Make Money Side Hustles

12 Best Side Hustles for Foodies (# 7 Is Easier Than You Think)

Turn your love for food into cash with a side hustle that celebrates your foodie status.

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Updated May 28, 2024
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Do you love going out to eat or making delicious meals at home?

You could turn your love for food into a side hustle and make extra money to put toward a major purchase, keep for fun spending money, or even retire early.

Check out this list of side hustles for foodies and see if one of these options works for you.

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Start a blog

bnenin/Adobe freelancer woman using laptop at home

Starting a blog could be a great side hustle if you like to write about food.

You can talk about restaurants you’ve tried, and recipes you like, or help other foodies navigate certain types of cuisine you enjoy such as desserts or gluten-free foods.

Bloggers can earn money finding advertisers to pay for placements, or you can post on websites that allow readers to give you money for your content.

Become a chef

Marina April/Adobe woman cutting salami in kitchen

If you enjoy cooking for yourself, you also might enjoy cooking for someone else.

Consider starting a side hustle by making fresh meals that clients can buy and warm up at home. You could also start a dessert business making cakes or cookies for potential clients for money.

The best part of taking on a side hustle as a chef is you can set your schedule based on how many hours you have or how many clients you want to take on.

Write reviews

chinnarach/Adobe man giving review using smartphone

Local newspapers, magazines, or websites may want reviews of places to eat around town so check and see if you can get a job writing reviews.

It can be easy to write reviews as a freelancer to earn a little money on nights and weekends while also enjoying a good meal or testing out the latest trendy spot in town.

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Start a YouTube cooking channel

Atstock Productions/Adobe african american female chef live streaming

Share your knowledge of cooking with others as well as pull together your video skills with a YouTube channel about food.

You can show viewers the best restaurants in town or have a cooking or baking show at home and teach people how to make different items.

You also may want to consider repurposing videos you shoot for a YouTube show into snippets for places like TikTok to generate additional interest.

Take pictures of food

pavel siamionov/Adobe hand photographing food at restaurant

Combine your love of food with your love of photography and become a food photographer.

As a freelance photographer, you can take photos of food for stories run by local news organizations, or you can get hired directly by restaurants to take promotional photos of their plates for websites or advertisements.

Start a garden

Kostiantyn/Adobe senior couple holding boxes with herbs

You may have plenty of space in your backyard and ideas for what you want to grow. Branch out and sell what you grow to make extra cash.

You may want to get a stall at a farmer’s market for your tomatoes and cucumbers, or consider selling fresh herbs from your garden on neighborhood sites for local residents who want to try some fresh basil, mint, or rosemary.

Write a cookbook

LIGHTFIELD STUDIOS/Adobe man using cookbook in kitchen

You may be surprised to find out it’s easy to self-publish your own book on sites like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Kobo.

Take your favorite recipes you’ve created and put them in a cookbook that you can sell for money as a side hustle.

You can collect the recipes and publish them or think about adding anecdotes to the recipes or telling stories about an event or family gathering when you made a specific dish.

Teach cooking classes

irissca/Adobe woman making pastry in kitchen live

Spread your love for cooking food to others with classes that teach your clients how to make certain dishes themselves.

You may be able to find a local culinary center that will allow you to rent out space for classes or even add you to their roster of chefs for different classes. You could also teach classes online using options like YouTube or Zoom to reach a larger audience.

Become a beekeeper

kosolovskyy/Adobe female beekeeper with honey comb

Bees are helpful creatures that pollinate plants and give them what they need to grow.

If you have the space in your yard, it could be fun to house beehives on your property to give bees a home and create delicious honey you can sell as a side hustle.

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Deliver food

Rido/Adobe delivery man delivering takeaway food

There are some easy food delivery side hustles like Grubhub and DoorDash that you can take on while visiting your favorite restaurants or learning about new ones in the area.

You can take on orders any time of the day to earn extra cash, or discover the busiest times when you can earn the most money as you run your routes.

Enter contests

Drobot Dean/Adobe covering face with money

There are plenty of contests out there for you to showcase your talents as a foodie and maybe even win money.

Check out places like state fairs to show off what you can bake or find places that want your best recipes with the winners getting cash to be published.

You can also use your contest winnings to build up your reputation as a foodie and get more attention for other side hustles you may want to try out, like self-publishing a recipe book or making videos about how to bake your winning entries.

Make food-related crafts

Prostock-studio/Adobe street vendor preparing tacos outdoors

You don’t have to make meals or desserts to use your love for food and turn it into a lucrative side hustle.

Think about knitting oven mitts, designing tags for food gifts, or making cutting boards if you’re good at woodworking.

There are plenty of ways you can combine another hobby with your love of food and celebrate both with products you can sell for a profit.

Bottom line

skumer/Adobe woman with hot dog at cafe

Turn your love for food into something your bank account can love too with side hustles that bring in cash.

Check your wallet for the best rewards credit cards that can earn you extra perks or points if you plan to start a side hustle that may require some spending on things like ingredients or equipment.

You can also consider where you want to save your money from your side hustles such as a high-yield savings account or a retirement fund if you plan to use your side hustle stash to retire early.

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