Cash from Baking??

esmer

For me they basically said no chance! Would have to do it commercially. That would eat into any profits I might have got. This was
Just something to allow me to get extra money and not take on another job. I could do it when the wee one was sleeping.

paulwf

esmer wrote: »

For me they basically said no chance! Would have to do it commercially. That would eat into any profits I might have got. This was
Just something to allow me to get extra money and not take on another job. I could do it when the wee one was sleeping.

I bet you can still get a lot of private sales and keep under the radar of the EHO...if you bring cupcakes any time a group of you meet up and spread the word it's amazing how much interest you will get. Loads of people want home made cakes for birthday parties etc but don't have the time to make them themselves...a fiver here and there all helps. Hope you can work something out

thinkpositive

I'm pretty much in the same boat with Esmer about working in cafe kitchens out of hours. I was hoping the cakes was a way of earning some money whilst looking after my toddler twins and the childcare costs of paying for them to be looked after while I bake at a cafe kitchen would make it a non-starter...though it is a great thought paulwf for anyone who doesn't have kids to look after.

I'd be a bit wary of going over the head of the EHO I spoke to....as they each have their postcode areas and I would always end up with the original EHO for inspections etc.

Re the ingredients....one interesting thing I noticed is that Morrisons Bakery stuff doesn't have a list of any of the ingredients on it!!!! Heyho, I suppose different rules apply for the big boys!

Esmer thanks very much for the recipe - looks yummy. Best of luck to you that you find another way to make money out of something you enjoy. Hope your cakes are a great success Hayley

karenccs67

My cupcakes that I posted a picture of and a birthday cake that I made my son have been published in July and Augusts issues of a magazine and I've been paid £25 for each :j:j:j. They didn't tell me they were going to be published so unfortunately I've misssed Julys issue but later I'm going to try and get Augusts.

Thought I would share my news. x

sturdygirl21

Hello all - newbie here! I've read through this thread and would love to join!!
Firstly - well done karenccs67 - that is fab!!
I make and decorate cakes alongside my full time job. I've been enrolled in a cake decorating course for the last 2 years and have just enrolled for a 3rd. I've recently taken the plunge and set up my own business, making it official and all! i thought I'd share progress so far, and my ups/downs.....(not in order!)
1. environmental health - register by post, then they arrange for an officer to visit. This was really straightforward for me (seems to vary HUGELY though by the sounds of it) - she was at the house for about 15 mins, had a quick look at the kitchen, asked a few basic hygiene q's , then signed me off. Cakes are really low risk, so she thinks I'll only get rechecked every 2-3 years.
2. business name - this is more important and more difficult than you think - it took me AGES!! It sets the standard for you business, and will give people an impression of what you're like immediately (whether right or not!)
3. register as self employed. I did this online, though in retrospect would probably do it by phone as I received no confirmation and had to chase by phone anyway. I also applied for class 4 NI exemption. You are expected to pay class 4 NI on all self employed earnings over £5,000 (a bit more I think but can't remember the exact amount). I'm expecting my earnings to be less than this, so applied for the exemption - this was really straightforward. Obviously if your actual earnings are higher than this, they will expect you to pay.
4. attend the free government courses for new business. In wales, i found this through business in focus. England I think it's business link. Not sure of other areas though. These were fab, and ran through all the important stuff. The tax and marketing ones were particularly helpful.
5. branding. How do you want your business to look - expensive, classy, value for money....?
5. marketing. A friend designed a logo for me, which I love, and is on my postcards, blog, etc. I set the blog up and have put all my pics on it. I bought a domain name (£2.99 for 2 years) and have linked the blog to it. I've also linked up with other websites to try and increase traffic. As for postcards, business cards, etc - vistaprint are really good and inexpensive - well worth it.
6. research. How much do your competitors charge? how much does it cost to make each type of cake? Price your own stuff somewhere in the middle - you don't want to be the most expensive, but likewise you don't want to be cheap. people think expensive = quality (though I can think of some examples where it isn't!)
7. food hygiene cert - i did this online for £25. Took a couple of hours or so, and wasn't very exciting!
8. I bought a really good book from hobbycraft - can't remember the title, but is was about setting up a cake decorating business from home - some good tips in there for anyone interested.

The most difficult thing I've found is with pricing. I started offering pretty cheap cakes because I wanted the experience. That soon changed when i found I'd spend hours on a cake and be earning about £1 an hour! This is not the way to make money, and you'll soon begrudge doing it! I still find that I'm not accounting enough for my time though - something I'm working on, but as I'm still technically learning, I guess things do take me a bit longer anyway.
Something I do find bugs me though, is the people that say they do it for a hobby, they love doing it, so only charge cost price - now, don't get me wrong, I know where these people are coming from, I really do, but by doing this it's having an impact on the people that are trying to actually make it their business - if someone finds out that Joe Bloggs will make a decent enough cake at cost price, why would they go somewhere that charges 2 or 3 times more?! People really should charge properly for their cakes - it's a talent, not many people can do it, and people will pay, so make the most of it!The tutor that runs my class once got told that a quote she gave for a cake (a pretty intricate one i think) was too much, and how could she charge that for 'just a sponge'. Her response? She asked him how much he earned, and why should she earn less than him? he soon realised his mistake! Until I started doing this, I didn't realise how much time and effort it took. Baking the cake is the simple bit (though this can still take ages!), its the icing, colouring, modelling, flower making, designing, etc that takes the time. Rant over!!

