I hope I can post this. I am thinking about becoming a distributor; I'm pretty impressed w/ their products. Any feedback for me-good, bad, and the ugly? TIA! Lynne

I liked a few of their products...just a few,,,.corn and black bean salsa and bbq bean mix come to mind I had a friend who was a distributor. She quit after 6 months. She liked the product but it just really didn't sell well around here. Most home party type things don't do well since most people would rather shop the internet. I saw probably a handful of people selling out their remaining inventory at garage sales last spring/summer so I assume they too were distributors.

If I were you, I would ask my friends, neighbors, family, if they are products they are looking for because more than likely, you'll rely on them for your parties and/or income. If it's a tough sell to them, it's probably going to be a tough sell elsewhere

I wouldn't fork over a big start up charge but wish you luck, whatever you decide

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I haven't heard of this BUT most people I know HATE those kind of parties. I don't like them, won't do them and subject my friends to come to my house to be pressured to buy something. That's just me though.

I have a friend who used to sell Homemade Gourmet. She did okay with it but I seem to remember her complaining about how much she had to spend to keep her membership or whatever. She recently got out of it because it was costing her too much, plus she just had her fourth child and is going to school.
As for their products, they're okay. My family kind of likes more "plain" stuff so there wasn't a whole lot we ordered. We did really like the bacon cheeseburger mix, though.

peapie

I was a distributor for a little while. I also found it very difficult to sell. The stuff tastes okay, but you can get similar stuff in the grocery store or just make yourself.

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I have been going back and forth w/ this one. The comission is pretty good. Fortunately the start up is pretty cheap, and the products actually are pretty good, albeit a bit expensive in my eyes. However, I have a lot of friends that eat out/order out/ several times a week. The new focus is stashing your freezer/fridge w/ ready to eat meals, so that you can just dine @ home. Made the meatloaf last night-I make an awesome meatloaf, but this one is really good. Instead of Catt's sticky chicken, I used one of the mixes to marinate/baste the chicken in-really fabulous. I just don't know....

I don't know about Homemade Gourmet, but I love Tastefully Simple. I, too am not a huge fan of the parties, but I have a distributor that I just call when I want something. No pressure. Home sales can be tough.

I don't know about Homemade Gourmet either but I'm a Tastefully Simple consultant and one of the really good things with the food sales is the re-order business. I do it part-time to supplement my income and I love it.

Good luck with whatever you choose, you can email me with questions if you like at auvilmom@yahoo.com.

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I was born free, but now I'm expensive!

A friend of ours became a HG distributor last year. She spent more $ on joining/setting herself up for parties, than she made in profits. I know that is not the case for everyone but she and her husband were unhappy about spending hundreds of dollars and they did not break even, they lost money in the end.

I hate those types of parties but made an exception and went to one to support her. I would not go again lol. It was ok, some things were tasty, most were just okay and imo, most stuff is overpriced.

I do remember a cranberry flavored chicken/turkey salad mix that she kept asking me to try...I was grossed out because the cranberry stuff turned the whole dish an ugly pink/red color. A pink chicken salad was very unappealing to me, makes me think it's raw....ewwwwwwwwwwwww.

The spaghetti sauce seasoning mix & the garlic/basil seasoning for chicken..those 2 were delicious. I would buy those items again, but wouldn't buy anything else.

Some people do really well at those businesses, I have a relative who does Pampered Chef and she makes about $300 each party. I think it just depends on the area, how many people you have in your 'warm market', if they have disposable cash & like those products..

I'm a distributor and I signed up last April after going to a friends party. I didn't want to go to the party but of course went to help my friend because I hated to cook, didn't like to plan meals and if it didn't come out of a box and wasn't easy than I didn't want to mess with it! I went and when I got there I'm so picky that I really didn't want to taste anything either but I did...most everything that the distributor had there to sample I liked, I was really suprised! Then when I started looking at the catalog lots of things looked really good. So I only ordered a couple things to start, I did end up booking a party and decided to do the 4 meals in 4 minutes party which I was too sure about and didn't know how well it would go over with friends but everyone that cam to the party loved it because they got to go home with food for the week and it was easy too!

So for me this is a great job! I have alot of customers and people are interested! I make good money from it and also have started cooking 5-6 days a week because it's easy and fast!

Hey guys, thanks so much for all of your input. I have been testing the food all week-it is pretty good. My family has had good reviews. Now I'm a pretty creative cook, so I am quite biased when it comes to good food. And I am CHEAP....Can I cook food just as good/cheaper w/o all of the seasonings? Yes, I can. But, I have a lot of friends who don't cook, order out, do the Super Suppers, or just eat the same things over and over again. I made the garlic-basil chicken tonight, served over angel hair pasta, and my six year old came back for seconds (even knowing there was a root-beer float for dessert). The person that I am going to sign up under is way cool. She is doing my first party for me. She is GIVING me the total 40% commision of my party toward my start-up costs, along w/ all of my mixes for my first show. It's only $79 for the starter kit, so she thinks I will be in the black before I even start-how generous is that? The beauty of this is that you don't really need to have stock on hand-everything can be ordered fast through the internet. I know I won't get rich, but it might be a fun way to get out of the house, and make a few bucks.

My sister has been doing it for years and loves it!

I guess i am one of those weird people who likes going to home parties...to me it is just like a night out with the girls, and I figure the 10-20 bucks i would spend on dinner out with friends is just as well spent helping out someone trying to make a living, or help out her family. We still get to chat and eat...

i have learned alot from my sister about meal planning and freezer meals from HG.

Good luck!