Hi all,
I've been doing cakes out of my home now for a year, and I'm starting to get busy, which essentially is making me nervous, considering I don't have a liscence. Does anyone know the requirements for a cake business in CA before I spend hours trying to find the right person to talk to? Any help in any direction would be appreciated! Thank you!
Amy
I live in Northern California and have done some research. You can not run your business out of your home unless you have a separate kitchen from your primary home kitchen. I have looked for ways around it and have not come up with anything so far. I am so bummed!!!!
Melissa
I've heard that...and my hubby and I would even be willing to convert part of our 3 car garage into a little studio kitchen for me. So I guess I'm going to have to start calling around! When I get more info I will post!
butrcup,
Where in Corona? I'm off Cajalco and the 15.
Nice to meet you!
The 91 and McKinnley-nice to meet you neighbor! Your cakes are great, I just started a couple of months ago so I am just learning, but I am hooked on this website. I love all the shops down by your house-I'm there about every other day and there is always a new one open.
Pila's Pantry is a bakery that now only does wedding cakes, but they have a whole retail store inside. They are off hamner avenue in Norco (same side as Target) Go over there and check it out!! I buy most of my stuff from them.
Pila's offers classes and they are great. Michael's off Cajalco offers all three levels of Wilton classes
Nice to meet you Debbi!
Are you doing cakes out of the home, shop, etc?
How are things going for you?
Hi Debbi-you're not too far away either. I'm going to try to go to Pila,s tomorrow, I checked out their web site which is mostly under construction-I'm off work this week, spent the day at Sea World with my sons today-actually am eating a pizza from BJs-down by you Amy, we stopped by there on the way home-yum. I'm kinda nervous, I got my first real call for a cake today-a baby shower, need it Thursday night, yikes! No way am I ready for this, so needless to say with that pizza comes beer.
Debbi,
You'll do great...your quilt cake is adorable!!!
I'm in San Jose, so pretty far from the rest of you Californians. I've been talking to the Department of Environmental Health here and that is a county office, so although the health code is by the state of California, I think the implenentation is by the counties and there may be differences between counties. Anyway, I was told that one can't under any circumstances bake from one's house. Anything sold to a customer has to be from a commercial kitchen. Then when I asked about what was required to make a kitchen qualify as a commerical kitchen, the first thing they told me was that you need to have a separate floor drain (I think the deal is that it can't be connected to the sewage system) and that it would cost between 15 and 40 THOUSAND dollars to install such a drain!!! (Like that is going to happen!) It was suggested by the Health Department that I find a commerical licensed bakery and ask to rent space and get a supplementaty license to bake under their license. I think you still have to take a class and pass a test, at least here in Santa Clara County.
Needless to say this is not happening soon. as adding the expense of rent to cake prices will make them too expensive for anyone to buy them. I'd really LIKE to abide by the laws, but I really can't see how. Meanwhile everyone says I ought to charge for my cakes (and I have my prices all figured out) but so far I've given about 25 away because I'm afraid to charge. The health department person on the phone did seem to say that as long as you don't advertise and just do cakes for friends, they don't want to be involved. I don't think this is the official view however. Their unwritten policy may be that they won't come looking for you if you don't advertise, but if someone turns you in, you can still be in trouble.
On the other hand, I think my plan will be not to advertise but to have some business cards to pass out to friends. Then I will develop a VERY WIDE circle of friends. Anyone who wants a cake will immediately be a really good friend... (Sigh....)
Anyone have a better idea?
Wow...that floor drain issue really could be a problem for me! i thought i would just have to turn the third part of our garage into a commercial kitchen. i guess I need to spend some time researching this week so I can have some clear answers.
When people call me from word of mouth, I let them know right off the bat that I am not liscenced and I usually have them come to my house so they know where i'm making the cake. They see my kids, my dogs, my workspace, etc.
I don't have any intentions of turning my hobby into a business, (if you look at my cakes you'll understand why-lol) so I'm just throwing some ideas out there...
what about using space from an Elks club or something like that? They have kitchens they couldn't possibly use all the time.
Plus Amy, not only the drain, have spent any time in your garage lately? My laundry room is in there, tad bit warm-I think of doing laundry as my weight loss plan.
You can't get in trouble for baking something for a bakesale can you-just consider it a bake sale and only one person showed up....
here is a whole other can of worms...I listen to news radio when I'm in my car, I'm in there a lot with my job...anyway, one day they were discussing hobby vs. business. Until you start making a profit you can write everything off or something like that, I would seek professional advice on that but it may be a different way to avoid being classified as a business-
The floor drain thing could just be Santa Clara County, so you do need to check out how your county implements the health code. I tried to read the code, but it is so complicated that I can't really figure it out. I'm not sure the health department guy on the phone really understood what I want to do. I don't want to have a bakery, just to do 4 or 6 really special cakes a month, but the rules are not really set up for that. He did suggest I come to the health department and talk to a plan person to see if there are other options, but he wasn't encouraging. We went round and round in circles. Probably Ihsould go there with a business plan and see what they say.
