What do your days look like? Do you spend your evenings baking chocolate chip cookies for your children? Do you invite your family for home-cooked dinners every weekend? Baking might be your hobby, and you never thought it could become something more. But what if we told you that you can turn your passion for making sweets for your loved ones into a small business?
Have a look at social media, and you’ll notice that many bakers sell goods from home. You don’t need to rent a space to prepare and sell baked treats; you can start the venture at home and slowly grow a successful business.
Here are some pieces of advice that might help you in your journey.
Decide what type of products you want to sell
The easiest way to start a bakery business from home is to sell cake. People are buying cakes for all kinds of occasions, so you’ll easily find a public interested in purchasing your products. Also, you can start with a basic range of products and easily diversify according to the market’s requirements.
Besides cake, you can also sell homemade cookies and other types of sweets people purchase with the simple purpose of enjoying them as dessert.
It would also be a great idea to specialize in selling a particular type of baked products. These days, many people are looking for gluten or sugar-free products, so you can enter a niche that addresses a specific public. Another great business idea is to focus on baking wedding sweets.
When choosing the range of products you want to sell, you must consider your strengths because you want to impress your public.
Enroll in Classes
You most likely discovered that you have a passion for baking after watching YouTube or Instagram videos. But if you want to start a business, then you need to attend a professional class or workshop so you can learn more about what baking implies. Search for renowned class providers in your area or reach some of the cake artists in your community to find out if they host workshops. It’s crucial to acquire the necessary skills for delivering high-quality products.
Create a business plan
You’re familiar with recipes, so you should approach starting this business by following the instructions for a new product. You know that you have the right ingredients and follow the right steps, the product will amaze everyone. Therefore, you need to develop a business plan to serve you as the recipe to success.
Start with the mission statement to describe your business. List the type of products you want to provide and find the factors that make your business unique. The more specific your products are, the higher the chances to acquire some loyal clients.
When describing your business, don’t use the classical home-based bakery but language that clearly describes the kind of products you want to make and the market needs you want to meet. You can use your business description to advertise it and reach your ideal clients. For example, if you specialize in cupcakes, it’s essential to be clear about the range of products people can order. Similarly, if your niche is organic desserts, you should specify you’re using superior ingredients from an organic nuts producer and so on.
After you decide on the products your company delivers, you can think about the other aspects of your business.
Here is a list of questions your business plan should answer.
– Who is your target client?
– How much do you want to charge for the product?
– Where and how will you sell your baked goods?
– Do you need any piece of equipment to begin?
– Do you need funds to start the business?
– How much money do you expect to make in the first year?
Pick a name for your business. Chances are you already have a couple of names in mind. It would be best to choose a catchy name so your clients can easily remember it when they want to search your social media profiles or recommend your products to their friends and family. Suppose you don’t have a name for your business; use a free name generator to find one.
Get your kitchen in order
There’s nothing more exciting than to start selling products, but before taking your first orders, you need to ensure your kitchen and pantry are in the best form. Here are some aspects to keep in mind.
Ingredients. The first step in starting a business from home is to shift the way you buy ingredients. For example, you need to collaborate with a nuts supplier to get supplies at a more affordable price than if you buy them from the local grocery store. This will also provide you with access to a wider range of products, which will serve your business right because you can diversify the flavors and textures. When starting your home baking venture, time is money, so ordering things online would be a great idea.
Equipment. You most likely have some pieces of equipment, but you might need to invest in some professional machines to help you bake greater quantities. It would also be a great idea to install new shelves in the kitchen or pantry because you need storage space for the new tools.
Clean up the kitchen. You’re selling consumable products, so compliance with local health codes and regulations is crucial. Depending on your location, you might not be able to use your home kitchen for this purpose but rent a space. If you can start the business at home, you need to ensure you have a clean and fully functioning space, sanitize your equipment and tools, and use cleaning supplies that don’t alter food quality and taste.
Additional recommendations
Once you have everything in place, it’s time to find buyers. You can reach local event planners and friends in your circles to help you promote your goods. Partner with other people running home-based businesses to support each other. You could also host social media giveaways to reach a broader public.