Many quail hobbyist eventually want to start a quail business. They may be doing very well with their hobby, sold a few eggs and chicks and now think that starting a quail business would be easy.
What they have to realize is that there is so much more involved in actually starting and sustaining a bona fide quail business. Selling a few eggs and chicks doesn’t make a business. You should only think about starting a quail business after putting in the effort required to see if a real market exists.
It really depends on what you’re looking for. If all that matters are making a few extra bucks from your quail and consider that a business. Just stick a quail for sale sign out in front of your place. There is a good chance you will make a few bucks. Just make sure you know who you’re selling to.
However, if you want to start a quail business to try and make good money out of it. There is so much more involved other than putting up a sign.
The first thing I would recommend (US only) is to find out if any zoning laws would prevent you from starting a business in your area. This usually just takes one phone call and doesn’t cost anything to ask. You certainly don’t want to see your investment of time and money come crashing down because you neglected to make a 10 minute phone call.
Next would be to decide on mapping out a marketing campaign. This will have need to be very strategically planned, because at this point the idea is to find out if there is a market. If you start getting phone calls be sure to ask them how they found out about you and record it. This way you will know where you market is and what area to hit hard when your real marketing campaigns start.
You are probably thinking, why should I run a marketing campaign when I don’t have a product yet? Here is the simple and the most understandable reason for your question. To save money. Let’s say you go out and purchase 1000 eggs, the equipment to hatch them with and provide the food required to get your quail to the age of laying eggs. You did this without market research, So currently you have quite a bit of money invested plus the fact, that if everything goes right you also have probably around 6000 eggs to sell. You wait until now to start marketing. You haven’t any idea where your market is, or even it there is a market. Everyday your investment is turning more and more into a lose until you decide to hatch the eggs yourself, more cost or eat them, which would save you a little money on food.
Seem to me that it makes more sense to find your market without an investment first than possibly waste money needlessly. If someone calls to place an order wouldn’t it be better to tell them you don’t have any at this time, give them an idea when you expect to and try to get an order.
This article just barely touches the surface of starting a quail business and all that is required. Your business will have to be legal, deal with the FDA, know what the NPIP is, understand cash flow and learn shipping regulations. I will touch on some of these in other quail business articles.