Starting a Bakery Business

Starting a Bakery Business

Starting a bakery business involves many essential steps. Legally, you must ensure that you apply for and receive the correct licences. You should comply with food safety regulations as well as packaging and the right labeling when needed.

In addition, you need to learn and understand how the industry works, the things you need to consider in your planning and the legal requirements you must meet.

If you open or take over a bakery business, you may need a Food Business Licence from your local authorities. All reputable businesses must be licensed with the local council where their food business is based.

Licence costs and application processing times will vary so check details with your local council when you apply. Licensed food businesses may have more than 1 registered premises.

Starting a bakery business makes you legally required to meet the food health and safety standards and regulations of your local area. If you plan on exporting it will reguire further international regulations. In general, you need to ensure you make and store food safely for your customers.

If you want to provide tables and chairs on the footpath so your customers can consume food and drinks outside, you may need an outdoor dining licence from your local authorities.

Bakery operators mix and bake ingredients to produce and sell an assortment of bread, rolles, cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, tarts and biscuits that are usually made on premises or bought from domestic wholesalers. These in turn could be sold in retail stores, by grocers, wholesalers, restaurants, hotels, and institutional food services.

Starting a bakery business requires skills and knowledge in baking and marketing bakery products, as well as running a business.

Although no formal education is required to become a baker, some attend a technical or culinary school. Programs generally last from 1 to 2 years and cover nutrition, food safety, and basic math. To enter these programs a high school diploma or equivalent is required.

Most bakers learn their skills through long-term on-the-job training, lasting 1 to 3 years. Some employers may provide apprenticeship programs for aspiring bakers. Bakers in specialty bakery shops and grocery stores often start as apprentices or trainees and learn the basics of baking, icing, and decorating.

They usually study topics such as nutrition, sanitation procedures, and basic baking. Some participate in correspondence study and may work toward a certificate in baking.

As consumers become more health-conscious and food information seeking savy, they’ve become more concerned about they eat, what ingredients their food contains, and more importantly whether those ingredients are healthy or not.

So, this new trend represents an opportunity in the food industry in general and it also applies to the bakery industry. Creating health-conscious products could represent a niche on the market for baked goods.

There are huge brand name companies already catering to this market, however, consumers are now looking for more artisan-like baked goods. They also want to make sure the incredients contained in those goods are not detrimental for their well being.

Given the nature of baked goods like high carbohidrates and sugars, alternatives products with similar taste are great possibilities for those starting out, which in turn will help them compete against the big guys in the industry.

In order to compete in this somehow crowded market depending on your location in the world, you should give it a unique spin. Some ways to stand out from the crowd is to either use a creative way to deliver your products, a unique marketing approach, top notch service, or really unique products with secret family recipes.

If you have a local business or are going to have one, having an online presence could help you leverage your local business. Bakery businesses are increasingly facing growing cost and very low profit margins. So, a good way to create another source of income is via a website. You could publish and sell a recipes book or any book related to bakery to earn additional income.

In addition, by providing lots of useful content related to baking you could attract more visitors to your site and if you place advertising on your site you would have another source of income.

Finally, a great way to monetize an online presence is to teach or offer online training courses using your experience. Teach online by sharing your knowledge and passion while generating yet another income from what you know and love. Here’s a great opportunity for you as a baker and or cake decorator. You could sell e-books and video tutorials.

Having a web presence for your local business will also help you reach new markets, build better relationships with local visitors, offer promotions available only on your site, and grow your business. You would be ahead than your local competitors.

Some information on this article has been adapted from The Bureau of Labor Statistics and The National Center for O*NET Development. 51-3011.00. O*NET OnLine from: Retrieved March 23, 2015,