Is Tastefully Simple legit or a scam? Read this review before you invest!

Welcome to my Tastefully Simple review!

You may have gone through the internet and search for ingredients and items for your recipes.

As you’re searching, you may have come across with Tastefully Simple.

You may have seen that they offer good products and a multi-awarded company. As you’re browsing, you might have also noticed that they also offer a business opportunity.

It might have aroused your curiosity and wondered whether their business opportunity is a worthy shot.

In this review, I’ll attempt to put those doubts away and help you decide whether you should invest or not.

So without further delays, let’s begin…

According to its BBB profile, it was founded in 1995 by Jill Blashack Strahan.

The company is currently headquartered in Jill’s hometown of Minnesota.

She and her company are also multi-awarded being the recipient of award-giving bodies like Stevie Awards for Women in Business, Twin Cities Business Magazine, and Ernst and Young Awards.

However, we won’t be talking about their products any further since our main focus here is their business opportunity—whether it’s a good investment and a reliable source of income in the future, or is it a pyramid scheme in disguise?

Let’s continue…

The Tastefully Simple business opportunity

If you look deep into the structure of Multi-Level Marketing businesses, you’ll find a common trait of complexity and almost incomprehensible compensation plans.

From the looks of it, you might even need a finance expert to decipher the whole thing.

It’s a typical practice most MLMs do to prevent potential investors from asking many questions. They do so because networking marketing is flawed that they obtained the reputation of being a pyramid scheme or just an outright scam.

The Federal Trade Commission even told publicly through their research that success in MLMs is extremely rare. I will explain more about this in the following sections.

And to completely save their selves from further questionings, they would just show you how high the potential earnings would be.

As a result, you would get enticed and persuade altogether to join the networking scheme.

However, I am not saying that all MLMs are a scam. What I am saying is that the likelihood of earning any reliable income from them is extremely rare.

Tastefully Simple did not disclose how their compensation plan works. They did not even provide a copy of it anywhere online.

In reality, however, MLMs only has two basic income streams—retail sales and recruitment.

As mentioned, there were no compensation plans anywhere on the internet. So in this review, I will be discussing what I’ve gathered that’s based on the littlest information they had disclosed.

Let’s continue to the next section and discuss each of them…

What are its income streams?

Income is based on retail sales

It is a 30% or 40% commission based on product sales.

However, it is unclear how this income feature really works since they did not provide any compensation plan online.

It could be confusing, to say the least, because you don’t know how much you’re really earning.

There was also a mention of earning free products worth 10%. So it means that if you are able to make a $400 sale, then you get $40 worth of products in return.

And then, they also get a meal kit or any company products at a discounted price if they book a house party.

Lastly, for you to keep your status and remain active in the company, you need to maintain the required personal volume.

You can do this by reaching your quota for retail sales.

In an MLM setting, a retail sale is not exclusive to sales from retail customers. The consultant may also actively purchase company products for the sake of remaining active in the company.

In addition to this, you also have to settle monthly fees on your website, which would cost you $10.95 per month.

And then, you also have to make an additional payment of $29.95 annually.

Income is based on recruitment

Although both retail sales and recruitment involves product sales, it relies heavily on recruitment.

Recruiting and building a large network is the bread and butter of MLMs. It is where most of the commissions and bonuses are based from.

In general, you earn commissions when you initially recruit someone. And your earnings are based on the package availed by the recruit.

And then, you earn commissions again if your lower network was able to make recruitments and retail sales.

As mentioned, we cannot know for sure how their compensation plan really works since they did not provide any.

In MLMs, increasing your ranks means advancements. And as you progress, it also means more income.

But take note that as you progress, the steps to the following ladder becomes more difficult.

The FTC says that one of the reasons why only an approximate of 1% succeed in MLM is because of recruitment.

As easy as recruitment may sound, it is not simple, really.

Recruiting new members possess a lot of challenges considering that MLMs have gained a lot of bad publicity today—one example is AdvoCare.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that all MLMs are a pyramid scheme or scam. But I think you shouldn’t invest in them and look for other opportunities.

If you’re looking for a better opportunity, one that’s risk-free and no initial membership fees, then you have to check out the description below—

How much will it cost me to join?

Like any other MLMs out there, you have to choose at least one membership package to join. This is on top of the membership fee you have to settle as well.

Tastefully Simple offers two options in joining their network. The first one is what they call the 20-meal kit that would cost you $200.

