Is flour mill business profitable? Do you want to start a flour production company from scratch? Or do you need a sample flour production business plan?
Almost all the junk food we eat these days is made of flour; the cake, the hamburger, the pizza, the doughnut, name it, is made of flour. There are different types of flour and each type of flour depends on the raw material used to produce the flour.
For example, wheat flour is made from wheat, maize flour is made from maize / corn; then there are others like rice flour, cocoyam flour and yam flour and I guess you know the raw materials that each of these types of flour are made from.
Starting a flour company is a very profitable business that can break even after a few years due to the high demand for flour by companies that use the flour as a raw material to produce other finished products.
The main end-users of flour products are bakeries for the production of bread and related cakes, pharmaceutical companies and food processing companies, individuals engaged in small bakery businesses.
In this article, I will provide you with a sample wheat flour mill business plan and also tell you how to start your own flour production company.
3 reasons to open a flour production company
High demand: I have explained this point earlier in this article that one of the reasons for opening a flour producing company is because there is a high demand for flour from bakery companies and other food processing companies.
Readily available raw materials: the raw materials needed in flour production are readily available and cheap to obtain. for example, if your company produces maize flour, the only major raw material you need is maize, which is easily available from farmers. you can concentrate on producing more than one type of flour, as all processes are almost the same. for example, your company can produce both wheat flour, maize flour and millet flour if you have a source for bulk quantities of wheat, maize and millet.
Easy loan for expansion: you can easily get loans from a bank or other financial institutions for the expansion of your business. Since flour is a high-demand, fast-moving product, most banks will not hesitate to provide a loan to expand your business, since they know you can pay back the loan with interest.
Starting a flour production company business plan
1. Training on how to operate production machinery:
unless you have worked in a flour mill before, you should receive basic training on how to operate the machinery used in the milling and subsequent production of the raw materials for finishing flour. You also need to know about other ingredients that are added to get the final result.
2. Register your business as a company:
you may not start as a mass flour mill, but you dream of expanding your business to a flour mill one day, so you should register your business as a company; preferably a limited liability company. This also gives you the privilege of patenting any new flour product you invent in your company name.
3. Rent a space for your mill:
when you have finished with the formal registration, you should look for a space to buy or rent as your mill complex. A basic flour mill does not require much space to start.
You mainly need a place to store the raw materials, a space for your machinery, a space to store the processed flour for packaging and the space for the final packaging of the flour. The location of the factory must be easily accessible to facilitate the transport of the raw material to the site and the easy dispatch of the packaged flour to the customers.
4. buy equipment and materials:
once you get the space for the factory, it is time to buy the equipment and machinery you will need for the production. Part of the need to go to training is to know which equipment is vital for the flour product and how to use each of them. You can also lease machinery if the company is operating on a tight budget, but try to buy your own sets to make enough money.
5. source of raw materials:
it’s time to look for the raw materials you need for production. As I mentioned earlier, the raw material you will need depends on the type of flour you are producing. A good place to get raw materials is from farmers who grow the raw materials in commercial quantities.
If you have additional land, you may decide to grow your own raw material which can be cheaper but more stressful with all the cultivation, breeding, waiting for maturity and finally the harvesting processes. Therefore, it is much better to buy from the farmers.
6. find customers for your products:
at this stage, I assume that the first set of flour production has been made and packed; so you should look for buyers for the finished product.
A good way to do this is to get a list of bakeries, food processing companies and pharmaceutical companies near your location; write a proposal for you to have a flour company that can supply them with the amount of flour they require.
Also include a small sample of the flour you made for them to see the product you have, and finally let them know that you can produce other types of flour to order (if you have the equipment to produce several types of flour).
This is all you need to know to start a flour production mill. Note that you should obtain certification from the organization responsible for verifying the quality of food products at your location, as this will help to increase the authenticity of your product for your customers.
Also, remember that the packaging process includes the use of a bag or sack that is marked with your company name and logo to pack your flour; as this helps to advertise your products to anyone who comes into contact with them.