Have you always loved to baked sweet and savory treats? Have people always complimented you on how delicious your baked goods are? Have you ever thought you would like to be self-employed and start a small business? If your answer to these questions is yes, then you are in luck. It is possible for you to start a home baking business if you would like to give your dreams a chance, but remember that it will come with some challenges. Below are a few tips to cover the basics of setting up a home baking business so you can get started.
Get a Website
If you are going to operate out of your home kitchen, you will need to create a business website where customers can discover your tasty treats and place their orders. There are lots of great online website builders that you can use to do this, most of which are either free or have affordable rates. Just make sure the one you use can create an eCommerce website for you so you can accept customer payments when they make an order via your website. You will also need to keep your website in theme with your business brand and make it easy to navigate.
Hygiene Certifications
Although you might still be using your domestic kitchen for your business, selling your baked goods to the public means you must adhere to certain standards if you want to avoid any legal trouble. You must always list every single ingredient for your products and warn customers if there are traces of nuts, eggs, gluten, etc., so anyone with a food allergy can avoid illness or more severe consequences. You will also need to get certified in health and safety procedures for food handling, and you can expect to have your home business inspected by regulators to make sure everything is up to standard.
Equipment
As you will be managing multiple orders once you open your business, you need to make sure that you have all the right tools for the job. Investing in bigger and better baking equipment so you can cook large batches and keep on top of your orders is key. You may also want to consider getting a larger oven or a secondary one to keep up with demand as well. Of course, this will depend on how much space you have at home to accommodate this.
Packaging
Another thing you will need to make sure you have plenty of is packaging. Your cakes and bakes might be delicious, but sending them out to your customers in beautiful packaging will make them even more impressed with your brand. You should also think about investing in eco food packaging as this shows that you are an environmentally responsible company which is another thing a lot of customers look for these days.
Distribution
Finally, how do you plan to get your products to your customers? Are you going to make the deliveries yourself? Or use a courier service? If you are going to use the latter, make sure you are choosing a service that has experience in transporting perishable items and that your packages will get to your customers within 24 hours so nothing goes stale. If you are for example shipping from Uk to customers in North Ireland, you want to find a company that specializes in parcel delivery to Northern Ireland. How you package your items will also help with this.
All of the above are good places to start, but you should also write up a business plan, develop your branding and do some market research if you want your home baking business to flourish.
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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