The other is comprised of three packages which include the following—

• The Creating Magic 10-Meal Kit which would cost you $69.99
• 14-Day Rest Kit which would cost you $149.99
• The Better Than Take-Out 10-Meal Kit which would cost you $69.99

Aside from the membership packages, you also have to provide a $39.95 registration fee.

The expenses don’t end there. On top of these already costly membership fees, you may also have to pay for marketing materials that you will use when presenting the business opportunity to prospects.

It may include the following additional materials—

• Food Party Pack which would cost you $8.95
• Preview Invites which would cost you $2.95
• Catalog and order forms which would cost you about $11.95

However, these materials are optional. But I’m sure that recruiters may attempt to sell them anyway.

I imagine them saying that you may need these materials to improve your business.

As you can see, becoming an MLM agent is expensive, considering how risky and low-income potential the scheme is.

Check out the description and discover how you can achieve financial freedom without having to pay a lot of money—

Can you make a reliable income from Tastefully Simple?

Success in Multi-Level Marketing is extremely rare! Just ask the Federal Trade Commissions.

A study conducted by the FTC found out that almost 100% of people who join MLMs lose money than earn anything.

This instance was discussed elaborately in Jon Taylors’ book, “Multi-Level Marketing Unmasked.”

It was further explained that people who join MLMs are more likely to incur losses because of two factors—

Recruitment

As I mentioned earlier, recruitment is the bread and butter of MLMs. It is where commissions and bonuses are based from.

In joining MLMs, your main goal is to improve your personal volume. And you can achieve through your personal retail sales and recruitment, but more importantly, through retail sales and recruitment made by your lower network.

For newly recruited consultants, they may probably go first to people they know like family members, friends, and few acquaintances, maybe.

Although these groups of people may know the consultant, it is still not a guarantee that they would invest in the company.

What’s worse is that it may even lead to annoyance or resentment if the consultant persistently pushes the business opportunity to them.

It becomes even more difficult as soon as the consultant runs out people they know and tries to sell the business opportunity to those people they don’t know.

It is extra challenging if the consultant has no sales or marketing experience.

You have to take note that you need to be able to create a large network and make sure they remain active.

And as easy as it may sound, it is not. This instance often causes stress to the consultant and eventually leads to become inactive and quit the business.

Capitalization

In improving your personal volume, it also means you have to make a specific sales quota to advance in rankings and potentially earn a higher income in the future.

Now, sales quota doesn’t have to come from retail customers, as mentioned earlier. It may also come from the consultants themselves and the lower network.

Have you heard of Garage Qualified?

It is a special term used to describe MLM consultants that tend to over-purchase company products for the sake of keeping or improving their status.

On top of that, they also have to make monthly membership fees to maintain an active status.

This often results in the consultant running out of funds to finance their business. Thus, it causes them to become inactive and quit altogether eventually.

Is Tastefully Simple a scam?

No. I don’t believe that Tastefully Simple is a pyramid scheme or an outright scam.

They are in the business for so long, and I did not find any reason to believe that they are a scam.

I believe that Tastefully Simple is a legitimate MLM business that specializes in the food niche.

However, some may argue that MLMs are pyramid schemes in disguise. Although I agree to some extent, the two are different in terms of legality.

MLMs are technically legal because you get value in return for your so-called initial membership and package payments.

And these values are in the form of products that the consultant can sell for profits.

On the other hand, a pyramid scheme is high risk and doesn’t provide anything in return—what you get is only a promise of high returns.

As a result, a pyramid scheme is illegal and banned in some countries worldwide.

What I Don't Like About Tastefully Simple

Success is recruitment-based

For you to have a better chance of advancement and earn a higher income, you have to recruit and create a large network.

Expensive products 

As you may have seen above, their products are quite expensive.

No income disclosure statement

Although being around for at least 25 years, the company wasn’t able to provide an income disclosure statement to validate any earnings of their consultant.

What I Like About Tastefully Simple

What you’ll basically be doing is to promote a brand using an affiliate link through your online site.

The affiliate link shall be provided by the company offering specific products or services.

You earn commissions as soon as someone engages the link and eventually purchases the products or services offered.

Of course, you need a lot of traffic driven into your website in order to succeed.

If you are a complete newbie and don’t know where to start, then tickle the description above and learn how you can create a profitable website from scratch.

Thank you for taking time off and reading my review about this MLM business.

Until next time!

Peace!