How to Start a Home Bakery

Getting the Necessary Clearance

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. 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. For example, in some U.S. states, home-based bakeries are prohibited. In others, there are many permits and insurance requirements that you'll have to meet before opening your bakery's doors. You may find some very interesting laws that might stop you from baking some of your delicious treats. For example, many states do not allow any foods in need of refrigeration for a home-run bakery.

Look into certifying your kitchen. Research what modifications you have to make and complete them before an inspector makes their first visit. If you want to keep going with this bakery, an inspector will come to your kitchen every year to recertify it. 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.

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 be of any other business owner. Check with your local government to find out what state ordinances apply to you in your area.

Coming Up With a Plan

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. You’ll need to consider your finances (including startup costs), your projected sales and costs, and how long you estimate it will take for you to start turning a profit. Put some thought into what you might name your business and what brand you select to identify your goods or services. Make sure they are not similar to anything already in use or registered in your target area.

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. For a home bakery, your target audience will probably be related to the demographics of the area in which you live. If you live in an area with a large older population, you might want to cater to them. If you live in an area full of immigrants, you could consider specializing in various ethnic pastries.

Make sure you stand out from the crowd. Try to think of a gimmick that makes your home bakery different from other bakeries. You need a way to make your business stand out from the crowd. Maybe your gimmick is related to the products you bake and serve, or maybe it has to do with the atmosphere at your home bakery. Whatever you choose, just make sure it’s at least a little original. Offer baked products that are new, different, or special somehow. This can be something that can get you an edge on competing bakery businesses.

Decide where to sell your products. To run a successful home bakery, you’ll need to make your products available to your customers. You may want to establish an area of your home bakery for displaying your products and allowing customers to browse and purchase your wares. You could also consider asking some local stores if they would be interested in selling your baked goods, or become involved in a local farmer’s market where you can set up a table to sell your products.

Keep your customers satisfied with consistent-quality products. Customers may want to occasionally try something new, but the thing that will keep them coming back to your home bakery will be the consistently reliable quality of your products. 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.

Stocking Your Home Bakery

Gather the necessary equipment. To start a successful home bakery, you’ll need to make sure you have all of the necessary equipment and supplies. Consider purchasing many of these items second-hand at thrift stores to cut down on your initial startup costs. Make sure you purchase plenty of sheet pans, spatulas, mixing bowls, cake molds, spoons, and an electric mixer. You’ll also need to make sure you have a working oven, stove, and freezer/refrigerator at your home.

Find suitable suppliers. To ensure the smooth running of your home bakery, you’ll need to make sure you have reliable suppliers for your baking supplies and ingredients. Consider purchasing your baking ingredients in bulk from a local farmer’s market. This is usually a much cheaper option than purchasing ingredients from a supermarket, and usually yields higher quality ingredients. Saving money on ingredients (without sacrificing quality) is especially important in the beginning because you have less capital to work with. Be sure to compare prices on several different suppliers to make sure you’re getting a reasonable deal.

Set up a storage area. In order to make fresh baked goods, you’ll need to create some kind of storage system for your products and supplies. Without this crucial element, your supplies may go bad or become tainted, leading to less than desirable finished products. You’ll need a large refrigerator to hold all of the dairy products (milk, cream, butter) and eggs that you’ll need for baking. You’ll also need a safe area to keep all of your finished products so that they don’t become stale or get damaged.

Investing in Advertising

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. The best advertising for a new company is always word of mouth. But to attract those initial customers that will spread the good news, you’ll need to spend some money on advertising.

Put a sign in your yard. If you have a home bakery, you will probably want to advertise your company at the actual location (your home). Consider putting up a sign in your yard with your company name, or even attaching a larger sign to the side of your home. Be sure to check the legality of putting up a sign in your area. Many regions have specific zoning laws for home-based businesses that restrict or prohibit adding signage to the property.

Create coupons. A great way to lure new clients into your home bakery is to offer coupons. You can list them in the local newspaper or create online advertisements that include coupons. The prospect of a good deal will entice your customers to come and try your goods. Consider offering “Buy One Get One Free” coupons or “50% Off Your First Purchase” coupons.

Use social media. The internet is an effective advertising tool for businesses if used appropriately. Consider creating a Facebook page for your new home bakery. Ask your friends to “like” your business’ page and start spreading the word. Be sure to include tempting photos of your delicious baked goods to entice more customers to come to your establishment.