Essential Steps in Starting a Cake Business

Cake production is a stable and profitable business. The pastry chef is required to follow baking technology, study customer demand, and actively promote his product.

Excellent quality and competent advertising will help not only to win the competition but also to develop their business in a large-scale project with large turnovers, their own retail network, and impressive profits. In the history of business, there are examples of how a small confectionery startup gave rise to a large production concern.

On how to start selling their cakes and how to make money from it, further in this review.

Opportunities for business in cake production and trade

If you have a culinary talent, you bake amazing cakes, you like this activity and you are ready to start earning money from it, the first thing you will need to do to realize your commercial idea is to choose the format of the cake production and trading business.

It should be noted that there are many opportunities for earning money in this area, from budget to very expensive projects. The most popular start with minimal investment is baking cakes in the home kitchen and their subsequent implementation through the Internet. This business does not need to buy additional equipment, rent space, and hire workers.

You can do with the already available means and appliances. A more expensive option – rent space for a cake baking workshop. In fact, even a one-room apartment is suitable for this purpose. But it is necessary to coordinate with the owners of this premise the moment when cakes will be baked in the apartment. You should also consider that there may be dissatisfied neighbors, who will try to hinder the work of your workshop. And the most expensive project is the rent of production facilities, purchase of professional equipment, and cooperation with wholesalers and retailers.

Most often, a confectioner, who intends to achieve stable success in his business, has to pass all these three stages. First, he bakes cakes at home, then hires a few assistants and moves to a separate territory, and has already successfully worked for several months, and after completing more than one hundred orders, he plans to produce cakes in earnest, as a commercial enterprise.

Room and equipment for cake production

Before deciding to make cakes to order, the future entrepreneur must assess the necessary amount of preparatory work to start the business. Even if you work only in your kitchen and do not plan to move production, you will need much more professional confectionery equipment that can withstand serious loads without loss of quality than was necessary for family needs.

Equipment for home confectionery:

• Dough mixer
• Confectionery syringes
• Rotary bowl mixer
• Electric baking oven for cakes
• Food storage fridge
• Confectionery brushes and dishes

This is the minimum basic set. If your company will expand, you will need to buy additional confectionery cabinets, tables and buy a few more sets of basic equipment. The basic requirements for the room: it must be dry (high humidity is not allowed, that is why basement and semi-basement rooms are not suitable), utility networks (electricity, sewerage, and water supply) must withstand the increased mode of operation.

The location for the production hall is not as important as for service companies. Confectionery workshops may be located in remote areas of the city, but it should take into account the additional costs of delivery of products, as well as the delivery of finished products. Perhaps you will need some material on how to get a loan to start a small business from scratch.

Investments in the confectionary business

To open a cake baking shop with an area of about 100 square meters and several employees of about 10 people will need about 30 thousand dollars. This is taking into account that the premises of the shop are rented, not bought back into ownership. At the initial stage, a lot of money will have to be spent on repairs, equipment of workers, and utility rooms following those sanitary requirements.

The entrepreneur will not be able to take into account all the nuances on his own, so to reconstruct the premises for the confectionary workshop, the project should be made by a qualified specialist engaged in the design of food production shops. The second major investment is equipment. Its cost cannot be less than 20 thousand dollars. At the same time, the best place to buy confectionery equipment is considered to be international exhibitions, where the goods are presented by both Russian and European manufacturers.

Monthly expenses of the cake making enterprise:

• Salary
• Equipment maintenance
• Transportation costs
• Taxes and utility payments
• Promotion costs

Promotion of confectionery business

Many people know how to make cakes, but few know how to sell cakes. Today, the most powerful tool to promote products and services to the public – social networks (Instagram, Facebook). However, it is unlikely that the entrepreneur himself can competently build a marketing policy to advertise his products on social networks. For this work, most often a hired advertiser is invited, who works to attract customers’ attention to the products and the brand. And the manufacturer only needs to maintain the high quality of its products and work on new proposals for the market.

Advice for beginners

Before you decide to bake cakes to order, evaluate for yourself how ready you are to devote your life to the confectionery craft. After all, the cake baking shop is not only beautiful boxes of cakes on the tables with lace napkins but also very hard work, which will take all your free time and require maximum attention from you.