When first thinking about wanting to sell baked goods my mind automatically went to a storefront bakery. I thought I would need to go to pastry school (probably once my little ones started school) and then save up the money or get a huge loan to open up a bakery.
But the truth is you don’t have to take that route. If you want to start selling your baked goods, a home bakery might be just right for you. Here are a few reasons why it is beneficial to create a home bakery over a storefront bakery today.
Why is it better to start with a home baking business?
1. Low cost of entry
The cost of entry is way lower!! You won’t have the doubled expense of rent, water, electricity, etc. You already have a kitchen that is ready to use, so start with that. The rent and utilities is just the beginning, assuming you would want your storefront to stand out and be on brand you would need more money for that as well.
You also save money by not needing to fill up your store with inventory. In a home bakery, you make orders as they come. In a storefront you would want your case to be full of beautiful desserts.
In those first opening months when it might be a little slow that would mean a lot of thrown-away goods. However, in a home bakery that would mean no wasted ingredients or labor.
2. No lease agreement
In a quick search, I found that the average lease length is 3-5 years for a commercial space. If you are someone who moves often (like me) or thinks about moving out of state (also like me) then a long lease like this would not work for you.
On the other hand, if you have a home bakery your bakery packs up and moves with you. You might have to find new clientele but by following what I teach in my class you will have no problem with that.
3. Able to build up a client base
As I talked about before when you open a storefront the beginning months might be pretty slow. One way to avoid that is to start with a home bakery first.
In a home bakery, you can build up your clientele and create a loyal client base gradually. That way when you do decide to open storefront you will have a line of loyal customers waiting to support you.
4. Be with the children
This is a huge benefit for me. I struggled for a long time to find a job that would allow me to make a good income while still being home with my kids and have it be something I am passionate about. Baking allows me to be home with my kids and make money.
I think it is so valuable that I am not just able to be with my kids but that they are also able to witness first-hand mom working hard and running a business. They are able to see through me that if you work hard at something you will get better and you need to work hard to make money.
5. Work on your own schedule
This is another valuable aspect that works perfectly with being a mother. I got my bachelor's degree with the plan of being an elementary school teacher. But once I met my husband and we started having kids I fell in love with travel and spontaneous adventure.
If you are like me and love to travel or just have a busy schedule I know you are drawn to the idea of creating your own schedule. With a baking business, we can make that happen. You can block out the days you want blocked.
You can schedule pick-ups for certain times of the day. You can take breaks and relax or play with your kids when you want to. If you are not busy that day you can take off and enjoy your day together. If you had a storefront you would stick with your store's hours no matter what until you were able to get to the point where you have enough employees to cover your work.
6. Fine-tune your business
All of these points are valuable but this one is very important on the business end. Writing down your flow of business or looking at organization on Pinterest all sounds great but only once you start working do you find cracks in the system.
By work and repetition you can start to identify those cracks and fill them. We already talked about the costs of starting a storefront bakery, but now imagine those costs and not having a business that is running smoothly.
Sounds like pouring money down the drain. By starting your bakery at home you can work through and fine-tune your processes so that when you do grow and want to hire people and expand into a storefront your processes are smooth and easy to replicate.
You also are able to fine-tune your brand and menu. When first starting I said I never wanted to make cakes with fondant. And absolutely no kiddy character cakes.
I had a huge menu that offered cakes, pies and dessert tables. Things changed and I dropped everything but cakes and cupcakes. Then I found that I love making fondant figures and started making large kid's cakes. Then I moved towards focusing on wedding cakes and large events only. If I would have opened up a storefront I would have confused my customers and it would be much harder to create a steady flow of clientele because my business was constantly changing.
If you need help with your menu make sure to check this out next
If you have the goal of opening up a bakery you do not need to hold off your dream because a storefront feels out of reach. There are many great advantages for starting your baking business from home and is a great option for starting your business. Are you thinking about starting a baking business?
Comment which step of the process you are in as well as any questions you might have.
I’m in the dreaming stage of my baking business and you have put into words all the reasons why I have not wanted to open a storefront bakery! My family has encouraged me to open a bakery, but having worked at a few, I don’t like all that’s involved and to me it takes the fun out of creating beautiful, delicious desserts! So thank you for the ideas that you shared in weighing the options!