Bakery Business

Medium:  if you love to bake and want to turn this into a hobby for a little cash, then most of your expenses will probably be for ingredients, gas and delivery manhours.  You supply people with baked goods.  You will need a van or sedan with plenty of room to put your baked goods in, a cell phone, brochures and business cards.  You will spend money on boxes, parchment paper, ribbons and of course your ingredients (to save money, find flour wholesalers).

High:  if you want to supply companies, large stores and other outlets (e.g. restaurants, caterers, hotels, etc), your household oven won’t do.  You need to invest in more than one oven or else find a place that has commercial ovens for rent where you are charged a user’s fee.  You will definitely need ingredients in bulk, a large van, cell phone, flyers and brochures, as well as containers.  You can visit this web site to get an idea of prices for commercial ovens:  http://centralrestaurant.com/Ovens-c105.html.  Or type “commercial ovens” on any search engine.  You can also probably look for used ovens if your budget is tight.  The only problem with purchasing used equipment is  if you’re not mechanically inclined and the oven breaks down, your delivery times may be compromised).

If you’re just looking to turn a hobby into an undertaking for a bit of extra cash on the side, all you need are your passion and baking skills, and the equipment you already own.  If you want to own and run a full-fledged bakery, you need better-than-average baking skills; a culinary education will be a real advantage!

One who loves being in the kitchen for hours, is creative, understands basic baking/cooking principles, and does not mind spending the long, gruelling hours.  Bakery personnel sometimes start work at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning well into the evening.  Note that a bakery is a business, so you have to look after your products and the administrative/personnel side of running a bakery.

Average wages for bakers hover around the mid-20K range, but as an owner, you could make more than 25K yearly – depending on whether or not your baked goods are in demand and the volume of your daily/weekly production.  If you have stable wholesale accounts that order from you regularly, you could be making as much as $100K-$350K a year (assuming you’re running a fully operational bakery).

Opportunities are almost limitless if you’re a good baker and have the resources/facilities to maintain production.  Aside from the quality of goods you bake, factor in location, foot traffic and referral business.  You can start small (supplying small stores, gyms, seniors’ homes, community clubs, school cafeterias) or you can start big (opening a physical location and serving walk-in customers as well as serving the restaurant industry as an example).

Your local chamber of commerce might be able to help you, restaurant associations, your government’s tourism department and culinary schools. Famous culinary schools are probably your best bet.  Check out the Culinary Institute of America (www.cia.org) and universities that offer full time culinary courses.  If you have a passion for bread, check out Mr. Peter Reinhart who teaches bread baking classes at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island.  He has written books, appeared on talk shows – people like him usually are approached by industries looking for supplies, teachers, talent, etc.

In a discreet manner, speak to bakeries in your area and observe foot traffic.  Also observe which particular baked items fly off the shelves.  

If you want to run a full business, enrolling in a culinary course would be an excellent investment.  It gives you credibility as a bakery owner.

You might want to visit this site to learn about how to start a bakery:  http://www.howtostartabakery.com/index.html.  They seem to have a wealth of ideas on franchises, marketing, outfitting your store, legal and accounting aspects of the business, equipment requirements, financing, and customer service tips.