The Ultimate Guide on How to Start a Wedding Cake Business

Ever think that there could be more to just baking for fun? If you love and enjoy baking cakes, why not start earning from it? If you love to do something and can make it into a source of income, then that is pretty much a good goal. In this case, if you love to bake and design cakes, why not try and set up a business. One of the most popular cake businesses includes wedding cakes as these are meant for very special occasions and the designs can become extremely complicated, detailed and downright amazing.

Preparation

Planning

First things first, you have to plan ahead and avoid just jumping right in thinking that once you bake a cake that someone will want it. For starter business you should plan ahead such as choosing who your target customers are, what kind of designs you plan on making, how you will acquire and handle clients and more. Making a business plan is one of the first steps you should do since this can become a guide for you and make sure you progress well in starting a wedding cake business.

Planning your business out if a very important step as this helps you determine everything that will be going on and will set you up with the idea of how you will proceed with starting your wedding cake business.

Expenses

Setting up a business will require you to have a capital as you will be needing to the baking tools for baking your cakes, the tools for designing your cakes, the ingredients for the cakes themselves and more. Be sure that you calculate the expenses you will be making, especially for the ingredients your will be needing for you wedding cakes as this becomes important and having a stock of supplies ready when an order comes in is important.

Depending on how big you plan to start, you will need to have funds ready for using all the necessary equipment for baking and for maintaining the location where you will be creating your wonderful cakes and more. If you plan on setting up a shop or something bigger then you will have to consider the costs of maintaining that location or if you plan on starting small and fulfil orders from the comforts of your home, then you need only worry about the additional costs of using baking equipment more often as well as the ingredients you need for your cakes.

Be sure to buy everything you need but do not go overboard as getting a huge stock of ingredients and all the advanced baking tools and equipment can be pricey, so start slow and begin with all the necessary things that you need. You need to be patient and try not to do overdue things as too many ingredients may expire overtime and equipment may age quickly depending on the quality. Try not to settle for equipment that will suffice but rather equipment that lasts and can do what you need them to do.

Making sure you have what you need and having enough to prepare for ingredients is important as you will always need to have a good stock and have the equipment you need for your business. Planning out your expenses is a smart move and this way you can check how much you will need to spend and make out how much you can profit later on.

Location

When it comes to where your location, you can choose to work at your own home or to set up a somewhere else by renting a building or later on purchase a place for your shop. Having a spot for you to work is important and the area where it resides as well since people will eventually head to your shop if you have set one up or visit you for pickup if you bake and design the wedding cakes at home.

Eventually setting up a shop would be a good idea as this becomes more ideal for customers as they find this more proper and having one set up in a good area allows people to shift their attention if they pass by or search for shops that bake or in our cake shops that make or specialize on wedding cakes.

The important thing is to know where you will be doing the baking, designing and where you will be when you interact with clients depending if its either by call, online communication or meetups. There is nothing wrong with starting a wedding cake business small and at home but eventually if you wanted more success, you should think of opening up your very own shop later on as this would be a big step forward for your business.

Cake Designs

You will want to have a few designs in mind ready for you to make the wedding cakes that people order from you but how will they know what they want? Well, you can prepare cake designs for them so that they may see the different kinds of cakes you can make in regards to shape, size, style and more. Weddings are very important and they will most likely want a special cake for the event so take some time to think up some designs and either illustrate them and plan them out. The best thing you could do is take picture of cakes that you have already made and use those as samples. Sometime people would request how you would design the cake and that is fine but it is always good to have some sample picture for later on when someone wants to see what you can do as well having a good set of images for marketing.

Eventually after you have made different cakes, you can always take videos or photos of the cakes you have made for later on as these can be used as reference and even as model samples or online advertisement images. If people see the cakes you can make, they will be more interested as they get an idea of what you can do and then decide if they like it and would like you to create one for them.

Equipment

Of course you will be needing all the necessary equipment for preparing the cakes ingredients, appliances for baking the cakes and equipment to design the cakes. If you already have these then that is a good start as you can already produce wedding cakes already as long as you have designs prepared or can commit to requested designs. Many cake makers will either buy new commercial equipment, or if more restricted in their budgets try to rely on non-commercial grade equipment initially. Another alternative suggestion offered by kitchen equipment supplier CaterQuip is that it’s possible to otherwise purchase second-hand or refurbished commercial grade equipment for a significant discount to new equipment, which gives you all of the functional capability of a new kitchen for a lower entry cost.

Hygiene

Be sure that when you work the work area is clean as you do not want any of the products you make to be unclean. It is also necessary to have the proper things to wear in order to make sure that there is sanitation for your business. Remember that the slightest mistake when it comes to hygiene can heavily impact your business and even end it.

Supplies

When you have orders you will need to make sure you have good supplies ready, mainly the ingredients and anything else required to make your wedding cakes. Figure out where you will regularly be purchasing from, that way you always have a place to go to or order from when you need to get ingredients for another order.

In case there will be a problem with your first supplier, make sure you know where else you can obtain the ingredients you need that way you won’t have a problem with any upcoming orders.

