Selling cakes? Advice and experience needed :)

ButterflyBakes

Hi,


I have been baking for a few years, self-taught.
I have been making celebration cakes and traditional cakes for friends and family. I have been told many times I should sell them, but at the moment I have been making the odd birthday cake at cost.
I made a 100 cupcake 'wedding cake' for my friend last weekend. And although I was dreading the pressure. I actually really enjoyed it! And I received many positive comments on the night!
It made me think "Maybe I could sell my cakes."


But I have been looking into doing this, and was wondering how others have got started?

I have looked on the Food Standards website, and know to notify my local council. What sort of requirements do they make of your kitchen?


I have a Food Hygiene certificate for my full-time job!


Also, I have been looking at college courses for cake decorating, thought it would look better to have a qualification. But this costs £169, and you have to buy all the equipment separately. Would you recommend doing a course?


I already do my own sugar craft. Roses, flowers, butterflies etc.


Just wondering where to start? Any advice is welcome.
Also where best to sell, what to consider... I'm sure there are many things I haven't thought of.

Wizzbang

Regarding FSA/ Food Hygiene-

Separate sink for hand washing.
Absolutely no pets in the kitchen whatsoever.
Paper hand towels for drying hands.
They will want to see your cleaning routine- i.e. you need to be cleaning every surface and the floor daily.
Your washing up- water temp must be 60+- ideally dishwasher
Food storage- you will also need to clean your fridge frequently, whether you store items in the correct location in the fridge, is it at the correct temp, are foods covered, within use by dates etc. Cross contamination.
Any cloths/ tea towels etc- are they laundered at appropriate temps, or preferably disposable. They will want you to use disposable paper towel for wiping all surfaces.
Rubbish- covered bins, frequently emptied, clean.
Sink- is it clean- must be scrubbed and bleached daily

Um, that's all I can think of right now.

geordie_joe

ButterflyBakes wrote: »

I received many positive comments on the night!
It made me think "Maybe I could sell my cakes."

I would tread carefully if I were you, and not spend any money on it yet.

Over the years I have seen it happen many times, people bake for work, wedding etc. and get loads of praise saying how good they are and that the baker could easily sell them etc. etc.

Then when the person bakes stuff to sell, those same people don't buy.

I'm sure your cakes are very good, but just pointing out that people are very free with their praise and not so free when it comes to parting with their money.

You can try it yourself, bakes some cakes, take them to work (or where ever) and give them away. Take note of the reaction/praise you get for them. A few days later bake some more, but this time try to sell them at the same place and see what happens.

Fallen-Angel

I did this for a while then gave up because there is just too much competition (and better decorators) around my area. When I quit I counted at least 30 bakers on my local Facebook page alone so make sure you do research into your competition.

You first need to download or send off for this

www. food. gov.uk/business-industry/caterers/sfbb (remove spaces, new account so cannot link)

and start working through it. Ring/email your local environmental health officer and ask them to confirm exactly what they will be looking for as each area is different. Such as "Separate sink for hand washing." my EHO was fine with this just being a separate washing up bowl, as long as hand washing and tool washing it separate, they don't count the dishwasher for this because what if you just need to quickly clean a bowl for the same bake etc.

Fridge thermometer is needed and the temp recorded daily, dedicated shelf (at least) in your fridge for your work ingredients and the same for cupboards.

Qualification wise, I wouldn't bother. People don't ask if you have any qualifications they ask your EHO rating, if you have a food hygiene certificate and if you are insured (which you will need, best practice). If you want to learn new skills then Youtube is full of tutorials, I have learnt more on there then I would of in a college paying for it.

I also agree with geordie joe, people will soon change their face if they have to pay for them, especially for celebration cakes as they want them as cheap as the supermarkets. I would take freebies into work and everyone loved them, but if I took them in say to raise money for charity they'd soon umm and ahh about paying for them.

Good luck with it all, I sometimes miss it then remember how little I was making but how much stress was involved haha

ButterflyBakes

Thank you for your replies!
I'll put it off I think, I can always look into it again in later life if I felt like I wanted to.
I'll keep doing odd bits here and there for those who request them.
Other than that, it sounds like a lot of hassle

QuackQuackOops

ButterflyBakes wrote: »

Thank you for your replies!
I'll put it off I think, I can always look into it again in later life if I felt like I wanted to.
I'll keep doing odd bits here and there for those who request them.
Other than that, it sounds like a lot of hassle

Any form of business is "a lot of hassle".

One thing you most definitely need to take out, even if just baking for friends, is liability insurance.
Last thing you want is a group of children keeling over with food poisoning and parents suing you.

ButterflyBakes

I know, I have grown-up in a family business. I just meant that a lot more is involved than is probably worth it. Especially as I work full time and starting uni.

How do you go about getting liability insurance?

ms_night_ryder

I Personally wouldn't bother with liability insurance for your own personal bakes, you are not forcing anybody to eat your stuff, you seemed to have survived without it thus far, seems very silly, bit like you inviting someone round for dinner, them choking or slipping on something, oh but I do have liability insurance for you to claim off, sounds stupid!!!

Wizzbang

Liability insurance is a requirement for any business Ms Night Ryder and that's what the OP was asking about. Of course you don't need it if you're just baking for friends/ family. But AS SOON as someone is PAYING for your goods then you are bound by all sorts of legalities. Beware all those who organise coffee mornings and are probably completely unaware!

ms_night_ryder

Wizzbang thanks for that.

However I am not reffering to the op's question, I am reffering to what qqo said, I hope I have now made that clear. I did mention own personal bakes in what I was saying.