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3 Tips For Starting A Business Selling Baked Goods

If you’ve always dreamed of being entrepreneurial but haven’t really had a knack for business, you may find that your other skills could lend themselves to the beginnings of a business. For example, if you love to bake and have great recipes that you can share, starting your own small business where you sell baked goods could be a great option for you.

However, starting any business, even one that you’re passionate about, is never easy. So to help make this process a little more manageable, here are three tips for starting a business selling baked goods.

Make Sure You Do Everything Legally

While you might think that you can simply make your baked goods at home and then sell them to whoever you want, you’re going to want to make sure that you cover all your legal bases before you actually start making money off of your product.

According to Randy Duermyer, a contributor to The Balance Small Business, most home bakers will need licenses and inspections from their city or state before they’re able to start selling baked goods as an actual business. These things will ensure that the kitchen you’re cooking in is safe for people to be consuming food out of and that you’re legally a business entity that can benefit from all that that entails. It will also help to make things easier when it comes to your taxes as well.

Get The Right Equipment

If you’re only planning on selling a few things on rare occasions, you may not need any more baking equipment than what you already have. But if you’re hoping to scale things up at all, you’ll likely need to get the right equipment in order to do so.

To do this, Julie Bawden-Davis, a contributor to Chron Small Business, shares that you might need equipment like a convection oven, dough proofer, a bakery water chiller, more refrigeration, and other items. These costs can really add up, so make sure you know exactly what you need and how you plan to pay for it before you get in over your head with taking orders as part of your new business selling baked goods.

Figure Out Your Marketing Plan

No one is going to know about your new baked goods business unless you’re able to get the word out about what you’re doing. Knowing this, you’ll want to figure out how you’ll market your business.

To help you here, Susan Shain, a contributor to The Penny Hoarder, recommends that you start with social media, since delicious pictures of baked goods are a crowd favorite. Also, you could consider going to local events and giving out samples of your products so that people get hooked and come looking for more in the future.

If you’re thinking about making and selling baked goods as a business, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you get started.