# UPC and insurance question



## wildflowerlanehoney (Aug 17, 2010)

I recently got the opportunity to sell honey in a small chain grocery store. I can not produce enough to meet their needs, but they are fine with "Locally produced" honey. My contact there has said that I need to be insured and have UPC codes on my bottles.

Where do I begin with this? 

First the insurance.....what do I need and how much does it cost me for the basics?

Next the UPC......I dont know where to start, I need some direction.

Is there anything else that I could be missing? This may not even be worth my effort, but I want to explore it at the very least.

Thanks for any advise!!


----------



## Riskybizz (Mar 12, 2010)

They are asking you for proof of liability insurance in the event an incident occurs. We only sell to a few retail outlets here and our $1,000,000 umbrella policy covers our needs. It can be added as a rider to your current insurance (provided you have a current policy). The UPC is a bar code that most retail outlets use to sell and inventory their goods. My advice to you would be to try and market your honey yourself at a farmers market or special event instead of trying to service a chain store grocery and not being able to supply that demand. Start small and grow into your sales.


----------



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

As far as insurance, I would ask the store what their insurance requirements for vendors are. Once you know what they require, then you can talk to some insurance agents about what you actually need.

An older thread on UPC codes is one place to start:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?226318-UPC-Codes


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Wild,
Seems like a big step to take. Until you have enough honey to keep at least one pound jars and 12 oz. honeybears on the shelf all year round the cost of establishing a UPC Code Certificate and making it part of your label is somewhat costly. I forget exactly how much doing so initially cost me, $150.00 maybe, but it costs me something like $75.00 per year to maintain my Company Prefix.

If you don't keep a shelf space filled w/ your honey it won't be there the next time you get around to making a delivery the next year. Maybe the store you are dealing w/ will do that for you. Maybe not.

But if they would then it seems to me like they would be willing to forego the bar code. They probably just want to make direct store delivery standard and easy on the Backdoor Manager.

If you do sell honey to this store, try to get them to pay you when you deliver. Otherwise it's going to be as much as three week to a month before you will see your money. Ain't nothing more satisfying than cash in hand upon delivery.

Have fun.


----------



## primeonly27 (Jun 23, 2011)

You can also use a generic UPC that is for honey. It costs nothing but is registed to someone else such as the national honey board and if people try a search on it they will get the owner of it and not you. The other route is to get one from codeupc.net for about $2 each upc if you buy several such a 8oz. 1lb. 2lb. and 3lb


----------