As far as using a kitchen from the Elks or something like that, I asked about using my synagogue's kitchen. The guy said that would work if I only baked for synagogue members, becasue the health department doesn't "get invovlved with that." That seems a bit confining, I know a lot of people not at my synagogue. I checked with the synagogue and indeed their understanding is that they are not licensed to be commercial. They are OK to be used for events at the synagogue or for members. We decided if I tried to get licensed commericially there it might trigger an inspection which might flag things that would have to be changed and might be expensive for the synagogue. They don't wish to risk that, and I don't blame them. Your experience might be different, however.
butrcup, I think your cakes look very nice. Your basketweave is very good. We all seem to think our cakes are not as good as the next person's, but to someone who doesn't decorate, this stuff all looks like incredible magic, even when it isn't as perfect as we'd like. I love this as a hobby, but it is expensive to buy all the equipment, so it would be nice to make a little money at it, instead of just spemding it.
You deserve to make money-and lots of it! I am actually making a cake for someone's baby shower this week, I intend to make money on it. I didn't mean to imply that you should keep this as a hobby for tax purposes...I also don't want it to sound like I'm suggesting you do something that isn't according to the rules, they just seem too harsh.
Another interesting point, I'm breaking up my vacation this week to have a meeting with The Jewish Federation, the company I work for is about to do alot of work for them.
Back to the Elks-they serve food to the public, I don't know why they keep sticking in my mind.
butrcup, I agree with you that the rules seem harsh. They are almost inviting us to break them, because they make following them so impossible. I had the feeling when I talked to the health deprtment guy that that was the underlying message-- sort of stay below our radar and we won't bother you. Of course they can't really say that, and there is the danger that someone will turn you in and they won't be able to ignore you.
I like the idea of being legal, but am afraid if I keep asking questions and I do go to the health department for more info, I will just be flagging myself for future troubles, when I don't live up to their requirements.
I don't know a lot about the Elks. My Dad was a Mason and they served food too. I think they usually only served food at their own events though. It is certainly worth a try to see if one could use an unused church's, synagogue's or other organization's kitchen, maybe for a percentage of profits instead of straight rent, so one wouldn't have to pay if there wasn't money coming in.
In my case, I'm trying to do this kosher, so it adds a further level of complexity.
My sister-in-law is with United Jewish Communities in LA which is the national umbrella for Jewish Federation. Wonder if you'll meet her. She's a senior development exec (whatever that means) and a terrific lady!
I wouldn't be surprised if I do meet her, if I haven't already-I've met their consultants, attorneys, the list goes on and on, I will say, they are thorough-its a good project.
I know what you mean, ask questions and it raises questions. I would just keep doing what you're doing until you are making so much money you don't have a choice-
[Pila's Pantry is a bakery that now only does wedding cakes, but they have a whole retail store inside. They are off hamner avenue in Norco (same side as Target) Go over there and check it out!! I buy most of my stuff from them. ]
I went to Pila's today, signed up for two classes. Great place, thanks for the info.[/quote]
You can also look into renting space at a commercial bakery or resteraunt. I know it is done quite often , and you can get your own liscense under them.
Cakegirl, if you do research in the next week or in the future, please post and let us know what you find out. All of us in California may have slightly different requirements, but the code we are starting with is the same. Also, the floor drain thing may be just up here, or the person on the phone may not have understood me, or you may find someone who is more creative than my guy was or... I'd really like to hear what you find out. Thanks in advance!
KayDay, Thanks for the compliment. I will figure out some way to make it work. I just wish it didn't have to be so complicated....
I will be sure to let you guys know...I have 3 cakes this week so I'm running a little ragged with my husband traveling on business for the next few days. But I will try to make a call sometime in the next few days. I couldn't find anything online except that I needed to have a commercial kitchen.
Butrcup,
I'm glad you went to Pila's. I love the people that work there, they are so nice!
hi
it was so nice to see so many post from california. i work out of my kitchen also. i just received my wilton certificates for course one and two. i've been decorating since march 2005. this is a dream come true. i am hooked on this site. all of the cakes are so beautiful and creative. i am currently working on a roll of film of my cakes and cannot wait to see how the pics came out. i am located in inglewood near westchester/culver city/ hawthorne. i would love to connect with some other decorators and maybe start a local club. all of the other clubs are so far out.
anyway, i am also trying to find a way to sell legit out of my home. it was good to know not to advertise. i was just about to create a brochure.
sweetycake,
Nice to meet you! It's a bummer for sure that we can't advertise. My rule of thumb is: I have to know them by at the most three degrees of separation. All of my business is by word of mouth and its really all I need right now. I'm at about 2 cakes a week and with two children (one with autism), thats enough for me.
Can't wait to see your photos!
Amy
I took the cookie class last week at Pila's-thought about you right when I got there, they took a call from someone wanting a babyshower cake by the week-end so they asked if anyone could do it...first, I'm not good enough (yet-haha) second-will they want to see my second drain (again, haha)? The girl teaching the class sure made a fuss about the cookies she made at home vs. the cookies they made there, and everyone in the class sure did a lot of cakes (but of course for only family) seems like quite the taboo subject in public-I don't think I look like a food inspector and I sure hope I don't dress like one-maybe they looked at my cookies and thought they were so bad...hmmmmm
When you offset all the decorating equipment, cake tins, boards ect. against what you charge for your cakes are you actually making any money? If you're not it's a hobby. I know although I actually make a profit on each individual cake I sell, when I off set it against the price of my equipment and tools I don't actually make any money at all. This could be a way round your dilema
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