Home Cake Baking Business: How to Start a Home Cake Baking Business

You don’t have to invest in a commercial kitchen to start a home baking enterprise.  Verify the legality of the enterprise by studying the cottage food laws in your area.

Homemade food is heavily regulated such as tinned, bottled, dried or refrigerated food. You can start a cake baking business from home or a commercial kitchen.

We ran a cake and snack making business for ten years before diversifying into other ventures. The business is moderately profitable and slightly challenging.

Making cakes is rather hard work you get up early, measure the ingredients and bake. You work under extreme time constraints to meet supply and contractual obligations

Are you good at making delicious cakes then consider starting a home based cake baking business? The business works both part time and full time and the reward depends on the number and type of customers you get.

To start the enterprise-write a simple business plan as a guide. Startup costs are small and the basic requirements are mixers, blenders, bowls and an oven.

Licensing and Permits

You don’t have to register your enterprise as a liability company because a simple business name will suffice. Create a business name for your enterprise as a corporate identity.

 However, if you want to register the business make it a sole proprietorship (one man business). Find out local government laws, licenses and permits in your area.

Different laws apply according to country and geographical location. Food vending has health provisions for people handling food for commercial purposes.

They require clean health certification on some common ailments or diseases. Other regulated laws are a clean hygienic kitchen and other standards. Visit the chamber and commerce in your state for helpful information.

To start a cottage food business requires food management course and certification in some countries. This is to prevent unwholesome practices, sickness and food safety.

There are other considerations such as taxation and staff. Find out if your products are subjected to sales tax.
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Business Plan

Develop a business plan that works for you. You need to factor into your business plan marketing and cost of product.

Other things are sourcing your raw ingredients, equipment, transportation and sales outlet. Accurate pricing, quality products and a viable customer base will help budgeting and planning.

Funding

Startup costs for home-based cake baking is relatively low. The major equipment is the oven, electric blender, baking pans and cost of ingredients. The cost of the ingredients can be deferred to the customer on placement of orders.

Secure funding from personal savings, target savings, friends and family. Unless you want to run a commercial kitchen outside your home you don’t need bank loans.

Home-Based or Commercial

Since you are selling to the general public your business is regarded as a commercial entity. Make sure your kitchen conforms to local government laws guiding the food and snack industry.  The kitchen should comply with strict provisions and rules.

Create a Menu

Create a menu list by highlighting the different verities of cakes on offer. This can be done with a glossy brochure complete with photographs.

The brochure highlights the images, description, size and prices. This is good for marketing purposes and to visually inform customers of your products.

Other things to include in the brochure are your business address, phone number and other services such as delivery or packaging.

Source Supplies

The basic ingredients used for cakes are flour, sugar, butter, flavor and baking powder. There are other ingredients to enhance taste such as nuts, fruits, berries and edible flowers.

You best bet at turning a profit is to buy your ingredients wholesale. This reduces the overall cost and gives room for profit margins. If you work on orders buy according to your needs to execute the contract.

Equipment

The basic equipment needed to start the business is pots, cake pans, electric mixer and blender. You need a good oven, scale for measuring the ingredients, measure spoons and cake tins.

Branding

To carve a niche you need proper branding. Create an easy to remember business name and use effective marketing strategies to grow your business. You can include a logo, image or icon to distinguish your enterprise.

Build a Website

You will get lots of customers through a dedicated website. Target your website to your area and locality. Use Facebook advertisement and Google Adwords.

Open a social media group for your cake business and include relevant information about your services. On your website use amazing photographs of your cakes and include description and prices.

To take online orders introduce a shopping cart with credit card payment gateways. You might need a mode of transportation to deliver the orders.

Marketing

Your business success is based on marketing and referrals. You need to do a lot of marketing and promotions to reach customers.

Offer discounts, free tasty samples and cheaper prices on the unset. Print complementary cards, handbills, posters and a billboard or two. Advertise your business in top magazines related to cakes or national and local newspapers.