Did you know that the baking industry brings in about $30 billion every year? There are thousands of bakeries scattered throughout the U.S., and they make a killing by selling everything from bread and pies to cookies and cakes.
If you want to get your hands on a piece of this action, you should consider trying to open a bakery of your own. Although there are about 6,000 retail bakeries and 3,000 commercial bakeries right now, there is always room for one more!
Before you fire up the ovens and start trying to sell baked goods, though, you should learn how to open a bakery in the right way. There are certain steps that you’re going to need to take when opening a successful bakery.
Use the step-by-step guide below to get your bakery off the ground in no time at all.
Begin by Taking a Look at Whether or Not Your City Needs Another Bakery
Before you dive headfirst into trying to open a bakery, it’s important for you to check out the other bakeries that already exist in your city. This will give you some sense as far as whether or not your city can support another bakery.
If you find that there are already a dozen bakeries operating in your city despite the fact that it’s on the smaller side, you might struggle to open a bakery and turn it into a success. Unless you’re able to offer something that the other bakeries can’t, you’re going to have a tough time attracting customers to your bakery.
Whatever you do, don’t open a bakery without doing a bunch of market research first. It’ll help you see what kind of competition you might face if you ultimately choose to set up shop by opening a bakery in your city.
Figure Out If You Can Afford to Open a Bakery
The cost of opening a bakery is more than you might think. You’re going to have to be prepared to pay anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 to get your bakery up and running.
Do you have the money to do it? If not, you might be able to secure a business loan to jumpstart your bakery. It’ll give you the funding to buy everything that you’ll need to get your bakery ready to go.
But whatever the case, you shouldn’t rush into opening a bakery without a financial plan in mind. You’re going to put yourself into a tough spot if you aren’t sure how you’ll fund your operation from the start.
Put Together a Comprehensive Business Plan for Your Bakery
We just touched on how important it’s going to be to have a financial plan in place when you open a bakery. But to a larger degree, it’s also going to be important to have a comprehensive business plan that you can rely on to lead the way while you go through the process of opening a bakery.
Your business plan should include:
- The name of your bakery
- A description of your company
- Information on the market research you’ve done
- A complete breakdown of everything you’ll need to open a bakery
- A marketing plan for your bakery
In the event that you need to take out a business loan to start your bakery, lenders are going to ask to see your business plan. Make sure you have it handy to show how serious you are about making your bakery a success.
Look for the Best Possible Location for Your Bakery
You might know how to make the best bread, pies, cookies, and cakes in the world. But if you open a bakery that’s off the beaten path, guess what? People might not ever get to discover just how delicious your baked goods are.
With this in mind, you’ll need to make sure that you find a great location for your bakery if you choose to open one up. It’ll need to be in a place that gets a lot of car and foot traffic so that you’re able to entice people to stop in and try your tasty treats.
Get Your Hands on the Right Equipment for Your Bakery
Once you have a location for your bakery all picked out, filling it with the right equipment will be of the utmost importance. There is all kinds of equipment that you’ll need to open a bakery, including:
- Convection ovens
- Rack ovens
- Deck ovens
You don’t necessarily need to buy top-of-the-line equipment for your bakery when you’re first opening it up. You might even be able to get away with putting used equipment to the test.
But you should make sure that you have everything you’ll need to make whatever it is you’re going to have on your menu. It’ll get your bakery off to a strong start once you open it up.
Invest in an Insurance Policy for Your Bakery
Obtaining an insurance policy for your bakery might not sound like the most exciting thing in the world. But it’s going to be important for you to pick out a policy that will provide you with all the coverage that you need.
If possible, work with an insurance company that can help you create a customized policy based on your bakery’s specific needs.
Market Your Bakery to the Masses to Drum Up Interest in It
When you reach this point, you should be just about ready to stick an “Open” sign on your bakery’s front door so that you can start serving your customers. One of the only things left to do will be to market your bakery to the masses so that people know about it.
You can do this by:
- Sticking an eye-catching sign on your bakery
- Setting up social media accounts for your bakery
- Running advertisements for your bakery in the local newspaper
Do whatever it takes to make sure that people know your bakery exists. It should increase the chances of them stopping by to try out your bakery.
Open a Bakery Today and Start Raking in the Dough
If your dream has always been to open a bakery, why not start trying to do it today? You can have a bakery up and running within just a few months if you want.
Follow the steps listed here to get your bakery all set up. It won’t be long at all before you’re baking bread, pies, cookies, and cakes and serving them up to those in your community. You’ll love seeing the smiles that you’re able to put on people’s faces with your baked goods.
Take a look at the other articles on our blog to get more great advice on starting a new business.
