Hello everyone!! My wife does cakes and wants to start her own cake business. She is currently working at a bakery now but we plan to move out of the area and it would be a great opportunity to get her going. She mainly wants to specialize in high detail wedding cakes or other specialty cakes. Anyone have any input? We'd hate to oversee anything and make any mistakes. Thanks!!

welcome to CC, and its so nice of you to be doing research for your wife! i think you'll hear some great advice, but we need some more info. what state/city will you be opening a shop in? thats the first thing. have you done market research, made a business plan? what info exactly are you looking for?

We are in SC. We will be moving to Greenville SC. We are currently putting a business plan together and doing research on the area. I guess I am looking for input of things that are generally overlooked, unplanned, problems to look out for, what kind of commercial space to stay away from, as well as just some good advice from those who have 'been there, done that'. Also, in doing research for the area, what things should I look for and what are 'red flags'? BTW, my wife has been a CC member for quite some time and might be on here as 'SAD'.

Thanks

As you look for retail space, try to find one that already had a kitchen in it. That will save you a lot of money on the build out and the power (amps) are probably already wired to meet the needs of commercial kitchen equipment.

I recommend a kitchen designer. They are intimately familiar with commercial kitchen layouts, the local health dept requirements, contractors who will do good for you, and can get equipment at a great price. My designer waived her design fee because I bought $50K in equipment from her, so I got my kitchen design for free.

All of the following come with the disclaimer of "in my area".....

You will need CAD drawings/floorplans that have been signed off by an architect (another good point for having a kitchen designer .... some of them have an on-staff architect and others will have architects they work with) before you can start the building permit process.

If your store will be eat-in (someone can buy coffee, a cookie and sit down and eat it) you will need a public restroom that is handicap accessible. (My shop is not like that so I got to skip this expense.)

Hand washing sinks are required every 25 feet. My first space was longer than that, so I was looking at having to have 2 handwashing stations.

Check the local requirements for overhead venting over the stove/oven and grease traps. The venting system is pretty costly so if you can get around that, it's a real cost saver. (Mine is $1000 a linear foot and I needed 8 feet of it).

Thanks for the info Indydebi,

My wife is looking initially to open a small space to bake and assemble her work as well as meet with clients. She will not be serving anything at the location.

i don't have any input for you, i just had to say that it's awesome you are doing this for her and you certainly came to the right place.

Thank you for the kind words Sunspotalli. She is the one who will really getsto do the hard part. I'm just fortunate enough to get to go along for the ride and I'll help whenever she needs me.

I am in that process right now just phoned and leased a huge space on the busiest road in town right next to a stop light and along the side walk. LOts of parking and I can't believe the rent. They are going to pay for all the upgrades and any work I do to the building. OMG I can't believe it is happening we didn't what to do it until next year but couldn't pass it up. First thing was to draw a kitchen plan out for the heath dept and I will meet with them next week the we can start the work. we want to be open by July1st it will have a cake studio, consultation room, lounge and office already in place and no painting needed. I have the key already and we haven't even signed the papers till Tues. They told me to go ahead and start. Whooo! hoooooo! out of the rented church kitchen I go. Sounds to good to be true. The funny thing is I just did his daughters wedding cake last weekend.

Even a small commercial space means huge money in some places. I ran into whether or not I was going to have a hood with a return. This was the the straw that broke all the plans we had started. If I were to have a stove with a range I had to have a hood. Well the hood was going to cost between $10,000-$18,000. My space was just a licensed kitchen to work out of. These are the type of hiccups I found out. So back to square one.

You need to find out if a 'home' kitchen can be licensed in SC. For a new business, reducing the overhead is a big step toward success. If you aren't going to have anything but a cake shop, working from 'home' will be a huge advantage.

I was able to establish a kitchen in my garage for a little more than $20,000. It didn't require a stove hood, I was allowed to have home appliances (some require commercial which costs much more). I do have 15 feet of sinks, and separate toilet/sink, and a grease trap.

Paying off the $20,000 was relative easy, and there is NO stress about income to keep the roof over my head.

good luck

If the hood cost that much it must be for a gas commercial convection. I am going with and electric for that reason it doesn't require the same hood.

If you help her open a busy cake shop/studio you will be contributing to her shortened life!... all I do is work and that is all I do!

mpc
www.mypastrychef.com

May I suggest the book "Turn Your Passion Into Profits" by Janet Allon? It is a book specifically for women in business and is more geared toward the "creative arts", I guess you would say. Owning shops, restaurants, etc. It's very detailed and useful.

Good luck!

Steph