What Is A Good Food Business To Start? The Best For 2020-21

I may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

When choosing a list of the best food businesses to start in 2020, we have to begin with the reality of the times we are living in and try to forecast how the world is changing.

I’m writing this article in June of 2020. As a world, we are experimenting with coming out of quarantine and facing an uncertain future in regard to both health and economy.

So how does our reality shape this list of business ideas?

The Changes of 2020 & How It Will Affect Food Businesses

Even at the beginning of 2020, food delivery was a quickly growing part of the world’s food culture. Then in the spring of 2020 quarantine become a part of our world, and the rush towards food delivery become a tsunami.

Not only are we all ordering more food to be delivered, we’re also looking for ways to get everything delivered to the safety of our homes.

Even when the health of the world is no longer in question, these order-in habits are here to stay.

Likewise, many of us are much more health aware than we were six months ago.

For some of us, it’s because we saw first hand that the unhealthy and overweight were much more likely to be struck down by the virus. These newly health conscious people are going to be looking to get healthier and stay healthy for years to come.

Other people started the quarantine pretty healthy, but gained a some weight while staying safe at home. They are going to be looking for a little help in losing their quarantine-ass and getting ready for their vacation dreams.

Finally, a lot of people have lost their jobs and are looking at starting their own businesses so their livelihood will never again be subject to the whims of someone else.

So let’s break down the best food business startup ideas for 2020 into three categories:

• Stay At Home Business Growth
• Get Healthier Business Growth
• New Business Support Growth

In the list below, I’ll give you specific food business ideas for 2020 and in the description of each, I’ll tell you which category they fall within.

List Of The Best Food Businesses To Start This Year

#1 – A Personal Grocery Shopper

We live in a stay-home world, where people are relying upon having everything delivered. Sure, the first thing that comes to mind is delivered meals (see #5), but the home delivery economy doesn’t start there.

A lot of people are going to make full-time money working as a personal grocery shopper, either through their own business or by working with one of the grocery delivery apps.

If you want to learn more about starting a Personal Grocery Shopper Business you should start with the article I wrote about it here on Food Business Pros. { Click here for “What is a Personal Grocery Shopper Business? >>> }

#2 – Secret Supper Club Business

While restaurants may be struggle in the coming years, people are still going to want to eat out, but just not in big public spaces.

What’s the solution? Secret Supper Clubs!

These super small secret restaurants operate in the legal flux of what’s an unregulated home club and what’s a regulated restaurant business. Despite that legal flux, people are going to love these amazing eating-out food experiences when they don’t feel safe in larger restaurants.

You owe it to yourself to learn a little more about this home-based business opportunity, because it might be the wave of the future. { Click here to read my “What is a Secret Supper Club Business?” article. >>> }

#3 – Start A Food & Recipe Blog

I know that cooking blogs are seeing heavier traffic during these uncertain times, and I expect that trend to continue for years.

A lot of people are learning to cook in this stay-home-world that we find ourselves living in. And to be honest, no one knows how long it will be before the majority of people are going out to restaurants again.

If you have the skills and passion, you can help these folks learn not only how to cook at home, but how to love to cook while trying new foods. { Click here to learn more about Food & Recipe Blogging. >>> }

#4 – Start A Health or Weightless Blog

A lot of people have put on some quarantine pounds, and they are going to be looking for help losing those pounds.

If nutrition or fitness is your passion, you might be able to carve out a niche audience that you can serve on their way back to normal.

P.S. This is a really crowded space, so you’ll need to be ready for a long haul here. I haven’t written an article specifically about Health Blogs yet, but you can learn a lot about it in a similar article linked with the Food Blog Business above.

#5 – Start A Food Photography Business

Even if you aren’t up for starting your own online blog, lots of people are recipe blogging and more will start this year. All of those bloggers are looking for content, and food images are pillar content for them.

I purchase food images online for my websites just and nearly every food blogger does.

Sometimes I purchased directly from the photographer, and other times I buy from stock image websites online. P.S. I also sell pictures on stock image sites online…it’s a great side hustle.

{ Click here to learn more about starting a Food Photography Business from home. >>> }

#6 – Recipe Developer Business

This is related to being a Food Photographer because every recipe is going to need great pictures to be valuable content for food bloggers.

However, if you are a good food photographer starting a full-out Recipe Developer Business is a way to make a lot more money from your image content.

{ Click here to read an article I wrote about selling recipes online. >>> }

#7 – Food Truck Business

This is the most expensive of the food business ideas that I’ve listed so far, but there is a reason that it’s made this list.

The Food Truck Business is going to be changed for a long time as they are no longer going to be setup at big public events, instead they are going to be used as mobile kitchens that can feed people in safer outdoor settings.

I predict that we’ll see Food Trucks being used as secret kitchens for delivery only restaurants as well as kitchens for prepared meal delivery businesses (see #6 on this list) in the coming years.

If you are considering purchasing a Food Truck to use as a secret kitchen parked in your driveway, be sure to check local zoning regulations prior to your purchase.

Also keep in mind if your food truck is going to be a secret kitchen, you can save money on the big impressive graphics that are a necessity for a food truck, but not for a secret kitchen.

#8 – Start Prepared Meal Delivery Business

This is not an inexpensive food business to start, but I know it’s in high demand and I believe it will be in even greater demand in the coming years.

My wife and I have run our own Prepared Meal Delivery Business for over 15 years from the comfort of our own home. We know from first-hand experience that this is a great and growing home-based food business.

I normally recommend that you start as a Personal Chef and grow into a Prepared Meal Delivery Business, but until we get through the pandemic it’s going to be hard to convince people to invite a personal chef into their homes.

If you have some cooking and business experience, and you have the resources to invest in

If you want to learn more about this type of business, you should start with this article that I wrote. { Click here for my article “What Is A Prepared Meal Business?” >>> }

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Bonus: 5 Terrible Food Businesses To Start This Year

At the beginning of this article, I talked about the healthy and economy uncertainty that we are all facing. With those pressures in mind, there are some food businesses that you should avoid starting this year.

• Opening A Restaurant
• Food Event Organizer
• Restaurant Critic
• Restaurant Mystery Shopper

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So that’s my thoughts for about ideas for starting a food business this year.

Please take a moment to share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear where we agree and have differences.

~Stacey