Primalista Licence FAQ
Check out the Q&A with Primalistas and answers below. If you don’t find the answer to your question, please get in touch here.
For an in-depth info on earnings have a look here.
Before I share this real life example of when I was producing the Primal Alternative range, back when I just had five products and there was just me – I need to say this:
Primal Alternative makes no guarantee of results or returns for individual Primalistas. Income as a Primalista is entirely dependent on the Primalistas commitment, personal factors and circumstances when producing and selling the Primal Alternative products.
Here is what I baked for my market at the local Steiner School on a Friday afternoon from 3-5pm.
The first cost is the amount in sales and the second is my gross profit after you take out ingredients, label and bag.
- 14 Fruit Toast $223.30 | $126.56
- 4 Zucchini Bread $63.80 | $37.80
- 15 packets of Chocolates Chip Cookies $126 | $81.45
- 20 packets of Gellies (lots of kids here!) $105 | $77.60
- 4 packets of Pizza Bases $56 | $40
I used to bake this every week, most weeks I sold out, sometimes I came back with a few items which I usually sold onto my stockists.
My total sales were $574.10 and my gross profit was $363.41
It used to take me four hours to bake this amount of products and about one hour to bag, label and load the car. I spent 2 hours at the market and the stall cost was $10. This market was a highlight of my week, a real community immersion! I loved the banter with the other stall holders, some of whom are still besties of mine now! I also loved seeing my customers and hearing what a different my products were making in their lives ahhhh!
Costs to consider when selling directly or at a market like this are time spent selling, packing up etc, cost of stall, distance to travel.
There are no ‘normal’ orders in Primal Alternative, the orders vary greatly, but to give you an idea, if I sold the amount in this example to a stockist my gross profit would be $197.43. Remember that with stockists, you bake to their order, no returns and you simply drop off and they do the sale. Still for me, I found this worthwhile as for the time it took to bake this order, I would still be earning $39.48 per hour for my efforts and I got to work from home! BOOM!
It is good to have a mix of direct sales and stockists.
You may find that your ingredients are cheaper to source than mine as I am six hours south of Perth. Victorian Primalistas seem to source the cheapest ingredients making their profit margin higher.
When you become a Primalista, you get access to a Costing Spreadsheet so you can work out your profit margin exactly.
I hope this example gives you a bit of insight. At the end of the day, it is up to you to decide if you feel this is a viable business model for you.
Here is a list of the equipment I think you will need, you may vary the quantities depending on how much you are baking, maybe start conservatively and then build up. My advice is to have a lean start up, avoid shiny things. Start small and build up.
If you are starting with producing the entire range I have calculated your start up costs to be AU$1,814, £630 and without packet mix range AU$1,506. You will recoup some of your start up costs in your first sales, so long as you don’t eat all the cookies!!
Once you have the equipment ready to go, the only on going costs are maintaining your supply of ingredients and labels, your insurance and your Food Business Registration Renewal costs.
- Oven – you already have one 600mm or 900mm are both suitable
- Food Business Registration approx. $500 depending on your council
- Insurance approx. $50 per month
- Thermomix or other food processor with a minimum two litre capacity bowl. I recommend using what you already have to keep a lean start up.
- 20 Tala Loaf Pan $10.39 per tin with our discount. $207.93 for 20.
- 18 pizza trays 23cm diameter with a discount woohoo! $6.92 per tray $124.50 for 18.