Running The Business

Staff

It is not impossible to handle a small business on your own but if you plan to go bigger and better, it would be wise to have someone to work with or hire people to help you out. This will ease your job more and allow more to be accomplished at a quicker pace. Without help, if the time came where you had several orders and would only be working by yourself, you would be putting in so much effort that you might eventually be overworked or in worst circumstances, unable to fulfil orders.

If you’re in a small shop or starting your business at home, settle for having someone help you out as an assistant or if your setting up a shop try to hire staff that can help you out since a growing business may need more than a few people to run.

Of course you may always give them a date on when you are available to accept further orders if your hands are full but take note that every customer counts and if they are able to purchase or have a cake made by you they most likely can suggest the same to be done for their friends or other people.

Consultation

When people plan on ordering cakes from you they will either head to you to talk in person or over the phone. It is important you can explain to them what you can do if they contact you over the phone that way they set a date to consult you. Make sure that you have prepared samples for them to see visually and samples if necessary.

Payment

Of course you will need to be paid for making the cake but you also want to avoid making a fool of yourself later on when an order is placed and later on canceled or not picked up. Always require a percentage to be paid as a deposit or better, have the cake paid for in full. This will not only ensure you have been paid but will also supply you with funds for the ingredients you need.

You will need to make profit and since wedding cakes can be very elegant and hard work, try to figure out a price that covers up for the time you spend as well as the ingredients you had to acquire in order to bake and design it.

Production

Make sure you are ready for production and that you can take orders when people avail for your cakes. Once an order is placed, make sure you have prepared everything in order to fulfil the said order on time that way you have a happy customer and earn properly for the cake you have made for them.

In order to have a good production flow, make sure everything is prepared early on such as the baking equipment which should always be clean and ready to use, the ingredients for baking the cake and everything else from designing to boxing the cake for release.

Sales

Your sales are important and will keep the business going. Make sure that you accept as many orders as you can as long as you can fulfil them since the more cakes you sell means the more profit that you earn. Make sure the price of the ingredients you use doesn’t exceed the price of the cake as you need to earn from not only the ingredient you used but the time and effort you spent on baking and designing the cake.

Maintenance

Make sure to maintain your business well which is important for it to strive and continue being a successful business in the future. Be sure to check the equipment you use for damage or other issue, log the orders fulfilled and keep track of the progress the business is making, make sure the work area is always clean and ready for use and check that you have enough ingredients for any other orders that you have received.

Improvements

Once you have earned a good share of money, it might be time to upgrade your business such as setting up a shop if you still work at home, improve a shop if you currently have one and buy better equipment that can improve the flow of your business.

It is good to upgrade your business in order to not only have an easier time but this makes everything better all in all and who knows eventually your cakes will become popular and iconic.

Marketing

Spreading The New

So you are ready to accept orders and make wedding cakes for customers but wait, how are you going to get customers? We’ll first things first, spread the new out to your family, friends and people near you so that they can either spread that news as well and even suggest that people order from you.

If you tell people about your business this allows you to expand the awareness by every person you tell. Later on this becomes a chain reaction until majority of the people around you know about it.

Advertise

Nowadays most people advertise online but there is nothing wrong with putting up a flyer or tarpaulin for someone to notice your business.

If you intend on creating flyers or tarpaulins, makes sure you have a creative design as well as actual picture of your cakes. One of the main disappointments with businesses nowadays is people would use pictures that entice people but later on upset them when the product or service isn’t fulfilled. You want a good honest business because people are trusting you to make a cake for them which is food which can affect their health if they consume it if it is not clean or properly made. It may seem like it is not a big deal but it actually is. Aside from making them a cake for their occasion that they are really happy about, you are also making them food as they will eat this cake and expect it not only to taste good but to be clean and safe, of course it’s a cake so we can’t really say it’s going to help them stay fit.

There is also the option of advertising online which is very useful as you can set up different social media accounts if you prefer in order to set up the business page or post things regarding your business. Here you can show your products, your offers what you can do and much more. Being creative is the key when advertising online. You want to get their attention with a picture or a post and later on bring them in with a nice catalogue of your product, online brochure showing the cakes you can make and more.

Other alternatives can be specialised digital marketing businesses which help wedding related brands to advertise. Wedding Cakes Australia is Australia’s leading marketing source for wedding cake makers – with brand exposure designed to generate more wedding cake orders in all States and territories. If you would like to see if we have an availability in your city, contact us today.

It is important to show people that your business is up and running, good to go and that you can commit to fulfilling their orders. Making people aware of your wedding cake business will increase the chances of you having more customers.

Conclusion

If you are passionate about baking or know someone who is and would like to start a wedding cake business, then there are a few things you need to keep in mind. Doing this will make sure you stay focused and are prepared to enjoy the productivity and face any challenges along the way. It may be a rough start sometimes but a little patience and dedication can go a long way. Wedding cakes are very important to people, especially the bride and groom. They want the occasion to be as memorable as possible and not only will the cake play a huge role in their wedding but it will also delight and satisfy them. Not only can you earn good amount of money from this business but don’t forget one of the most important things when it comes to this kind of business, you enjoy it. If you enjoy baking cakes and make a living from it then that is a great way to spend your time since doing what you love and earning can lead to very successful opportunities.