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Are you passionate about baking cakes? Are your friends and family always telling you that you should sell your cakes? If you are an accomplished cake baker, you should know that it’s possible to sell homemade cakes online much easier than you might realize. There are many individuals, organizations and retail outlets that buy cakes sold online, just like the ones you enjoy baking. Whether you like to bake birthday cakes, wedding cakes, children’s party cakes or some other kind of cakes, there is certainly a market for your cakes. All you need to know is how to start selling baked goods online.
Some of the best selling cakes in coffee shops, at fairs and cafes have been purchased online from sellers much like you. Once you learn how to sell cakes to cafes, restaurants and other places, you’ll be able to make extra money from your side business. The key to successful selling of baked goods online is to make ordering as simple as possible for your customers. In all likelihood, you’ll want to offer custom cakes so your customers can personalize their order. In that case, a simple custom order request form makes sense. But before you get into all that, you’ll want to ensure that your online cake selling business is operating legally.
Just like any other small business, there are laws that govern how to sell cakes from home legally. You need to find out what laws apply to your business. Typically, each state has its own laws about selling homemade cakes online. To begin, it’s essential to understand that the laws governing selling homemade cakes online are referred to as cottage food laws. Cottage foods are defined as food items that are produced by an individual in a home-style kitchen or another designated kitchen, rather than by a factory or a large commercial enterprise. Cottage foods are also defined by the fact that they are sold directly from the maker to the consumer. A license or permit will be required in nearly every state in order to sell homemade cakes online.
To get a home bakery license California residents need either a Class A or Class B permit. Class A is for selling direct to consumers only within the state of California. Class B is if you want to sell cakes to a middle-man, such as cafes or restaurants.
To get a home bakery license Colorado residents don’t have to do anything. As long as the food product is not potentially hazardous, no licensing is necessary.
To get a home bakery license Florida residents don’t have to do anything, either. As long as the foods, such as cake, have a low risk of food borne illness, those who want to sell homemade cake directly to consumers can do so without worrying about a license. The only other caveat is that annual sales must not exceed $250,000 annually.
Selling baked goods from home in Texas is easy, because no licensing or permitting is required.
If you are selling food from home Illinois cottage food law only stipulates that you must register with the Chicago Department of Public Health and get an approved Food Protection Manager Certificate.
If you’re still asking, can I sell cakes from home without a license, the thing to do is to consider where you live and to find out what the licensing requirements are under the cottage food laws. Remember, just because you are selling cakes from home doesn’t mean you can’t sell them either direct to consumers or to retail outlets. The following is a summary of bakery license and permit costs for select states:
Once you’ve determined that you can legally sell homemade cakes in the state where you reside, the next question will be whether or not you can make a profit doing so. To determine that, you have to figure out your costs, as well as how much to sell homemade cakes for. In other words, you need to see if you can make your homemade cakes and sell them and make a profit doing so.
First, do some research on things like birthday cake prices to see what the going rate is. Remember, don’t research those cakes that are processed in factories. You want to look at prices for homemade cakes. Homemade cakes will fetch premium prices because they are made by hand on a smaller scale. You may also want to research cake prices by size, especially if you bake fancy, multi-tiered cakes like the ones used in weddings.
Luckily, there are tools online for figuring out how much does it cost to make a cake from scratch. You can also make your own cake pricing calculator in Excel if you enjoy using software.
Making notes of how much you spend on ingredients, use an online cake pricing chart, or an up-to-date cake pricing guide 2022 for accurate numbers.
One of the biggest trends is selling homemade baked goods from home on Facebook. Facebook has millions of users, and your opportunity for success is only limited by your learning how to sell baked goods online. The fact is, there is no rule against selling homemade food on Facebook, as long as you are in compliance with your state’s cottage food laws. So, if you’re worried can you sell food on Facebook without a license, that depends on whether or not your state requires a license. But Facebook itself doesn’t require a license to sell food on its platform. The great thing about selling cakes on Facebook is that you don’t even need to have your own website.
Why bother with designing and running a website, where you have to try and get people to find your site, when you can get your delicious homemade cakes in front of so many people on Facebook? Well, the answer is simple: If Facebook went away tomorrow, how would you communicate with your customers? How would you keep track of their order details? Would you be able to contact them outside of messaging their Facebook account? That's the danger of running a business solely on social media.
To sell food on social media like Facebook, you simply need to log into your Facebook account. Go to Marketplace, as if you were selling anything else, like furniture or a vehicle. Click on Create new listing. Input all the information about your homemade cakes. Don’t forget to list ingredients, so people know what to expect. You can also mention if your homemade cakes don’t have things that people are allergic to. This will make your ad more enticing. Now, the only problem with selling cakes on Facebook is there is no food category in Facebook Marketplace. Many people who sell food on Facebook use the sub-category “Other kitchen & dining,” which is under the main category of “Home and kitchen.” You can always try out other categories if you don’t get the response that you’re expecting.
After your first sale, you’re probably going to be inspired to come up with more cake business ideas. A homemade cake business plan should always include marketing and cake selling ideas. You could look online for expert tips about how to sell cake online. Or you could come up with some home bakery promotion ideas yourself, like:
These cake selling ideas will help to make your cakes stand out from other people who are selling homemade cakes. Finally, make sure that you take high-quality, high-res photos of your cakes from different angles. Most quality phones can take great pictures. You might also want to play around with image filters until you get just the right effect to make your cakes irresistible.
As you learn how to sell cakes online, you might want to expand into more products that are similar. Some ideas include cupcakes or fudge. Chances are, if you are good at baking cakes, you will also be able to make delicious fudge and cupcakes.
Selling fudge online or cupcakes will require you to calculate their cost separately, to ensure that you make a good profit off of them. You’ll also need to invest in some extra supplies, such as cupcake boxes and fudge wrappers, for shipping your extra homemade goods in an attractive manner. You might find that your fudge business is incredibly popular. It’s hard to find delicious homemade fudge, so you will be offering something that people will probably really appreciate. Once you know how to sell cupcakes online and fudge online, you could even expand into other areas, such as cookies or cake pops.
The sky is the limit when it comes to selling homemade food online. This cottage food industry is very popular, because many people don’t know how to bake like you do. And you will be able to do what so many people dream of, which is turning your passion into a thriving business!
The Cake Whisperer
My business would not be the same without my Castiron website! It is an easy setup with lots of customization and tons of support! I am so glad I set up my shop last year before the holidays — it really helped increase my sales!
The Whimsical Cookie
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Castiron provides me a professional site to my customers increasing my credibility and value while giving me the tools to effectively market and manage my business in an easy, user-friendly manner.
Wesley's Treats Hallie's Sweets
Castiron has made my cottage bakery shine, and my business easy to manage. As a platform they care about my business as much as I do.
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Food entrepreneurs, this is your moment. Your community is more and more conscious about what they buy and where it is from. They want food made with love. With ingredients they can pronounce. And they want to support their community while doing it.
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