Cake business in the winter..slow?

Weddings are not my main business, but I do have two slow months that coincide with the majority of retail sales. Mine are July and August. For me, that time is slow across the board except for wholesale.

I don't need the money for bills, but I didn't like being slower either. My solution was to open a second unrelated business.

If you are self-employed, as I have been all my life, it's a lot safer to not have all of your eggs in one basket. I have always had two businesses going.

My second business does actually compliment the bakery in a retail situation and when I was asked start a retail business, I could jump quickly because my business plans were already complete and the other business was well on its way.

If you can branch out in a complimentary way and plan for a future expansion, your business will be stronger for it. This expansion could still be the baking industry like you already have with the corporate clients.

I also have a good wholesale business that is not seasonal. I duplicate historic candies for museums all across the country. These types of things take time to develop, but will make your business solid.

Another idea is to income averaging. This is a discipline. You don't use all of your income each month, but rather the average. the amount you don't spend immediately will get you through your slower months.

The holidays are a great way to up your income. Pies, homestyle cakes, cookie platters, etc., can produce income during that time. It can carry you through until Valentine's Day. After that, weddings again.

Weddings are usually busy March-October in the U.S., then everything slows down. People start planning in January, and most of my business for the year is booked inthe first four months of each year. It's definitely cyclical and you just have to plan for it.

I am not into the cake business, but if you hope for christmas clients, maybe you can make some examples of christmissy stuff you would like to sell and put pictures on your website?