Cash from Baking??

ladypike

owlet wrote: »

Hello everyone, I've been lurking for months looking at all your beautiful cakes and reading the advice. I have been baking for many years just for family and friends and I think it is time to take the plunge and venture into the big wide world :eek:.
I have spoken to Env Health today and the lady was very nice. She said the requirements for home baking are quite minimal and she said she could come out next week :eek:. I have downloaded the form I need but I am stuck with the level 2 food safety course. Can I ask which online providers anyone has used? Env Health lady said it must be CIEH accredited and it seems to be a bit of a minefield reading the small print lol. Thank you for any help!

sorry I noticed the link i posted didnt work, hopefully this will
http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/products/food-hygiene-catering.aspx

owlet

LADYPIKE wrote: »

Hi
I used this company
http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/products/food-hygiene-catering.aspxhink
I also got 10% off when I searched google, I think it was 10% for childminders if you want to do a search.
I found the information very clear and the the exam wasnt too hard. My certificate came very promptly
Hope this helps x

LADYPIKE wrote: »

I found the discount code, its CMF2011

xx

LADYPIKE wrote: »

sorry I noticed the link i posted didnt work, hopefully this will
http://www.virtual-college.co.uk/products/food-hygiene-catering.aspx

Fabulous, thank you. The Env Health lady said CIEH accredited but surely C&G will be fine. I have spent hours looking and although some companies loosely mention CIEH, they look dodgy lol. I will do this one now :T

dellaclearing

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone can please help! My girlfriend really wants to start her own cake business from home. Obviously we'd like to do everything legally but everywhere we ask it just seems all doom and gloom!

Here's the situation. In a few months we're moving to London & will be renting a flat. We'll both have day jobs, but she wants to finally start her sole trader business of baking cakes at home and selling them over the internet like a lot of you here are already doing! A couple of cakes a week here and there when orders come in and then hopefully full time later if she gets enough interest.

We know we'll need to rent a place with a tip-top kitchen to pass the EH inspection, but so far we don't even know what kind of place we can rent! A regular flat or a live/work flat?
I spoke to Business Link today, they said that their guess is that because no part of the flat would be solely dedicated to business use and there would be no employees or visiting customers we could do it on a residential tenancy as long as the tenancy agreement allows it, and the landlord permits it. But the final decision can only be made by the local council. Great news, or so I thought...

Now we have the task of finding a landlord that says "yes", a tenancy agreement that says "yes" and in some cases a leasehold that says "yes"! This seems hard enough. But it got even harder when I found out from another Landlord forum that a LL will be even less likely to grant permission considering that LL insurance will be invalidated as the use of the building becomes commercial and the LL will need a new policy. What, even if the council class it as residential use?

So does this mean that it's impossible to do with a residential tenancy? Are all of you baking from rented accommodation on a business or mixed-use tenancy? Does your landlord know they've invalidated their own insurance by allowing you to use a domestic dwelling for a commercial purpose? Or is the person on the other forum incorrect?

We'd rather avoid it if possible, but how about live/work accommodation? Would the landlord of a live/work unit have the necessary insurance to allow us to work from their kitchen as surely it's assumed you're renting a live/work flat because you'll be working from home?

I'm begging for someone who knows about the legal side of setting up a cakes from home business to step in here and clear the situation up cos we've spent ages just bouncing around from one place to the next without getting any clear information! Ideally we'd like to do this from a residential property because it will be cheaper and easier to find, but we could consider a live/work flat if we absolutely have to.

We just need to find out what kind of accommodation she can run this business from so we can start house hunting, but at the moment we're just getting tied up in so much red tape we aren't getting anywhere! This all seems so complicated, she just wants to bake cakes! Please, someone help us!

esmer

From my experience it all depends on which part of the country you are from. My council, just wont allow me to do it, plain and simple. Other councils sign off without even looking at premises. First thing is find out what the council is like where you are moving too, but also the letting agents should be able to tell you. There are a few on here who have private lets and do it from home, some own there house. But you no point in even bothering if the local council says no. Hope this helps you a bit.

PS its not all doom and gloom, a lot on here are living their dream, and its wonderful

I_am_mad

Hi all.

I am just wondering if you can give me some help please. I love making cupcakes and was thinking of starting to sell them at school fetes or carboots and also making some for friends and family. Can someone please let me know if I would need insurance and the like if I wanted to do this?

Thank you

hayley11

I_am_mad wrote: »

Hi all.

