This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
Today's episode of the podcast could be known as weird grocery items. Weird grocery items. Can you make money finding and reselling discounted snacks or cult favorite condiments? In this episode we're going to explore the potentially lucrative world of rare grocery resale. Every once in a while somebody goes viral for tracking down a long lost soda flavor or selling a discontinued snack for 10 to 20 times or more. It's original price on eBay. But what if that
wasn't just a fun moment? What if it was a business? That's what we're going to hear about today. Question from a listener who has the skill, a valuable gift we could say of finding obscure regional out of print grocery items. Is it out of print? Do you actually say something
is out of print if it's not in the grocery store, maybe out of stock? I don't know. Whatever it is, hot sauces, cereal brands, limited edition chips that were only sold in one state or province. This listener wants to know, could this in fact be a real side hustle? Can they make money curating and reselling grocery unicorns or is it more trouble than it's worth? Let's look into the
mechanics of resale random grocery items. Today's podcast. My name is Chris Guillebeau. Thanks for being out there. Detailed question and my answer coming right up. Hey, Chris. I'm Remy for Providence.
I have a weird talent. I can always find discontinued grocery items, obscure snacks, or regional foods that aren't available in most places. Friends constantly ask me to ship them stuff, whether it's a hard to find hot sauce, a cereal that's no longer sold nationally, or it's some obscure soda flavor that they loved as a kid. It kept me thinking, could this be a real side hustle? I'm not trying to start a full on import export business, but I wonder if there's a way to turn my grocery finding superpower into income. How would I go about it? And are there legal or
logistical hurdles I should watch out for? I don't have any formal experience, but I genuinely love this topic. Is this a viable side hustle or just one of those things that sounds good but isn't really sustainable? Well, this is delightfully weird and also a little bit viable, meaning that it could work. It's feasible. There is a market for what our caller here is describing. They're
not the only one nostalgic for Crystal Pepsi, perhaps, or a very specific flavor of Doritos that only existed for six months. Personally, I'm more interested in just finding snacks that are available and fresh rather than tracking down old ones, but that's just me. As I said, there's a market. So a couple of real world examples here, Rare Snacks Toronto and Exotic Boulevard. They are specialty retailers. They resell international and rare snacks online.
People often resell these kinds of food items on eBay. You can find discontinued salad dressings, in fact, old school candy, even limited run Starbucks syrups, syrups, like the flavoring that goes in some Starbucks coffee, for serious markups. There's also this whole niche or sub industry on TikTok now, TikTok and YouTube, for people who review impossible to find snacks, which helps drive interest in demand. There is a bit of market interest. As for how you can test it out, pick a narrow category first. I would say don't try to do
every weird grocery item. Maybe start with those nostalgic cereals, discounted sodas, hot sauces from different regions. Just pick one. Then use eBay or Facebook Marketplace, maybe another channel or two, but not many. Start with a couple things to test demand. List a couple
items with clear expiration dates. You want to be clear about that. And the markup that includes your sourcing effort. Some snack resellers charge two to four times the retail price. Some charge 10 times the retail price if the item is hard to get. Be careful with any legality, shipping
alcohol or refrigerated items can open up lots of complexity that you probably don't want to deal with. You're usually fine with shelf stable, sealed, non-perishable goods. But again, make sure you list those expiration dates, never sell opened or tampered items and you should be okay. Last but not least, maybe lean into the weirdness, like the more specific and quirky your niche, the more likely it is to resonate. You could even build a little brand around lost snacks or forgotten flavors. That could be fun. So it is a real opportunity. Works best when approached
creatively and carefully. Never forget how much people love nostalgia. They will pay for it. Good luck. Let us know how it goes listeners. Let me know what you're up to as well. This is episode
3101 3101 of the podcast. It's always free. Subscribe, follow wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, I hope you'll continue to listen. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle
School. From the Onward Project.
