Is anyone decorating from home and making money? - Page 2

First thing is to go to your health department and get the information needed to be able to do this some states you can do it out of your home and some states you cant.. but like Jeanne G said your able to get say a church kitchen or something like that part time and you can have a permit to bake and decorate there...

MDM, several years ago a friend and I attended a cooking class called "So you want to be a caterer" -- not that either of us seriously wanted to be caterers but it was a nice evening's entertainment and involved sampling the recipes the woman demonstrated. Our kind of night out, in other words.

The caterer told about her experiences, starting out alone in her home and building the business to where she has a building and several employees. One of the things she would do differently was not start from her home. She only did it for a brief while and only sold to close friends and family, but her competitors still dismiss her as "oh, her -- she works out of her home, you know." She found it a hard reputation to overcome.

She is the one I got the idea from about renting kitchen space, because that was her next step after deciding she really wanted to make a career of this. I think she found a test kitchen of some food company. Wouldn't that be ideal? The ovens were professionally calibrated every month, and the kitchen was equipped with the best of everything. She also suggested restaurants that aren't open mornings, churchs, schools, -- anyone that might provide food for the public and therefore has a licensed, inspected kitchen. I've never done any looking (the class was just a lark for me) and I'm just passing on what I heard.

Are you going to be located in a large city? Check into Small Business Administration services. I understand they often can provide information and encouragement to people starting their own businesses.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

I agree with Lady cakes in reference to the business cards, alot of people use them just as a form of passing out thier contact info. I dont think its Fraud...I agree however that if you not "legal" that there are concequences if you are caught.

Just try the health department it might be easier than you think, alot of them dont even require commercial equipment and some let you use your residential kitchen. I know its overwhelming at first but once youre on your way it'll be well worth it all!!

You don't need a huge stockpile of cash. You could always get a business loan from the bank.
Put together a solid business plan and get a loan from the bank. This is how most small businesses are started. Of course, that is the short, easy way of explaining it.

Here are some good books on starting a business. These books are general information, but you could certainly apply them to a cake decorating business. ( these are just a few examples, there are plenty more books about starting a business out there)

Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need (Start Your Own Business: The Only Start-Up Book You'll Ever Need)


Successful Business Planning in 30 Days: A Step-By-Step Guide for Writing a Business Plan and Starting Your Own Business

MDM said "We're moving somewhere that doesn't allow a cake shop to be run out of your home." It sounds to me like she has already researched what it would take to do this in her home. Some places, my state among them, simply do not allow food business in homes, period. So there wouldn't be any point in contacting the health department about that.

Youre right ....she did say that, I didnt catch that in her later post.

sowwy

You might check in to a womans loan they are most of the time easier to get for a woman needing a loan for a business.. Good luck with what ever you deside to do..

i had a friend how told me that the only thing getting a license does it let you charge sales tax. and that i could advertise that i do cake to get business.

I would take any business advice given to me by any of my friends with a grain of salt, unless they were an attorney.

I love my friends to death, and they are a great support and have plenty of helpful advice. But the fact is when starting a business there are so many different factors and rules that vary from state to state and county to county. I personally feel that you should really only do what the laws/ordinances say.

Where do you live, LvBunny? And is your friend knowledgable about the regulations regarding food businesses?

In some places, almost anything goes.
In some, selling food from a home is OK as long as it isn't perishable. (Cookies are OK, cream pies are not.)
In some, selling food from a home is OK if the home meets certain criteria (that range from minmal to extensive, depending on where you are), is inspected regularly, and pays for a license.
In some, selling food from a home is forbidden no matter what.

So your friend may be right, for your location. Or maybe not. But anybody trying to have a "legit" business has to know their local regulations.

I can see that this is going to be a very hot topic!
So I have created a new forum dedicated to the cake decorating business!!

I am moving this topic to that forum.

On this issue of home based decorators getting in trouble for not being legal.
Well that stories I have heard from people who have gotten caught was that they were told to stop selling from home or become legal. Were they lucky? Well probably.
Put I have never heard of anyone really getting in bad trouble! I guess everyone needs to think about it and what they stand to lose. I however would not think you would end up in jail over this. Maybe haveto pay a fine, Maybe have to go to court, But Jail.......I hope not!
Stacie

well this friend is a detective so i figured he knew what he was talking about.

I have been reading alot of what all of you had to say on the business of cake baking from home. I am just starting up doing this myself and did some checking with our local health department. Basically what they told me was to have any type of food service business from your home, and it is for profit, then you have to be certified just like restaurants, schools, etc. The person I talked with was very nice and told me, without telling me (if you catch my drift) that if I did not do public advertising (newspaper ads, flyers, etc.) and someone asked me to bake a cake and I charged for it that, as long as they "asked me" to do it having not seen any advertisement, that I would be ok. Word of mouth is not advertising by you, and the way I understood this, as long as it isn't me doing the word of mouth, then I should be safe. Basically this person was trying to help out a small business person just trying to get a start. I thought she was really nice to do this but of course if the state should get involved somehow, she never talked to me. So, there are little bitty loopholes sometimes that you can go through. I do have business cards but no where on them does it state I bake cakes for profit. It doesn't mention anything about prices. And I am very selective as to who I hand them out to.