- 8 cooling racks sourced from KMART $36
- 8 Insect nets to go over the trays while the products are cooling, I found mine at Spotlight. $56
- 8 Baking trays/Cookie Sheets sourced from KMART $40
- 10 Gellies Mould/Ice cube trays sourced from KMART $15
- Accurate scales I use ‘Ripe’ $39.95
- Baking paper 15m $4
- Water spray (to help stick baking paper to the tins) sourced from KMART $2
- Spatula – a gift from H – FREE
- Apron – a gift from H – FREE
- Hairnet – sourced from eBay 100 for $7.49
- Gloves – to wear for packing the products sourced from Coles 24 pack $4
- Labels – ready made range $209.40 (incl postage) Packet Mix $99
- Bags – Cookies & Pizza/Bread Cellophane Bags 1,000 of each $290
- Biobags for Packet Mix $157
- 200mm no cutter Heat Sealer $120.19
- Ingredients – this is a rough idea but on 5 kilos of almond meal, 10 kilos of tapioca and 1 of everything else: $450
You may already have some of these items at home already. Our tin supplier, KMART and Spotlight regularly have these items on sale as well which can save you some start up costs. ZIP and Afterpay are available at KMART, Spotlight and ZIP is available at our tin supplier if you want to stagger the payments. You can also buy a few things at at time and build up.
Another way to have a lean and less overwhelming start up would be to produce the ready made range only at first, then add Packet Mix range as you get more comfortable in your business.
No, you don’t need to buy a bigger oven, I started with a 600cm oven and upgraded to a 900cm thinking I could fit more in, but I could fit 6-8 loaves in each oven. Getting two extra shelves for your oven can help if you have a 600cm oven. Try your local tip shop or contact the oven manufacturer, this way you can do double cookies and pizzas at one time.
The insurance you are looking to secure is product and public liability insurance. Purchasing insurance is a very personal choice and another task that you will need to research and hunt down for yourself. Google, make some calls and find which one is best for you. Primalista Charmaine Willing AKA Chicken…is an insurance broker and can sort this for you.
When you become a Primalista you’ll get access to our Food Safety Program to help you with your food business registration.
For 75% getting a food business registration is a fairly straightforward process. For the other 25% it’s a bit harder, but they get there.
It’s usually a case of communicating exactly what you want to do.
Council want to see that what you are producing is ‘low risk’ or ‘not potentially hazardous’.
Our Food Safety Programme outlines the production method, storage and has lab tests showing the Products to be ‘low risk’ and ‘not potentially hazourdous’.
You’ll also have the support of over 100 Primalistas who have gone through the process before to help you with any tricky questions.
Pretty much all of us have a pet or two! So long as you can keep the animal out of the kitchen when you are producing you will be fine.
usually the most high tech thing you will need to bake with pets at home is a door to keep them on the other side.
A wipe down of the work bench prior to baking will get rid of any rouge furs!
No! In fact most of our Primalistas excelled during the pandemic. With people focussing on health more than ever some Primalistas recorded an increase in sales, doubled sales and bumper months!
Our online store allows you to trade electronically by allocating orders to the nearest Primalista. You’ll also be able to trade electronically by setting up your own Online Shop on your social media pages or by creating your own website.
We have also provided Contactless delivery by using Australia Express Post or by hand delivering to our customer’s door.
Food production is classified an essential service and Primalistas are safely isolated at home. Even our Victorian based Primalistas were able to exceed 5km radius during strict government lockdowns to continue bringing their wholesome goodies to their customers at markets and online.
For many Primalistas during the pandemic, their Primal Alternative business provides community, a sense of purpose and opportunity to be of service to their community. Running your own business creates more autonomy and control over your income compared to being employed by someone else.
This model is designed for a domestic kitchen. Your kitchen needs to be inspected by your local Environmental Health Officer and you’ll need a Food Business Registration before you start production. Surfaces need to be sealed and ingredients need to be stored in rodent free containers – usually plastic. It is a good idea to have a separate shelf in your pantry or cupboard for Primal Alternative ingredients, if you don’t have the space, plastic storage boxes work well.
You don’t need to convert your home kitchen into a commercial kitchen and you don’t need to renovate in order to become a Primalista!
You can also do this from a commercial kitchen if you like.
On of the Primalista Resources is the Supplier Comparison Spreadsheet which lists all of the Primalistas preferred suppliers. You can work out from there who is best for you based on your location. If you are pioneering Primalista in a new country, you’ll be able to help us develop this data for your country.
You’ll source bulk dry ingredients from one supplier and other ingredients such as the organic butter, veggies and eggs locally.
