Cash from Baking??

babyrut

Right I have taken the plunge and booked myself in for my first market!! It is not until July so plenty of time to go through the roller coaster from now until then. Was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on stuff to take with me, aside from cakes!! Also was considering getting a cupcake book as I want to make something other than vanilla cupcakes and try out some other stuff, anyone got any suggestions or should I just look on the internet, quite interested in the humingbird bakery cake days book???

gazpacho_uk

I finally made it to the end of the thread and I have gathered a wealth of information, help, ideas and links to assist me if I take this giant leap. As I said in a previous post, I am probably going to be made redundant in December (I get a lot of time to get things started) and as I have been making around 4 or 5 cakes a week, I am looking to maybe start up a fully fledged home cake making business. We have an EHO coming round next week (I know this is a bit late now) and I have insurance ready to go should they say "yes". I have gained several food hygine certificates over the years, so hopefully one of them should be sufficient. I already have a website displaying cakes and I started a facebook site this week, so most of the pieces are in place.
At present we bake and do the decoration in our kitchen, but I have been looking at the possibility of converting the garage or even buying one of these wooden home office/lodge type things (just an expensive shed), so might have to go down the "planning permission" road. If anyone has any experience or advice in this area I would be most grateful.
One area that I really do need to sort is the "costings". I keep starting this on a spreadsheet, but seemt o lose interest very quickly and I forget to put some things in ..... its not easy, so again if anyone can help here I would appreciate any advice you can share

stardrops42

gazpacho - Just wanted to wish you luck with your business, you must be so excited. Do you have a link to your FB page so that I can "like" you

stardrops42

babyrut wrote: »

Right I have taken the plunge and booked myself in for my first market!! It is not until July so plenty of time to go through the roller coaster from now until then. Was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on stuff to take with me, aside from cakes!! Also was considering getting a cupcake book as I want to make something other than vanilla cupcakes and try out some other stuff, anyone got any suggestions or should I just look on the internet, quite interested in the humingbird bakery cake days book???

Hi babyrut, I have the hummingbird bakery book and it's great! Some lovely cupcake recipes in it

judywoody

getting-sorted-sarah wrote: »

Judy - my first thought is that if you aren't offering cakes for free in the future, you might find that you're not so 'swamped' as you were in the past. All you can do is see how it goes, your area and your cakes will be different from others, so it is hard to make a prediction as to how you'll get on. You can work part time - but whether or not your orders fit in with the hours you want to work is another matter! My advice is - suck it and see.

I see..Yes, I was thinking that..But what I can do is offering them for a little less. Have been to a cake shop today and the prices are horrendous!! I was thinking about either making 1 big cake a week or 2 small ones. Or 2 cupcake stands a week. Or 1 small cake and 1 cupcake stand...hope that makes sense :-) I am flexible with my days I just can't work full-time. So I think working from home would make things a bit easier. My council said I don't need a second sink...that's a good start :-)

katygeorge

first i havnt read all the post so not sure if im just saying what somebody else has said but i used to run a food buissness and still have a lot to do with it. first you need to register with your local coucil as a food buissness so you can have hygiene inspections and they will give you a safe food better buissness pack that you fill in daily or anyday your cooking goods to sell (they show you how to fill it when they come for your first inspection) you must register 3 weeks before you intend to sell anything so they can come and inspect befor you sell anything. and get some sort of insurance a minimum of public liability incase you get sued for giving food poisioning. all your goods must have a clear list on ingrediants included. you then need to register as self employed and start keeping some books.

but a good idea if you can make it pay - try local cafes if they will stock them (offer on a sale or return and there bound to snap you hand off - thats how i got cakes in my cafe it was just a lady who baked them at home) some good website around selling packaging for cakes ect

good luck

babyrut

When listing all ingredients in cakes how do people do this? Is it just a case of putting a list in with products. What about when selling on a market stall. Also what do people take to local fairs for customers to take products home in. My final question is how do people transport cakes? I have seen cake transporters that are plastic but just wondering if the cakes survive in the plastic, don't they sweat and melt?

getting-sorted-sarah

babyrut wrote: »

When listing all ingredients in cakes how do people do this? Is it just a case of putting a list in with products. What about when selling on a market stall. Also what do people take to local fairs for customers to take products home in. My final question is how do people transport cakes? I have seen cake transporters that are plastic but just wondering if the cakes survive in the plastic, don't they sweat and melt?

You only need to have a list of ingredients if your products are packaged, not if you are selling (eg) from a stall. (If you buy a doughnut in a bakery it doesn't have an ingredients list, for example...)

I use plastic boxes but only seal the lid at the last moment and don't leave the cakes inside sealed for too long, they should be find just for being transported, I only had a problem with cakes that sweated (the sugar decs went a bit limp!) when I had left them overnight in a plastic box.
hth

babyrut

Hi all,
Another question! Spoke to someone in the council today but not the person who will come out and he seemed a bit vague! Well anyway he said I need a second sink, one for dishwashing and one for handwashing!? How many people have come across this problem and how many do actually have a second sink?
Thanks for all your help so far!

gazpacho_uk

babyrut wrote: »

Hi all,
Another question! Spoke to someone in the council today but not the person who will come out and he seemed a bit vague! Well anyway he said I need a second sink, one for dishwashing and one for handwashing!? How many people have come across this problem and how many do actually have a second sink?
Thanks for all your help so far!

We have official EHO visit next week, but we do know someone who works in that area and she has said that if you have one of the sink units that have a large normal sink with a smaller one at the side, that would be sufficient. After reading posts here though, it seems councils/EHO's differ from county to county !