How to Start a Cake Decorating Business at Home

HOW TO START A CAKE BUSINESS AT HOME - USA

Message from the author, Sarah Lewis -

Congratulations! You’ve had a brilliant idea. You realize that your skill as a cake decorator, and your enthusiasm for producing beautiful cakes, can be turned into a profitable home business. No doubt your friends have told you that your cakes have the “wow” factor. Your friends have also told you that you should go into business selling your cakes.

However, you know that there are many things that you will have to deal with if you are going to run a successful home cake decorating business. You will need to multi-task – as well as making great cakes, you will need to deal with business planning, federal and state rules and regulations, costs and pricing, marketing, advertising, web site development, Cottage Food laws and food safety.

That’s where this book comes in. The book takes you, step-by-step, through the business, financial and practical issues that you will have to deal with when you start your home cake decorating business. The book is designed to answer key questions that you have about how to get started.

If you are starting a cake decorating business at home, you are about to do something exciting and rewarding. I hope your business goes well – and, if you follow some key principles and work through the necessary business issues first, I’m sure that it will.

Good luck with your cake business

Happy baking and decorating!

Sarah

The book covers:

- Writing a business plan
- Choosing and registering a business name
- Developing the identity of your business
- Market and competitor analysis
- How to price your cakes profitably
- Cottage Food Laws
- Food handling and food safety
- Home kitchens v rental kitchens
- Food labelling
- Customer Information Forms
- Zoning and other restrictions
- Insurance
- Avoiding Trademark and Copyright disputes
- Financial planning: estimating when you are going to break even, and understanding why your “burn rate” matters
- Producing convincing marketing material
- Using social media
- Designing your web site
- Search engine optimization for your web site
- Different methods of getting the message to potential customers
- Problems and issues when dealing with customers
- Working from home issues
- Business forms: the Order Form and your Terms and Conditions