We’ve costed the organic pricing many times and sadly, it’s not viable. Customers would not pay $35 for a loaf of bread. We source organic ingredients where possible.
From a personal point of view, when going organic I place importance on organic meat and dairy first. So therefore, the butter in the Grain Free Cookies is organic. Our eggs are free range.
Yes, almonds are sprayed but they are removed from their tough protective shell and have their skins removed so perhaps most of the pesticide is removed.
Supply of organic dry bulk goods can also be sporadic, not good if you have customers waiting for your product.
Our products are made in a domestic kitchen, where these products may be. Primalistas have thorough processes to reduce risk of cross contamination but as a disclaimer we include every allergen.
The Primalista Licence rights granted under the agreement are personal and exclusive to the Primalista.
This means that each person wanting to produce needs a licence.
If you and three friends want to become Primalistas that is possible but you need a licence each.
It’s your name on the label and you are liable for the product, therefore, it’s essential you produce the product.
You don’t need any qualifications or prior experience to become a Primalista.
You just need:
- to be wanting a business that is aligned with your values
- love baking
Wow this is something that comes up a lot! I know what you mean!
I battled with this too – ‘who am I to be selling these foods? I’m not perfect’ and really it is just all mind set.
So, congratulations, you’re normal if you feel this way!
Are these thoughts popping up for you:
“Maybe when I get a new kitchen…”
“When I lose that five kilos…”
Those are normal sabotaging thoughts.
We are here to serve our community with alternatives to bread and cookies – we don’t need to feel like we need to be role models for the Primal lifestyle.
The Primal Alternative range has long best before dates which means plenty of time for you and your stockist to sell the products. The fresh products freeze really well apart from the Gellies.
Breads, Cookies & Pizzas 14 days chilled or 3 months frozen
Gellies 14 days chilled
Wraps 5 days chilled
Pastries 3 months frozen
Granolas 9 months ambient
Mixes 6 months ambient
Wholefoods 12 months ambient
No, the recipes have been designed to be replicable -they need to be easy so that we can all produce similar products.
We are working with nuts, seeds, vegetables and oils here so it is a simple case of MEASURE MIX AND BAKE – nothing technical like proving, rising or needing that is associated with conventional wheat and water baking!
Check out the short video above explaining why Primal Alternative does not have geographical territory.
With a Primal Alternative Producers Licence, you can produce and sell Primal Alternative products anywhere in the world. However, a Primalista cannot approach an existing Primal Alternative stockist. So that means there are no geographical territories but there are stockist territories. How do we ensure this? Primalistas all charge the same across the board, this encourages collaboration and avoids under cutting – that’s so 90’s!
Worried about stepping on another Primalistas toes? We have an amazing and simple communication tool called the Target Stockist Spreadsheet to avoid stepping on anybody’s toes.
Geographical territories wouldn’t work with this business model. This is for two reasons, the first reason being it would be almost impossible to divide the world into territories as the product has many potential sales outlets. For example, someone in your town may be producing for a local market, but you want to sell it to a chain of Health Shops.
Primal Alternative is a collaborative community.
If for example you are going on holiday, you could contact another producer in your area and see if they want to cover your orders whilst you are away.
Ordering ingredients? Split the freight costs with a nearby Primalista.
Got a big order you can’t manage this week – reach out to the community and ask for help.
Noticed a big expo is coming to town? Team up with another Producer and run a stall together!
The question is not – is there anybody else producing in my area but which stockists am I going to sell to – something we will cover together in the interview.
I go through the Target Stockist Spreadsheet with each potential Primalista to make sure there is enough potential in their area – so be sure to keep it up to date.
I won’t make an offer to another Primalista, plus they won’t want to join if every single potential stockist is being looked after by you.
The chances of there being no potential stockists is very slim though!
There are many benefits to having a nearby Primalista including sharing freight costs, covering each other plus having a new friend who gets it!
