home businuss or store front - Page 2

Thank you Shophymalik, is been a dream of mine to finish the place and we just got it signed off by the inspector last week. Thanks for the comment on the flowers, I bough this awesome orchid book that has great pics and it comes handy when painting the flowers. I will post some pics of the final kitchen soon.

 

If you dont mind and in my very In humble opinion ... how do we girls define sucess? is it by the money in the bank? by the ability to pick up your child from school and be home for them when they need us, by doing what we love to do everyday even if it means working 60 plus hrs? -I dont have children and where I do have some money in the bank I dont define my sucess with that cash,  I find sucess when a customer picks up their cake and they start crying, when a baker buys my sugar flowers and has a smile from ear to ear.  I chose to convert a garage into a kitchen instead of a storefront for a number of reasons, but if all comes back to how I define sucess. Do keep a couple of things in mind ... 

 

1. Overhead, I made an initial investment and had savings from selling my sugar flowers to local bakeries, I dont have to pay rent. My place is small, but large enough to be run as a Commercial kitchen, when I did a ROI "return on investment" the number looked awesome not having to pay rent helps my bottom line..

 

2. Our society and potential customers are changing, I can tell you that 80% of my shoping is done on line, just because you run something out of a basement or a garage does not mean you will be less sucessfull than a store front cake shop, it does mean you got to do your homework, you have to be or learn to be a good sales person. Bring your flowers, bring your best dessert, cake the best  local restaurant I will like to share something that I did with you ... I made these awesome cream puffs and brough them to a restaurant down the st from my shop, I talked to a waiter about it and asked them if they will try it and let me know their thoughs as we just make a change to the recepe. I gave them 12 for free, they were package nicely,they order 150 for christmas eve, now, the sucess here is not the 150 puffs that I sold, but the fact that now the restaurant staff talks about my puffs and how awesome they are to their customer and friends, they have become my salespeople and dont even know it,  make friends with people in town and I could keep on talking and talking about sales, because I just love the topic , but I dont want to bore you LOL!

 

Have a good night

Liz :) 

@sweetales wow! Your 2013 will be a blast! I read the thread and it inspires me... I'm a home baker and selling some cakes before now that I a new mom ( had a 3 month old baby girl) my husband wanted me to stay home.... So I'm going to start pulling out my recipe book, buying some stuff for baking..... My first order blueberry cheese cakes, mini choco moist cake and mini tiramisu cakes.... Will be serving a coffee shop downtown.... Wish me luck for my taste sample.... On feb got orders 2 birthday cakes fondant for a 86 and 60 y/0 client.

Wow Deborah, what an exciting home-based kitchen you have in FB. But I'm wondering how did you get an approval from your state? I live in NJ and they said it's not legal to bake at home for business.

 

I just want to do cake decorating, and maybe some specialty cupcakes too. Is there a way that I can do these at my house?

 

Thanks for your time.

 

Chat

The problem is usually that home kitchens can't pass a commercial health inspection, so if you have the space and cash to build a second kitchen on your property that meets health dept requirements you should be good to go, assuming you also have zoning approval.

wow deb and liz

 

tremendously awesome places you've both built!!

 

brava!!! how sweet it is!!!

 

liz, is that a granite counter top or marble or is it something else??

 

just purely curious

Jollyb9,

You'll have to check out your state/town... whatever group the "Powers That Be" are where you live. I had to build a second kitchen. It is in my basement, and that is okay in PA. No animals can have access to it. In PA, you CAN be approved to bake from your home kitchen, too... with limitations. No children can have access while you are working. All ingredients must be stored separately from your family foods. No animals can have access to the kitchen area at any time. There are limitations as to what you can bake/sell... No potentially hazardous foods (nothing that has to be refrigerated, like whipped cream fillings, cheesecakes...). I have 2 Labrador retrievers, so I knew right up front that I couldn't use my home kitchen. I did not have to build a second building. A second kitchen was fine, so that's the route I went.

