Building is a proudly South African snack that is enjoyed by millions of people in South Africa and across the world. This is a step-by-step guide on how to start a biltong business in South Africa.
Overview
Most people love biltong, it is sold in most butcheries and retail supermarkets. Selling biltong is almost the same as selling meat, there is not much you can do to differentiate yourself; the success of your business relies heavily on marketing and other strategies. Making biltong is not difficult, this means that the barrier to entry is low, which means there is a lot of competition. Here are some tactics you can use to make the most of your business.
Get experience
You first need to know how to make biltong, you can’t sell biltong if you don’t really know how to make it. This will also help you to make a better tasting biltong than the average biltong. This can give you a competitive edge, if people like your biltong they’ll buy more of it.
Start by making biltong and giving it to your friends and family and try to get the feedback. You can also go and volunteer to work in a biltong farm, this will give you all the experience you need.
Make your biltong
This might require you to buy machinery like dryers, most people prefer to dry it themselves without the help of dryers. Make sure that you put it in a nice packaging, don’t just put it in plastics. You can invest a bit of money into branding as well, although it won’t do much to affect your bottom line unless you expand the business to other product lines.
Market your biltong
This is the most difficult part and the success of a biltong business is highly dependant on it. Your focus should not be on selling to individual people but to retailers. Retailers are way more likely to buy in bulk. Approach butcheries and retailers like supermarkets and convenience stores. Try to sell them your product at a lower price at first.
How to make more money
The best way to supplement income from your biltong business is by selling other things like mince meant and wors. These are things that go very well with a biltong and might end up making you a lot more money. This will see you transition into becoming much more like a butchery.
Conclusion
This was a guide on how to start a biltong business in South Africa. Do you have any thoughts or questions? Comment below.
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Andre Conradie
17 Jun 2021Are there any government regulations in the making, packaging and distribution of biltong?
Desmond Olwage
15 Sep 2021I’m also keen to see the response to Andre’s question. I am a game hunter and often have lots of game biltong, dry wors, boerewors and mince in my freezers that has been prepared by registered, reputable butcheries. I take the goods out to defrost and dry it in a large drying cabinet that I purchased. I now just need an “outlet” if I want to sell it in bulk, but not sure how to accomplish this?
Fortunate
19 Jun 2022@Desmond Olwange, how can we get hold of you if we need Biltong in bulk.
Byron
14 Dec 2021Hey guys, I can answer both your questions. If you just starting out and want to be able to supply Biltong you will need a certificate of acceptability (COA) but if you want to go bigger some retailers may want a halal certification and a HAACP certification. That’s about it really, COA is pretty easy to get, HACCP is next level.