If you have friends, family members, and colleagues who make positive comments about your baking or if you are passionate about baking, it is perhaps time to consider selling your treats. Talented bakers often benefit from setting up a cake business to sell their favorite cake(s) and icing recipes. If you enjoy baking and decorating cakes, an online cake shop would be a wise idea. This will help you make some income out of your hobby and sell beyond your locality. The following are some of the tips to consider when starting out your cake business:
· Legal requirement
Find out what legal requirements are needed to operate an online cake business in your locality. Determine whether special permits and licenses are required and how to go about registering your business in your state. Furthermore, find out from the local health department what health & safety requirements are necessary for operating your business. Some states can have certain regulations that restrict the operation of a bakery from home, while others restrict the gross sales.
· Draft a business plan
It is important to have a plan to run your business. The plan should spell out the goals of the business and the strategies required to achieve those goals. Spell out who your target market is, the type of cakes you seek to sell, and how you intend to compete effectively. You need to know beforehand your niche market in order to choose the cakes you can specialize in (i.e. children’s birthday cakes, cupcakes, Sweet 16 creations, or wedding cakes) and compete effectively. Knowing the niche helps you to draft a market profile for purposes of promoting your business to the target. A good business plan helps to provide practical answers to questions that may arise when you start operating the business.
· Determine the cost
It is important to determine the cost of starting and operating the cake business. Determine the capital of starting the business, including the cost of buying equipment and monthly operating costs. The operating costs often include the costs of electricity, marketing, water, and salaries & wages. It is important to have an accurate estimate to help you know how much money you need to invest into the business before you actually start generating a return.
· Draft a marketing plan
To ensure the success of your online cake shop, a good marketing plan is recommended highly. A marketing plan tries to spell out how you intend to market your products. This means you need to know beforehand what your target market needs. Like in most other businesses, the competition is strong in the cake business. Therefore, you need to go out of your way to stand out from the crowd by being creative. Make sure your website has an authentically pleasing look and is informative in order to attract more online shoppers.