I posted in June about my state's CFL going into effect and I wondered if my small retail cake/bakery would be affected at all.
I saw the effect immediately. Since there are no inspections required, everyone and their brother is now selling cakes from their homes. Every garage sale has cupcakes and cookies for sale.
So as of August 31st I will officially be out of the retail storefront bakery business and will be joining the CFL. Thank you God my landlords understood and have let me break my lease early. It would have been a financial disaster for me if they had forced me to pay the rest of the lease.
I was upset at first since we have invested so much money and time into making the kitchen my husband built me legal to work out of. If I had known this was coming I would not have had him build the kitchen. But now that I have stepped back and reviewed everything, I have to admit I am relieved that my high costs will be going down. My insurance to cover the store is due again and it seems like I just paid the dumb thing.
I have a great customer base from having my store open for a year and I am OK with the other bakers taking all the "cheap" customers. I can't even turn on my oven for what these ladies are charging for decorated cakes--I don't know how they are justifying it. One of them is charging $2.00 a serving for tiered cakes--it's insane with ingredient costs so high.
I see they are plenty excited though, with lots of cake orders and busy, busy, busy since I have announced I am closing.
This has forced me to finally learn the lesson I have read on here so many times: I would rather make a few really nice, expensive cakes than lots and lots of cheap, mediocre cakes (trying to look at the bright side here)
Thank goodness for an understanding husband too!
I saw the effect immediately. Since there are no inspections required, everyone and their brother is now selling cakes from their homes. Every garage sale has cupcakes and cookies for sale.
So as of August 31st I will officially be out of the retail storefront bakery business and will be joining the CFL. Thank you God my landlords understood and have let me break my lease early. It would have been a financial disaster for me if they had forced me to pay the rest of the lease.
I was upset at first since we have invested so much money and time into making the kitchen my husband built me legal to work out of. If I had known this was coming I would not have had him build the kitchen. But now that I have stepped back and reviewed everything, I have to admit I am relieved that my high costs will be going down. My insurance to cover the store is due again and it seems like I just paid the dumb thing.
I have a great customer base from having my store open for a year and I am OK with the other bakers taking all the "cheap" customers. I can't even turn on my oven for what these ladies are charging for decorated cakes--I don't know how they are justifying it. One of them is charging $2.00 a serving for tiered cakes--it's insane with ingredient costs so high.
I see they are plenty excited though, with lots of cake orders and busy, busy, busy since I have announced I am closing.
This has forced me to finally learn the lesson I have read on here so many times: I would rather make a few really nice, expensive cakes than lots and lots of cheap, mediocre cakes (trying to look at the bright side here)
Thank goodness for an understanding husband too!
