Do you love baking and wondering how to start a cake business at home? If you want to start selling cakes from home, here are a few tips you can use to guide you on how to sell baked goods online besides selling cakes to friends and family. Did you know that selling cakes on Facebook can be very lucrative and profitable? Your products will reach a larger audience by selling them on social media platforms. To start a cake-selling business, you need to begin learning about food safety, cottage food laws, and the best practices for your business to succeed in the online market.
Starting a cake-selling business may sound like fun and easy to do. However, before selling any type of food from your home, you need to have a closer look at the cottage laws. While your friends might already be selling cakes on Facebook, this does not mean it is legal. You must do your own research and have a consultation with a professional.
Here is what you need to check:
Complying with the rules may feel intimidating at first, but they are pretty easy to get grips with.
Before you begin selling your baked goods online, developing a homemade cake business plan will be essential. The business plan will help you stay organized and obtain funding to run your business. Some of the items you need to include in your business plan include your financial projections, marketing strategies and target market, tools required, and business offerings.
Besides having the perfect recipes, you will also need a permit to sell food from home. Getting a business permit is usually straightforward and affordable. Before applying for a business permit, you may be required to have a business name and business structure.
Now that you are selling your products from home, you might also be wondering, "Do you need a license to sell baked goods from home?" Yes, you do — in most states. Selling cakes online may require you to have a home bakery license and other permits. You may find the details you need to get the permit online on your local health department's website. Properly registering your business gives your business validation to open a bank account or apply for a loan.
Having home baking insurance is crucial when setting up your baking business. Accidents happen all the time. You might have to pay claims should a person fall ill after consuming one of your cakes. If the home baking business has employees, they could get injured on the job, and you would be required to meet their medical expenses.
You also need to decide what type of baked goods to sell. It would be advisable to focus on one or two items, such as cookies or bread. Today, there is a significant number of cake-making businesses. You will need to sell products that differentiate you in the market. You could specialize in gluten-free cakes or concentrate on children's snacks.
Here are a few helpful tips for getting your cake selling business off the ground.
Visually driven sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are excellent places to invest in good quality photos that market your products. You can easily set up a Castiron shop and have a single place to sell and manage your orders as you get customer feedback. Castiron is an excellent ecommerce tool that allows you to track your payments and inventory in real-time. You also enjoy other valuable benefits such as magical marketing tools, social media marketing, and email on autopilot.
To create a successful cake business, you should create a signature product. What makes you stand out? What can you make that's better than anyone else's? This product will establish you in customers' minds and have something special they identify you with. The signature product also places you ahead of the competition. You don't have to worry if you still haven't found a signature product. You can search recipe organizer software to develop a unique recipe.
One of your biggest hurdles when starting your cake-selling business will be deciding how much you will sell your baked products for. You need to assess your target market and how many other buyers are selling their product. Carefully evaluate your skills set and determine if you can compete with them. How much you will earn from your products will depend heavily on how much work you put into baking and marketing.
Give your customer excellent customer service. The best marketing strategy is through word of mouth. Customers who love your products will definitely tell others about them and keep coming back for more.
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
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.
Castiron is the best fit for your food business because we're not a one-size-fits-all tool. Selling local food is different from pre-packaged warehouse products. Whether you sell cooking classes, need local pick up, utilize pre-sales to plan inventory, or need a fully custom order form — we got you.
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