How to Start a Starch Processing Business in 2023?
Successful businesses must assess what people need, and what they want, and then supply them with those goods or services. The best businesses, especially during periods of inflation or recession, focus on needs.
Sometimes people know their needs and wants. For example, a TV falls into the want category for most. However, food is something all people need.
Corn starch is an essential food that people need, even though they may not realize it. After all, not many people sit around talking about corn starch. Corn starch is a white, tasteless, and odorless powder extracted from the white endosperm found in the center of a corn kernel. It’s a key ingredient in most of the packaged food available to people today. It also works as a thickening ingredient in sauces and soups. Corn starch is also a key ingredient for sweeteners and in bakery goods.
Corn starch is nutritious because it has a high percentage of easily digested carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Corn starch is also gluten-free, a market that is excellent for savvy business professionals. The global gluten-free food market is projected to grow from $5.72 billion in 2021 to $9.99 billion in 2028.
Most people are used to seeing corn starch in their pantries, but it serves as a key ingredient in a variety of other household and industrial goods. For example, corn starch is used to produce green cleaning products. Corn starch is also used to manufacture textiles, pharmaceuticals and papers.
Because corn starch is a human need, starting a corn starch processing business is an excellent idea. Owners of corn starch processing businesses can feel good about themselves at the end of the day. Corn starch keeps people healthy and satiated. It helps people live in cleaner homes, and produces medicines that help people feel better. New innovations in corn starch production and food processing have made it more enviornmentally-friendly. And according to a recent report, there are high-profit margins for businesses related to corn starch manufacturing and processing. The global corn starch market size was valued at $15.73 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $29.39 billion by the end of 2026.
So here, we’re going to advise you on how to start a corn starch processing business in 2023.
1. Determine your target audience.
Corn starch is used for many purposes. Narrow down the audience you want to target. It’s hard to think of an industry that doesn’t use corn starch in some way. It’s used in fields related to food, adhesives, paper products, pill production, and textile manufacturing. It even helps supply glucose for people.
2. Research the competition.
Learn about other corn starch processors near you. Examine their goods, business models, and market shares. Check Google News to see what people have written about these companies, and follow their social media accounts.
3. Educate yourself daily.
Set up a Google News Alert for “corn starch manufacturing” and “corn starch food processing.” Start each day with your coffee, and perhaps a baked good made with corn starch, to check your email and read all about new innovations, market outlooks and more. For example, a recent article found through Google News is titled, “Scientists unveil new method that extracts antioxidant nutrients from corn processing waste.”
The article explains that of the more than 120 million metric tonnes of corn starch produced each year, nearly 15 percent is discarded or fed to chickens and other animals. Swedish researchers have consequently successfully claimed to have developed a method to generate nutritional value from what they describe as “a huge side stream.”
4. Find your supply chain source.
HL Agro is a company that provides excellent corn starch. Their products include a variety of grades of maize starch, which cater to industries ranging from food, textile, paper, pharmaceuticals to adhesives. Their products originate in India. Reach out to ask them about what it costs to purchase corn starch from them.
5. Make sure you know what food processing equipment you’ll need to buy.
Corn starch must be cleaned, milled and packaged. One company, Quantum, sells a variety of high-quality manufacturing equipment needed for the production of pizza, prepared meals, bakery goods and more. Their equipment is used by companies from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Korea. Reach out to them for quotes and check out the customer reviews on their website.
6. Make a business plan.
With the financial quotes from the two steps above, develop a business plan that includes an operations plan (the equipment, staff, and production needs for your company). Be sure to include financial projections, i.e. the costs, sales, and earnings of your company for the next three to five years. You can pay corn starch production experts to help you produce a report for around $2400. But if you want to truly understand the numbers yourself, you should use the free templates offered by the Small Business Administration.
7. Register as an official business.
With the help of a lawyer and accountant, choose the best legal structure for your firm, such as a corporation, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), or sole proprietorship.
8. Reach out to potential investors.
You can get financing from your own savings, banks, government-backed loans, investors or through crowdsourcing. But don’t jump to this step too fast. They’ll want to be sure you know your numbers before they give you a dime.
9. Start processing corn starch.
With money in hand, you can rent a place to process corn starch (the United States is home to a high number of corn starch processing facilities), train staff, buy equipment, implement quality control and start selling.
Be sure to check out the cornstarch resourced from India that’s offered by HL Agro and the equipment offered which is used by a variety of businesses to produce foods and goods that include cornstarch.
