Starting a bakery business
Setting up a bakery can become a very profitable business if you follow these simple tips that will surely… delight you. If you are a lover of cooking, then this is one of the most profitable options to open a business in this sector and make money.
Why can a bakery be profitable? For the simple reason that it offers what everyone loves and what few people know how to do; not counting those who do not have time to prepare these delicacies. That is why its movement is so high in the market.
Let’s see all you need to know to get started:
Look here at all the profitable food and beverage businesses
Step by step of a bakery business
Once you have a clear idea of the type of products your bakery will initially offer, the equipment, materials and personnel, it is time to consolidate your business. Start by setting a name with which you will launch yourself into the market. Try to make this a clever, short name that will easily stay in your customers’ memories.
The decoration of the premises is an extremely important aspect, since it will be the first image your customers will have and therefore it must be a pleasant and nice place that invites them to come in. Cleanliness must reign in your business in every space. Also, do not forget to publish offers, photographs of your products in the store and, if possible, create uniforms for those in charge of the store.
However, to promote your business, you have several channels available both in physical advertising, such as digital advertising or online. In the first one, you will need to print flyers with your business name to hand out in the days before the launch, place them in nearby businesses and hand them out to pedestrians, as well as pamphlets that are close to your store, contacting local advertising media. And on the other hand, you can promote your business with a website where customers place their orders, post photos of your products, do not forget to participate in local forums or social networking groups in the city.
How a bakery works
This business produces cakes, desserts and sweets, from the simplest ones like apple pie, to the most complex ones, like making white chocolate truffles with limoncello.
A bakery can be dedicated to industrial and artisan production. The former sacrifices quality for quantity, as it produces in a chain to sell wholesale; while the latter offers a much higher quality, both due to the use of natural and fresh ingredients, and to a more detailed elaboration.
Who is this business for? The customers
While there is a classic clientele, there is also another clientele that can be present in your business. The classic clientele is made up of people passing through your bakery, who simply pass by and “bump into” the delicacies you prepare and do not resist the temptation to enter. Believe it or not, these customers can become regulars if what they taste is unique.
On the other hand there are other general people but more distant, the event organizers; professionals who are in charge of organizing an event and need a bakery to provide them with cakes and desserts for the occasion. And finally we find businesses such as restaurants and bars that require your products as a dessert option.
Requirements of a bakery business
Everything is in order: if the authorities are strict with business in general, they are even stricter with bakeries. Why? Because we are not only working with people’s taste, but also with their health. So everything must be in order in terms of cleanliness and safety regulations when you decide to set up a bakery, both for food preservation and for the safety of the staff.
As for the people working in your bakery, they must be qualified in the area. Make sure they have professional training and that they handle cooking and baking terms and techniques.
A useful tip is to ask questions during the interview such as “How would you prevent a cream from spreading during baking” or “What is the best technique for you to make a Cheesecake so that it does not have any lumps”. As you have seen, these questions contain technical terms and information on baking and assembly techniques that every good pastry chef should master.
Key tips for opening a bakery
Starting a business from scratch should not be a process that is taken lightly and started with eagerness. On the contrary, calm, reflection and planning should be present at all stages of the venture. We recommend that you take the time to evaluate every aspect of the business, from finding the right location, to the products you will include in your catalog, to the staff, the colors of the decoration, etc. In business as it is
customer service can determine a large part of your customers’ first image and even make your audience fall in love or move away. Therefore, one of your priorities should be to provide a friendly, respectful and efficient service that makes customers feel good.
In the course of the activity you will find more and more opportunities to create commercial alliances and so on, but all this must be subject to planning and evaluation that allows you to identify if and to what extent it is convenient.
Weaknesses: being able to count on the return on investment is a process that requires time, so we recommend you to have a lot of patience to start a business like this, where the investment is high depending on your needs.
It is a field that requires knowledge and experience to launch, because in no way an entrepreneur who has never prepared a dessert could open a cake shop, even if he plans to hire a professional, because any entrepreneur must know how his business works and the tasks performed there to guide his employees.
Pros: Pastry shops, in particular, are a type of business that has many sales channels available, since, as we saw, you can not only sell to private customers, but to other businesses, events, organizations and so on. This business idea offers an open field of opportunities for the entrepreneur, where the key will be the quality of his product and the creativity he imprints on it.
Success stories
To account for the profitability of businesses like these, we have a series of restaurants and food businesses that have managed to consolidate their own franchise network, expanding the dimensions of their projects, which they started with great passion, commitment and discipline.
Like them, your business has the same potential to achieve the success you propose.
What are you waiting for to start?