It's really good to see that other people are doing this (though hopefully not in my area....i've got enough competition!!). If I think of anything else, i'll post it. Good luck everyone!!!

thinkpositive

Hi sturdygirl21 - great post. Well done on getting your business set up and wish you loads of luck.

Karencc67 - that's fantastic news! you must be soooo chuffed!

paulwf

thinkpositive wrote: »

Re the ingredients....one interesting thing I noticed is that Morrisons Bakery stuff doesn't have a list of any of the ingredients on it!!!! Heyho, I suppose different rules apply for the big boys!

Unpackaged food doesn't need a label:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?r.s=sc&r.l1=1073858799&r.lc=en&r.l3=1083937039&r.l2=1083923207&type=RESOURCES&itemId=1083937186

Usually the FSA website is good on food law but I can't actually find out the dividing line between prepackaged food that needs a label and unpackaged food. Your EHO may have wanted labeling as you intended to resell to a cafe. I'm not really sure if that is the case though as they can sell them loose and they probably wouldn't have to be labeled.

Anyway, if you bake something in store and sell it loose you definitely don't need to label it so Morrisons are following the rules and not getting around them because they are big.

karenccs67

sturdygirl21 wrote: »

Hello all - newbie here! I've read through this thread and would love to join!!
Firstly - well done karenccs67 - that is fab!!
I make and decorate cakes alongside my full time job. I've been enrolled in a cake decorating course for the last 2 years and have just enrolled for a 3rd. I've recently taken the plunge and set up my own business, making it official and all! i thought I'd share progress so far, and my ups/downs.....(not in order!)
1. environmental health - register by post, then they arrange for an officer to visit. This was really straightforward for me (seems to vary HUGELY though by the sounds of it) - she was at the house for about 15 mins, had a quick look at the kitchen, asked a few basic hygiene q's , then signed me off. Cakes are really low risk, so she thinks I'll only get rechecked every 2-3 years.
2. business name - this is more important and more difficult than you think - it took me AGES!! It sets the standard for you business, and will give people an impression of what you're like immediately (whether right or not!)
3. register as self employed. I did this online, though in retrospect would probably do it by phone as I received no confirmation and had to chase by phone anyway. I also applied for class 4 NI exemption. You are expected to pay class 4 NI on all self employed earnings over £5,000 (a bit more I think but can't remember the exact amount). I'm expecting my earnings to be less than this, so applied for the exemption - this was really straightforward. Obviously if your actual earnings are higher than this, they will expect you to pay.
4. attend the free government courses for new business. In wales, i found this through business in focus. England I think it's business link. Not sure of other areas though. These were fab, and ran through all the important stuff. The tax and marketing ones were particularly helpful.
5. branding. How do you want your business to look - expensive, classy, value for money....?
5. marketing. A friend designed a logo for me, which I love, and is on my postcards, blog, etc. I set the blog up and have put all my pics on it. I bought a domain name (£2.99 for 2 years) and have linked the blog to it. I've also linked up with other websites to try and increase traffic. As for postcards, business cards, etc - vistaprint are really good and inexpensive - well worth it.
6. research. How much do your competitors charge? how much does it cost to make each type of cake? Price your own stuff somewhere in the middle - you don't want to be the most expensive, but likewise you don't want to be cheap. people think expensive = quality (though I can think of some examples where it isn't!)
7. food hygiene cert - i did this online for £25. Took a couple of hours or so, and wasn't very exciting!
8. I bought a really good book from hobbycraft - can't remember the title, but is was about setting up a cake decorating business from home - some good tips in there for anyone interested.

The most difficult thing I've found is with pricing. I started offering pretty cheap cakes because I wanted the experience. That soon changed when i found I'd spend hours on a cake and be earning about £1 an hour! This is not the way to make money, and you'll soon begrudge doing it! I still find that I'm not accounting enough for my time though - something I'm working on, but as I'm still technically learning, I guess things do take me a bit longer anyway.
Something I do find bugs me though, is the people that say they do it for a hobby, they love doing it, so only charge cost price - now, don't get me wrong, I know where these people are coming from, I really do, but by doing this it's having an impact on the people that are trying to actually make it their business - if someone finds out that Joe Bloggs will make a decent enough cake at cost price, why would they go somewhere that charges 2 or 3 times more?! People really should charge properly for their cakes - it's a talent, not many people can do it, and people will pay, so make the most of it!The tutor that runs my class once got told that a quote she gave for a cake (a pretty intricate one i think) was too much, and how could she charge that for 'just a sponge'. Her response? She asked him how much he earned, and why should she earn less than him? he soon realised his mistake! Until I started doing this, I didn't realise how much time and effort it took. Baking the cake is the simple bit (though this can still take ages!), its the icing, colouring, modelling, flower making, designing, etc that takes the time. Rant over!!

It's really good to see that other people are doing this (though hopefully not in my area....i've got enough competition!!). If I think of anything else, i'll post it. Good luck everyone!!!

thanks for all your info, it's a great insight. I have just passed level 1 sugarcraft and have enrolled on level 2, and for our assessement we had to do a cost sheet with an hourly rate of £5.20, and when mine came to £35, i was shocked...lol.

karenccs67

thinkpositive wrote: »

Hi sturdygirl21 - great post. Well done on getting your business set up and wish you loads of luck.

Karencc67 - that's fantastic news! you must be soooo chuffed!

thanks I am x

hayley11

Well done Karen :j :j