A bakery or pastry shop is a good business idea if you love to bake and come up with your recipes. You can offer different products, including birthday or wedding cakes, cupcakes, donuts, and pastries. Another good thing about a bakery is you can start small, even at home.
To get you started on your new venture, here is some advice.
Decide on the kind of bakery
What kind of bakery would you like to open? Your location, budget, time and workforce may help you decide. For example, if you don’t want to open an actual shop, you can start an online bakery. The good news about this is you can capitalize on social media like Pinterest and Instagram to promote your goods. Of course, you need a website too.
You may also start a counter service bakery where customers can choose from goods on display, pay for them and go. If you have a bigger space, even with a simple design, you may also pick a bakery with an option for customers to dine. That’s a combination of a counter service and a small area for eating. You may even add coffee too. Or, you can focus on a particular product only and become a specialty bakery.
Write your business plan
It’s always a big risk if you start your business without a business plan. Your business plan allows you to focus on your goals, helps you determine how to come up with a budget and how much expenses you have, identifies your niche, and also lets you review your competition.
Determine your suppliers
Instead of relying on supermarket goods, determine your wholesale suppliers for ingredients and other items you may need. Buying wholesale cupcake wrappers from Simply Wrappers, for example, lets you decide on the design instead of having to depend on what’s available at the store. Buying wholesale also enables you to save money.
Focus on the product
You may become too busy getting your store ready that you forget to focus on what you’re baking and selling. Customers will only make repeat orders or come back to your store if your products are great or at least better than the competition. Keep learning, keep practicing, and keep coming up with great recipes and designs.
Market your store
Don’t forget to market your business. Aside from word-of-mouth, invest some resources in traditional and digital marketing. Digital is a good place to start, as the expense is typically lower, especially if you are doing it yourself.
What better way to do business than by focusing on your passion? A bakery can be both your outlet for creativity and a source of income.