The products have had successful sales in: health shops, grocery stores, health practitioners (chiropractors, naturopaths, nutritionists etc) cafes, restaurants, gourmet pizza shops & markets, friendship networks, veggie box companies and via social media.
Write down a list of places you want to sell your products to and we will run through each of them in the Interview.
I’ll use our Target Stockist Spreadsheet to make sure you aren’t stepping on another Primalista’s toes – and that we both feel there is enough stockist potential for your business based on what you are wanting to achieve.
You need to make sales to have a business, so there is no need to think that sales is bad.
Selling a delicious nourishing food that aligns with your values is easier than you might think.
The Primal Alternative marketing assets and sales and marketing training will help you approach a customer and get a sale.
Selling is really just sharing what you do and making offers.
We have no minimum order quantity (MOQ) so it’s easy for stockists to give us a go.
Primalistas sell at full retail price at markets and for all direct sales.
Primalistas sell at wholesale price to stockists/retailers and the Primal Alternative Online Shop.
See a break down of the wholesale and retail profit margins here.
One question I have been asked by people interested in buying a Licence has been about website referrals – so if a stockist wants to order online – how does that filter back to the producer.
The website shows a list of producers and has their contact details so the stockist can contact the producer directly.
If, however, an order comes to me I will simply send it on to the nearest producer in that area.
If that producer is too busy, they can contact another local producer via the online community.
Orders come in centrally via the Primal Alternative Online Shop.
Each state has an Admin (volunteer role, each Primalista takes turn one quarter) who adds the order to their state Online Shop Group.
The order goes to the nearest Primalista.
If there is a cluster of Primalistas in a similar area – they take turns.
If the Primalista is too busy or doesn’t want the order, they can pass.
Primalistas invoice the Shop at wholesale price at the end of the month.
The real food market is booming and there are other Paleo/vegan/keto/low carb breads and snacks on the market.
The thing that makes Primal Alternative unique is that this is an international brand, but it is produced locally.
All of our products are locally hand made using local ingredients like eggs and vegetables.
Generally, supporters of the real food movement value products that are produced in their community.
Our packaging is compostable which is another strong unique brand proposition.
Yes you can. Only the Primal Alternative range can carry the Primal Alternative name. You may find however, that you will be busy enough producing the Primal Alternative products.
Head here to register your ABN (if you don’t already have one, if you do have one you can keep using that). A suggested name for your business is Primal Alternative by [your first name] – unless it’s taken. Cost is around $90 in Australia.
You’ll also need to register your business name with ASIC – or the equivalent of, in your country.
We have a preferred supplier for our labels but you can also download the artwork and have it printed professionally yourself.
YES! Primal Alternative is a home business that has the potential to be replicated anywhere in the world. The two things you need first is permission from your council to produce food for the public from home and insurance. There will be extra leg work involved if you are the first Primalista your country including legal, costings and labeling.
We have Primalistas in New Zealand, United Kingdom and USA.
No, there is nothing really to sell on.
When you want to ‘hang up your apron’ all you need to do is let me know in an email. We’ll help you wrap up your business by passing stockists/customers on to other Primalistas (where possible). You can sell your equipment in the Primalistas Facebook Group.
There are no penalties to pay for leaving. If you have money owed on a Licence Payment Plan – you’ll need to pay that off. The monthly membership will stop.
Primal Alternative isn’t just about selling bread and making money, it’s about personal growth, contributing in a meaningful way, making new friends and having new experiences.
I’m sure you’ll love the Primalista experience and get a lot from it.
Here’s what departing Primalista Peta had to say when she hung up her apron:
Helen, Just to say thank you once again for the opportunity to be a part of the Primal Alternative team. Thank you for your support and empowering me with business skills. I have enjoyed the Primal Alternative journey immensely.
I asked our Primalistas these frequently asked questions:
- Is getting council approval fairly straight forward?
- Is there a market for Primal Alternative?
- Was it scary approaching stockists?
- Is the Primal Alternative community really that supportive?
- Is the Licence a good investment?
- How long did it take to get your first sale?
- and more…
Check out the survey responses in this quick video below: