Baking & selling pies

[inkflo]

Hello

Can anyone tell me if there's an easy way to bake and sell pies in France?

I'm not looking to make a fortune, but if it's necessary to have to register & pay a lot of money up front, then it will probably be a non starter.

I was wondering about selling on markets or to restaurants etc.

[Iceni]

[quote user="inkflo"]

I'm not looking to make a fortune ....

[/quote]

If we are to believe the "songs" from the terraces you would need the likes of P.Gascoigne and W. Rooney so I suspect that you will not make a fortune.

Any biz venture in France seems to require registration and upfront cotisation payments but good luck anyway. The French do not seem to embrace a pie culture so there may be a niche.

John

 

[Val_2]

[quote user="inkflo"]Hello
Can anyone tell me if there's an easy way to bake and sell pies in France?
I'm not looking to make a fortune, but if it's necessary to have to register & pay a lot of money up front, then it will probably be a non starter.
I was wondering about selling on markets or to restaurants etc.
[/quote]

As with any food production,you will have to have the kitchen fitted as per the regs and be regularly inspected which after the initial outlay plus cotisations will probably leave you owing money. Sorry, but the rules are very strict here and you really would need to have regular clients. We have friends who are retired boucher/traiteurs etc and their laboratory for preparing foods for sale was inspected every few months and had to be upto scratch. Suggest you speak to the local Chambre de Commerce who can give you the facts.

[jon]

Enlighten me please.

All the foods sold on market stalls....are they working within the rules of health and safety.

People handling food should use...disposable polygloves......and not handle money, pens etc...cross contamination.

Even healthinspectors in uk seem to miss a lot of detail wrong,Thed most unhygenic things in the world are articles which have been handled by others...money etc.

[Tony F Dordogne]

I know of a couple who actually do this, supplying a range of products for people on at least two markets, one of which is La Bugue.  I've only ever bought eccles cakes from them - can't beat a good eccles cake and they are good - but hubby and wife both smoke, not over the food but at the side of it and thus far I've never seen him wash his hands before he serves customers or wear polygloves.

But they're always looking for people to work with and suppliers and from what somebody told me who was in negotiation with them, they have to work all the hour sent to even break even as the market for this sort of product is really so small.  They also do curry nights to try to make more money but the whole thing isn't that well regulated judging by the way they act.

That said, a Dutch woman who sells cheese on the local markets always wears gloves, changes them regularly and has a small portable hand basin so somebody cares about health and hygeine.

[Iceni]

[quote user="Tony F Dordogne"]

That said, a Dutch woman who sells cheese on the local markets always wears gloves, changes them regularly and has a small portable hand basin so somebody cares about health and hygeine.

[/quote]

That means she's selling either Halal or Kosher.  Market days may give you a clue as to which (but it may not of course).

John

[Pierre ZFP]

I've just remembered.  Today is Pi day

[inkflo]

Thanks everyone, looks like I would have to bake on an industrial scale to cover the set up costs & be legal. I'll keep trying though.

[Tony F Dordogne]

No she isn't John, it's just that she has a hand washing thing and likes to keep everything clean.

[homeagain]

[quote user="inkflo"]Thanks everyone, looks like I would have to bake on an industrial scale to cover the set up costs & be legal. I'll keep trying though.
[/quote]

Very true, from the word go they will be sending out the bills..........one native French guy did say, whilst taking our cotisations that we could not afford, "you should always set up your business in England, like many French people do.  He also said that the French will have you closed down in three years and he was right.............Enough of the doom and gloom, good luck to you..........maybe you could supply a local shop, French or English, the brits love their pies apparently.

[savvysarthe]

Hi inkflo,

 

Where are you located? There is a reason for asking this which may become clearer depending on your response

The regulations in France are the same as in the UK and based on good old common sense. They are there for a reason (to stop us getting ill). With regard to cotistations, there are new rules about microbics which you may find usefull as you only pay 24% of your actual figures now.

There is another thread which states a website mamicrobic or something similar, have a look.

 

 

[Ian]

I love a nice pie. I used to frequent a pub in England that sold a three course meal:

Pie Soup - the soup had a pie crust floating on it

Cow Pie - in the style of Desperate Dan, including pastry horns poking out the top

Apple Pie

Marvellous.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

savvysarthe wrote "There is another thread which states a website mamicrobic or something similar, have a look."

Probably this one:

http://mamicroentreprise.free.fr/

[jon]

I was asking the same question...where is the pie man.

[Wendy]

Hi Tony!

I have to tell you about a guy who sells his cheese and eggs in our village on Sunday mornings. He arrives early at the square in a small car filled to the brim with dogs and sets up a few tables. He has a grey beard that reaches down past his chest and never ever uses gloves when serving. Despite the fact that all the eggs he sells taste like eggs should taste - with lovely yellow yolks and whites that do not spread all watery-like in the frying pan - the shells are all liberally covered in chook poo, though I now ignore this. His eggs are a dream to cook and eat. His cheeses are very popular too, however I do not like chevre. He also serves everyone with an omnipresent fag dangling from his lips. I wonder what the EU nobs would make of him!

 

 

[mint]

Jura, my French neighbour gets me eggs just like the ones you describe.  However, on a previous thread, I queried the advisability of selling cooked and raw meats side by side and I had some interesting answers.

I still don't think I'd buy cooked meats from a stall that sells raw meat side by side with it but, on the other hand, I am sure one's constitution gets used to the odd e-coli or whatever lurks in eggs and meat.  The thing to do is to get desensitised to it?

[bixy]

As someone who has had severe food poisoning three times, every time at the hands of someone else preparing the food, and which resulted on two of those occasions  in being taken to hospital, I can assure you that you do not become desensitised. As you might imagine I am in favour of every food hygiene regulation there is!

Patrick

[Dick Smith]

I'm with you on that - how do you get desensitised to salmonella?

[Jo]

[quote user="Jura"]

Hi Tony!

I have to tell you about a guy who sells his cheese and eggs in our village on Sunday mornings. He arrives early at the square in a small car filled to the brim with dogs and sets up a few tables. He has a grey beard that reaches down past his chest and never ever uses gloves when serving. Despite the fact that all the eggs he sells taste like eggs should taste - with lovely yellow yolks and whites that do not spread all watery-like in the frying pan - the shells are all liberally covered in chook poo, though I now ignore this. His eggs are a dream to cook and eat. His cheeses are very popular too, however I do not like chevre. He also serves everyone with an omnipresent fag dangling from his lips. I wonder what the EU nobs would make of him!

 

 

[/quote]

I was always told just to wipe chicken eggs to get the poo off as washing them made the shell porous, allowing bacteria in. I clean my hens out first thing in the morning every day, keeps the eggs nice and clean!!

[Frederick]

This thread reminds me of lunches in Sweeney and Todds in Reading years ago....they did some great pies and the place was always busy...If you could supply pies to some bars on a small scale and work up from there  you might do alright ...nothing better than a big steak and oyster pie  with a large glass of red..... or a pint of real ale . Would it be possible to find somebody .... a bar owner perhaps... who would come to an arrangement and let you  make them on their premises at first to see how it works out ?

[splishsplash]

That's a thought, thanks for the suggestion.

[Quarmby]

Mrs Bridges, the fat cook in Upstairs Downstairs, was always making Pies. Whenever you saw her she was rolling out the pastry for a Pie, or filling a Pie, or taking a Pie out of the oven. Yet you never saw anyone eating a Pie. What happened to them all?

[Lehaut]

A local French friend started making speciality jams for the local markets here.  All his fruit etc has to be bought from registered producers to prove "traceability" - he cannot accept gifts of fruit from our garden, for example, to keep his costs down!

His jams have to be made in premises that are allowed to do bulk cooking.  To this end, we (the local council) allow him to hire our village hall to make his jam in it.  This has an industrial type kitchen and meets the requirements.  He pays a very nominal charge for half a days hire and actual costs for the gas, electricity and water. This has avoided him making a large initial outlay to buys his own gear.

Might be worth asking for the same permission in your village if the facility exists.

 

 

[splishsplash]

Thank you for this suggestion. It's something worth asking about.