I am just wondering if you can give me some help please. I love making cupcakes and was thinking of starting to sell them at school fetes or carboots and also making some for friends and family. Can someone please let me know if I would need insurance and the like if I wanted to do this?

Thank you

You would need public liability insurance. I think you'd need your kitchen approving by the environmental health as well.

You may also need a food hygiene certificate.

hayley11

dellaclearing wrote: »

Hi everyone

I'm hoping someone can please help! My girlfriend really wants to start her own cake business from home. Obviously we'd like to do everything legally but everywhere we ask it just seems all doom and gloom!

Here's the situation. In a few months we're moving to London & will be renting a flat. We'll both have day jobs, but she wants to finally start her sole trader business of baking cakes at home and selling them over the internet like a lot of you here are already doing! A couple of cakes a week here and there when orders come in and then hopefully full time later if she gets enough interest.

We know we'll need to rent a place with a tip-top kitchen to pass the EH inspection, but so far we don't even know what kind of place we can rent! A regular flat or a live/work flat?
I spoke to Business Link today, they said that their guess is that because no part of the flat would be solely dedicated to business use and there would be no employees or visiting customers we could do it on a residential tenancy as long as the tenancy agreement allows it, and the landlord permits it. But the final decision can only be made by the local council. Great news, or so I thought...

Now we have the task of finding a landlord that says "yes", a tenancy agreement that says "yes" and in some cases a leasehold that says "yes"! This seems hard enough. But it got even harder when I found out from another Landlord forum that a LL will be even less likely to grant permission considering that LL insurance will be invalidated as the use of the building becomes commercial and the LL will need a new policy. What, even if the council class it as residential use?

So does this mean that it's impossible to do with a residential tenancy? Are all of you baking from rented accommodation on a business or mixed-use tenancy? Does your landlord know they've invalidated their own insurance by allowing you to use a domestic dwelling for a commercial purpose? Or is the person on the other forum incorrect?

We'd rather avoid it if possible, but how about live/work accommodation? Would the landlord of a live/work unit have the necessary insurance to allow us to work from their kitchen as surely it's assumed you're renting a live/work flat because you'll be working from home?

I'm begging for someone who knows about the legal side of setting up a cakes from home business to step in here and clear the situation up cos we've spent ages just bouncing around from one place to the next without getting any clear information! Ideally we'd like to do this from a residential property because it will be cheaper and easier to find, but we could consider a live/work flat if we absolutely have to.

We just need to find out what kind of accommodation she can run this business from so we can start house hunting, but at the moment we're just getting tied up in so much red tape we aren't getting anywhere! This all seems so complicated, she just wants to bake cakes! Please, someone help us!

You can run this business from a home, i'm certain all the people on this thread are doing exactly that.

We live in a rented flat, our LL is a solicitor and he said it was absolutely fine. It's not a commercial property, it's a residential property.

My advice would be to ring the environmental health for the area you are planning on moving (or even just looking) get an idea of how flexible they are, like Esmer said, some are really horrid and won't let you whereas some are great and will let you no questions asked.

Then I would speak to the LL of the property you are looking at them, explain that you OH is wanting to make a few cakes in her spare time to sell, I can't imagine why a LL would have a problem with this but i'm sure some will.

I think some of the information you've been given has led you to believe it's quite complicated running a bakery business from home and it isn't.

Good luck

Bluefire

I did my first wedding fayre yesterday, it was a bit quiet to be honest but plenty of people took cards so fingers crossed I'll get some enquiries. It's the first time I've really tried to style my cupcakes towards being suitable for a wedding, people seemed to like them so hopefully I achieved that! It's been a crazily busy week what with fayre preparations & a last minute order for a giant cupcake - I think it just might be time for a day off today!





There's some more photos up on my Facebook page if anyone would like to have a look (link in my profile). Would love to hear any opinions

babyplum

Bluefire - i follow you on FB and always LOVE the photos you put up. I think your stand for the wedding fayre is absolutely perfect. I love the top cake on the tower, it looks really lovely. I assume the little diddy ones are for tasting? And what a good idea having a digital photo frame with photos of other cakes.

If i had seen your stand when i was planning my wedding i would have booked you in a heartbeat! I got married 6 years ago and didn't know any cake companies that made cupcakes for a wedding cake so i ended up making them myself.

getting-sorted-sarah

Bluefire - ditto what babyplum said - your photos on FB look amazing and made me think I'd look rubbish standing next to you! I love the rose icing and also the cupcake wraps really set everything off. I am doing a wedding taster box this week - eeeek!
x