Example Business Ideas

Starting a Home Bakery

Written by Rayzelle Forrest Young for Gaebler Ventures

Tips on how to start a bakery out of your home. Discusses the importance of obtaining city and state licensing

The dream of starting a bakery can become a reality with a little bit of hard work and a lot of dedication.

If cooking baked goods is a passion of yours, you can start a flourishing business right out of the comfort of your own home. Starting a bakery out of your home will dramatically cut your operating costs and give your business a better chance at being successful. Before you officially start your business, there are a few preliminary steps you will need to take in order to get your home bakery business off the ground.

Decide What To Sell

Decide what your home bakery business will sell. Are you going to sell cakes, cookies, pies or a variety of baked goods. If you have a small kitchen you may want to start with just one product. Since you are working with limited space you don't want to take on more than you can handle. Taking on more than one type of baked good will mean that you need more space for more ingredients.

Get Licensing

Your attorney general's office will have information on the type of licensing you will need to run your home bakery. Take care of this part of the business before you start selling any goods. You don't want to run the risk of being shut down by state inspectors before you even get the business up and fully running.

Name Your Business

Think of a catchy name for your business that will distinguish you from others that are in the same line of work. You will need to register your business name with the county recorder as well as obtain a business license with your city offices. Registering your business name will allow you to acquire a business bank account and run your company under your business name.

Get Customers

After you have taken care of all licensing and registering matters, you are now officially ready for business. This means it's time to get customers. Obtain your customers by giving free samples to business offices, restaurants, hotels and community organizations that hold meetings. These are the type of clients that will give your bakery repeat business and significantly increase your profits.

Keep Good Records

If you want to stay in business you will need to keep good records. Carefully record your profits and the amount of money you are spending on supplies and anything else needed to run the business. You will need these records in order to accurately claim deductions when you file your taxes.

Starting a home bakery is a great business if you have a passion for baking goods. Take care of all the preliminary paperwork in order to ensure your business is legitimate before you officially open. In addition, take good records of incoming and outgoing monies for accurate tax filing.

Rayzelle is an entrepreneur and writer. Based on her experiences as an owner of her own dance studio, she will share her personal tips on being a successful entrepreneur.

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