficiency before your existing competitors start realizing they are losing customers and they also start doing what they weren’t doing initially.
• To help you plan ahead- a market research also helps you plan ahead accordingly. Because you gain great insights on how the business works, you are able to come up with a good business plan. We will be discussing more on this below.

Prepare a business plan

A business plan is a document that acts a blue print of how the business will operate. It includes sources of funding, key stakeholders, strategies on how to grow expand the business e.g. marketing, timeframe for attaining the set goals etc.

Identify a suitable location

As discussed earlier on the benefits of doing a market research, a good location guarantees you success. You must find a suitable location where there is a dense population, where the business is accessible to clients as well as suppliers. The best location is at a shopping centre or on an estate street where people pass by in big numbers on a day to day basis as they go about their daily activities.

Identify the best available premises

Closely related to the above is the premises. The premises should be accessible and most preferably one that is on the front row facing the street. It should also be on the ground floor. It should also be connected to electricity and also there is a restroom available in the vicinity.

Identify the suppliers or where you will be sourcing the cooking oil

Suppliers are some of the key stakeholders in such a business as with most businesses. You need to identify a reliable supplier or a source for the cooking oil. This is where you will be getting the salad oil at low prices so that you are able to sell at a profit without overpricing yourself out the business.

Source for the best cooking oil ATM manufacturer

The other important exercise is sourcing for the salad ATM. It is good to compare several manufacturers and see who is the best in terms of quality, pricing and other factors like after sale service, countrywide delivery etc. We recommend that you source your salad cooking oil ATM from Saset Limited. This is the market leader in making the best cooking oil ATMs. Check out their website www.saset.co.ke or search them on google.

How to start a salad cooking oil business- implementation stage

After taking care of all the above satisfactorily, it’s time now to put everything into motion by implementing the business plan. Here is where you now renovate the premises, bring in the ATM, bring in the stock, pay for the business licence if it is a new business and now start selling.

As you operate the business see areas of improvement and implement them. These could be factors like the brand of cooking oil you sell, the supplier you buy from, the amount of stock you keep, the best price to sell at without losing clients to competition etc.

After mastering the best strategy to run the business successfully, use the information to open and operate new branches in different locations that you have identified as suitable for the business.

Final word

A salad cooking oil business is a good low cost side hustle business you can venture into easily and be assured of succeeding. You can either start one as a standalone business or add the cooking oil ATM to an existing business like a shop. If you decide to do it as a standalone business it is advisable that you include other items like cereals and milk ATM. This increases your profit margins and helps you minimize overhead costs of operating the business.

All the best as you start the business.