How to Start a Home Bakery

culled from:wikihow.com

Steps

1

Determine the legality of home-based bakeries in your area.

• While opening a home-based bakery might seem easy, you should be aware that there can be limitations involved. For example, in some states, home-based bakers are prohibited. In others, there are many permit and insurance requirements that you'll have to meet before opening your bakery's doors. Check with your state's health department or food and agriculture agency to determine if starting a home-based bakery is legal in your area.

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   Look into certifying your kitchen.
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   After you've determined that you can open a home-based bakery, you'll want to modify your home kitchen into a commercial kitchen area. This will allow you to sell baked goods to customers. There's a good chance that you'll have to modify your kitchen somehow before inspectors will certify your kitchen. Research what modifications you have to make and complete them before an inspector makes his first visit.
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   Get all your paperwork in order.
   • Home-based bakeries can require that their owners have food preparation certificates. In addition, liability insurance and permits can be required of a home bakery's owner, like they would of any other business owner.
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   Come up with a business plan.
   • A home-based bakery takes as much planning as a business located in a downtown shop. Include information about start-up costs, cost analysis, and the costs of your ongoing business operations in your plan. Set clear goals for your business and aim to complete them.
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   Research your target market.
   • You need to know to whom you plan to sell your baked goods so that you can direct your advertising and marketing efforts accordingly. Decide who will make good customers and aim to sell your products to them.
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   Make sure you stand out from the crowd.
   • Offer baked products that are new, different, or special somehow. This can be something that can get you an edge on competing bakery businesses.
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   Spend money on advertising your products.
   • There will likely be many bakeries with which you will have to compete. Don't scrimp on advertising and marketing. Invest in professional photographers and advertising companies. Your advertising efforts can have a big effect on how successful your business will be.
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   Keep your customers satisfied with consistent-quality products.
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   Experimenting with recipes and offering different batches of baked goods under the same name will likely hurt your business. If you must experiment with recipes, make sure to clearly advertise deviations from the normal recipes. For example, you can market a cookie with a different icing than you normally put on top of the cookie as a seasonal cookie.