How to sell homemade food and where to find customers

This article is a continuation and supplement to the first part. Some issues remained unresolved, and we decided to cover them more thoroughly in this publication.

How to sell homemade food

The main rule in food sales is convenience for the customer and visibility of your offer. The main channels for promoting your services are:

• Social networks (Instagram, VK, Telegram channels) — publish appetizing photos, stories about the cooking process, and reviews.
• Platforms such as Avito, Yula, or specialized services where you can sell homemade food.
• Word of mouth and local neighborhood/office chats.
• Specialized platforms for homemade food, such as grudinka.com/domashka — here you can register for free, add dishes to the catalog, and receive orders directly. The service takes care of attracting customers, and you cook and earn without commissions at the start.

Start small: 5–10 orders per week. Set prices 20–50% above cost, taking into account time and uniqueness.

As you work, you will understand which direction to move in for scaling and development.

Selling homemade food on forums

There are thousands of success and failure stories on forums (Woman.ru, Babyblog, Good-cook.ru). The most popular success stories often started with selling dumplings or cakes to friends, then grew to $500–1,000 per month. The main tips from the forums are: focus on quality, collect feedback, and don't overprice your products at the start. The risks are complaints about taste or freshness, but with an honest approach, customers will return. The forums confirm that there is huge demand, especially for "grandma's cooking."

Every year, the demand for high-quality, natural, home-cooked food is growing at a rapid pace. Store-bought food is increasingly tasteless and resembles plastic. In Europe, the taste of vegetables has long been forgotten. Regardless of whether you buy a cucumber, tomato, apricot, or apple, the taste is practically the same, and in terms of texture, vegetables and fruits increasingly resemble hard plastic rather than fresh, natural, edible products.

This is precisely why people are searching for a source of truly healthy and safe food made from natural products.

Domashka is a service that connects chefs and customers.

What you need to cook at home and sell

The minimum set: a good kitchen, basic appliances (oven, mixer, baking tins), high-quality ingredients. Register as self-employed — it's free and easy to do via the My Tax app. No certificates are required for direct sales to individuals. The main thing is hygiene and naturalness. To get started, you will need 10-20 thousand rubles for food and packaging.

It is important to understand that there is no point in investing large sums of money. In 90% of cases, you already have everything you need. After all, you are going to cook with your own hands in your own kitchen, using your own kitchen utensils and appliances. It is better to invest your available funds in purchasing high-quality natural and organic products. Your first customers will appreciate it.

What is profitable to cook for sale

Baked goods and confectionery are the leaders in terms of margin (200-400%). Custom cakes, cupcakes, cookies. Semi-finished products (dumplings, vareniki, cutlets) — stable demand, long shelf life. Complex lunches and healthy diets — for offices and health-conscious people. Seasonal: pickles, jams.

Focus on one type of dish:

• with a long shelf life;
• with high demand.

For example, hot dishes are a fast-moving commodity, eaten shortly after purchase. Semi-finished products, although in slightly lower demand, have the advantage of being able to be stored for a long time without losing quality.

Try both approaches and soon you will decide which is more convenient and profitable for you to produce.

Self-employed in food preparation

Yes, self-employed people can cook and sell food they produce themselves. In Russia, the "My Tax" website has categories for "Cook" and "Pastry Chef." The Ministry of Finance confirms that cakes, pies, and meals are permitted. You cannot resell someone else's products or hire employees. The income limit is 2.4 million rubles per year, with a tax rate of 4–6%.

You have to agree that this opens all doors for small and medium-sized private businesses.

Can you bake at home for sale?

Absolutely! Baking is the most popular niche for home businesses. Bake cakes, pies, bread, and sell them through social media or platforms such as grudinka.com/domashka, where registration is free and customers come to you. Cakes and other baked goods such as pies and cakes have always been very popular. Cakes are ordered for weddings (hence the name "wedding cake"), birthdays, anniversaries, professional holidays, and other special occasions. And homemade bread is gaining more and more fans every year. Recently, store bakeries have been baking simply disgusting bread with many toxic additives that are very harmful to the body. In fact, this is the main reason for the growing movement away from bakery products.

But by eating real, properly baked rye bread (black) and even wheat bread (white), we not only do no harm to our bodies, but also significantly improve our health. Homemade bread contains a number of beneficial vitamins and minerals, as well as lactic acid strains of intestinal bacteria that are resistant to temperature changes.

The trend of selling homemade bread is gaining popularity. Take a closer look at this niche.

Home cooking business

This is a real business with a low entry threshold. Many people on maternity leave earn $300 to $500 a month while staying at home. The key to success is uniqueness (ethnic cuisine, healthy desserts) and reviews.

Can a self-employed person sell food products?

Yes, if the products are homemade. Pelmeni, cakes, salads, lunches — everything is fine. No labeling or excise tax is required.

You cannot resell products made by others. You also need to keep an eye on your income level. As mentioned above, your income should not exceed 2.4 million rubles per year. This applies to Russia. If you exceed this amount, it makes sense to think about expanding your business and moving to an industrial scale.

Can you cook food at home and sell it?

Legally, as a self-employed person, yes. Rospotrebnadzor does not inspect home kitchens for direct sales to individuals. This is an excellent opportunity to build a home business without investment.

In this case, the main obstacle is not legislative and legal aspects, but social ones. The basic question that needs to be resolved at the very beginning is to decide on a sales channel and understand where and to whom you will sell your own dishes. Make a clear plan and stick to it, and success will not be long in coming. The trend for home-cooked meals is growing in popularity every year, and according to forecasts, its growth will continue over the next 10-15 years.

How to start your home-cooked food business

Here is a brief step-by-step plan (print it out and hang it on the wall in your kitchen, and cross off each item as you complete it):

1. Register as self-employed.
2. Choose a niche (baking, lunches).
3. Register on the platform grudinka.com/domashka — add dishes for free and receive orders.
4. Promote yourself on social media.
5. Collect reviews.

Cooking food at home for sale SES

The SES (Rospotrebnadzor) does not require permits for self-employed individuals engaged in home production and direct sales. Just follow basic hygiene rules — that's all.

Lunch delivery as a business

A profitable niche: offices, healthy lifestyle enthusiasts. Prepare sets (soup + main course + salad) for 300–500 rubles. Deliver yourself or through Grudinka couriers.

Trend for 2026-2027: naturalness, freshness, individuality. Platforms such as grudinka.com/domashka/ help you get started for free: register, add a menu, and the orders will start coming in.

Conclusion

The conclusions you should draw for yourself on the question of what food you can sell: all kinds of homemade dishes: baked goods, desserts, semi-finished products, lunches, pickles. Unique, low-competition niches that are gaining demand: vegan, gluten-free, ethnic cuisine.

Selling homemade food is not only a source of income, but also a pleasure. Start with the homemade food delivery platform — it's free and easy. Pursue your favorite hobby and monetize your cooking skills.

Good luck with your delicious business! 🍲🥮

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