One of the best things about a freshly baked cake is the love that goes into its making. It’s hard to encapsulate what ‘love’ tastes like, but you definitely know if the love is in your cake, cupcake, or any other pastry. In honor of National Cake Day, we’re going to talk a little bit about starting your own bakery.
Like with any business, you have to start somewhere. Before they go pastry-crazy, many fresh bakers decide to start their careers by setting up a cottage business and baking their delicacies at home and then bringing them to the rest of the world through food trucks and art shows. Most early business is initially gotten through word of mouth, and the business usually expands from there.
While you know that you like to bake, you may not be completely sure as to what type o bakery that you want to open. There are several types, and the type you open depends on many factors including available money and your location.
Online Bakery
These bakeries will get their licenses, put up a website, and sell their baked goods online. Cupcakes, cakes, and pastries get shipped all over the country. The challenge is getting people to buy who can’t see or taste your wares first.
Specialty Bakery
Specialty bakeries are the bakeries that specialize in a certain type of pastry. These are usually boutique stores that have only cupcakes, only cakes, or perhaps only puff pastries. These types of bakeries really take off if there is a lot of foot traffic in the area.
Food Truck
This would be a hybrid of the online bakery and the specialty bakery where you travel around to where the customers are. You bake your goodies in the commercial oven at home and take them on the road. Now, if you’ve got the space, you can even install all of your baking equipment on the spot.
Traditional Bakery
This is a brick and mortar bakery which offers traditional breads, pastries, cookies, cakes, and more to the public. They might have perfected a roll recipe, but there’s nothing that speaks to the specialties that the baker might have.
Bakery Café
These bakeries are the ones that you’ll see in more upscale neighborhoods. You’ll see them serve coffee to their patrons, maybe little homemade candies, all within a European cafe environment.
This is going to be your bakery, your baby. Before you make the investment of your time, energy, and money, it’s always good to know what the vision of your final restaurant will be. That way you’ll have something to aim for. Happy baking!
