Hi everyone ... I am in the early stages of figuring out the logistics of opening my own shop (I already have a licensed home bakery), and I'm looking for space to lease.

Here are a few questions for those of you who are lucky enough to have your own shops ...

1. How big is your space (square feet)? I definitely don't want to have too much room (waste of $$$), but I want to make sure I have enough room, too.

2. When you first obtained your space, was it already prepped with a kitchen and the appropriate "standards" for a bakery, or did you have to do a lot of that yourself?

3. Are you located in a strip mall, or in a stand-alone building?

4. Do you only allow people in by appointment, or are you open for certain hours and people can come and go as they please?


I guess that's it for now. I'd really appreciate any info/tips from anyone.

Thanks!

My first location was a strip center set-up, 2500 square feet, set hours of operation, closed on Sunday and Monday. We actually operated 2 business' at that location, partking was limited, space was O.K. We moved into an empty building and built to our specifications.After 3 years, I decided I wanted to specialize more into the weddings, so we sold the building and built a free-standing, with lots of parking, no retail hours, mostly by appointment, or phone orders, got into catering and weddings more. I definitely prefer the free-standing. I like the fact that the land and building are mine, and that I don't have to share the strip mall thing. I did downsize the footage, which now I wish I hadn't, because I really did not figure on doing catering, just kinda fell into it. Now I have all this extra catering stuff with no space to store, so we had to build another building to accomodate the stuff. I think you need to think about what type of operation you want, and plan for growth, there is nothing worse then not having enough space. I always look at something, its better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it. Since I don't know what you really want to do it would be hard to suggest a square footage for your building. Good Luck.

I own my own building & property. Right now, it's about 800 sq.ft., but I'm enlarging this spring to about 1200 sq. ft. I do cakes, pies, sweets, and catering of weddings, parties, etc. Need the extra space for more freezers, refrigeration, and storage.

I do not keep regular business hours - by appointment only. Most of my appointments are after people are done working, or on weekends.

This is something I've been thinking a lot about also! I'm looking at a space that is about 1200 sq ft. and wondering if it would be too big. I've also got an offer to share the building that I currently bake in at night, which only has a 300 sq ft kitchen. If it was only my business in there, I think it might work, but shared with a sandwich shop, it is too small.

As far as hours, I plan to have limited hours so that I can get some walk in traffic, but mostly do special order stuff. If people want a generic cake they can go to the grocery store whenever they want. That is not the type of business that I want to do. However, I think that it will be important to help build up a customer base by allowing for some 'grab & go' business. It's a tough call.

I'm looking forward to seeing some more posts about this!

Thanks for all of the helpful replies!

momsandraven ... I'm thinking along the same lines as you. I don't necessarily want to be like a grocery store where I have premade/preiced cakes in a display case for people to come pick up on a whim, but I also want to be there for people who don't necessarily plan ahead. I think I will have limited store hours (maybe 5-6 hours a day) and then by appointment after hours. I have built up a pretty good-sized customer base in the 5 years I've been doing this out of my house, so I think I'll have a good start with that. I was kind of thinking I'd do better in a strip mall (one without a grocery store, of course! ), since I may get more foot traffic/word of mouth that way.

I'm looking forward to hearing from other business owners, too. Thanks!

I have 1780 sf and really only need 1200 but I love the extra room. We have a huge office room and another huge extra room set up with couches and TV for resting time.

We are open 10am each morning and close at 3pm Tues and Wed, close at 5pm Th and Fri and close 2pm on Saturdays. Of course we are here working from 8am til sometimes midnight.

We have a doorbell and keep the front door locked.
I own a storefront in an office condo complex. Love it... no outside maintenance!

We are busy most of the year. We are working through Mardi Gras and have already baked 450 king cakes.

If you market your business successfully it probably won't matter where you are if your product is in demand, tastes good and valuable to your customers.
mpc