 

I have 3 months from the date I was inspected to complete Food Safety Manager Certification Training course, and pass the test. This test has to be passed every 5 years here in PA. My water has to be tested and pass for Nitrates and Coliform every year, and I get a yearly inspection from The PA Dept. of Agriculture. I am a registered Food Establishment in the state of PA, so I can make cheesecakes and use whipped cream, etc. My hours are by appointment. My local township had to write a letter stating that I was allowed to run a business like this from my home, and since we have a sand mound/septic system, the man who is the head of the township sewer/waste had to write a letter stating that our septic system should handle the waste water. I did not have to add a grease trap, but I chose to do it anyhow. It's WAY cheaper to put in a grease trap, than a new septic system!

 

Now, I have to get the word out. Until I get busy enough, I'll keep building websites for other companies. The problem is finding the time to build my own sites. :)

 

A side note: If you are not registered in PA, you better not get caught charging anything for your cakes. You can GIVE them away, though. Now, to pay off this kitchen... Bring on the orders!

Just curious.... what did YOU want to do? Did you want to stay home with the baby?

Thanks so much for the kind words on my kitchen, the counter is Carrara marble a friend of mine works at a place where they sell granite and marble and gave an amazing deal. I need it marble too as we temper chocolate all the time and it does have great tempering abilities

omg how lusciously lovely oooohhh it looked like marble!!!!

 

i am fortunate enough to have a small marble top island

 

but yours is deliciously obscene in a wonderful good way!!!!

 

granite would not be user friendly to me at all but all marble --wow

 

far beyond way cool

 

<high five>

Thanks Jason for your kind reply. I'm so happy to hear that health departments are allowing commercial home-based kitchen. I came across a story about this person who said that he wanted to build a space (or turn an existing space in his house) for a commercial kitchen but he was not allowed because it's attached to his house. Maybe this person is from a very strict state.

 

Thanks again,

Chat
 

Thanks Deb for your reply. You and Sweetales are great inspirations for me.

 

I think I want to rent a commercial kitchen for now. I actually found one which is about 20 minutes drive from my place. They charge $25/ hr, and they also have daily rates. They have a commercial oven and walk-in fridge. They will also provide me a storage for my stuff. I'm going there tomorrow and they will give me a tour of the place; I'm soooo excited.

 

By the way, can you recommend an online school where I can take food handling courses before I take the tests?

 

Loving your cakes,

Chat

jollyb9,

There are sites online that offer Food Safety Manager Certification Training courses... HOWEVER, even though they look good, or the price might be nice, BEWARE. They are not always accepted in your state. You don't want to pay twice. Find out from your local inspector which courses are accepted. I ended up going with the ServeSafe TAP series online classes that are through the Penn State Extension (locally). The classes are all online. Then when finished, you print out the certificate that the class is complete, and take it with you to the testing site at their office. They do the classes one day a month. The total cost was $ 135.00. I am in the middle of the online class right now. I am scheduled for the February test... but now I have to re-schedule, as my husband is getting 2 new hips that week. He's getting his hips this winter, and I will probably get mine next winter. At least I only need one! Unfortunately, we are not that old... early 50s. The hips are falling apart complements of Lyme Disease. I'm looking forward to walking without pain, and carrying a cake without worrying that I might stumble every time I step on my right leg. :) Back to the main subject: research the classes and prices. The prices vary greatly. Also, you can find one day classes taught live. That would have been my first choice, but the dates would not fit into my schedule before my 3 month deadline (3 months from the date of my inspection and start of the business).

debm1--wow

 

hope you guys are up and running/walking (carefully but) briskly very very soon!

 

wow, dang!  stinking %$#&* lyme disease

 

warm wishes and miraculous easy nice quick healing to you

 

with a hefty helping of zero complications

 

merry merry marathons to you both!!!

 

xo

K8memphis,

Thank-you so much! We have seen miracles, and would welcome another...without the operations. However it happens, it will be nice to walk normally again. I'm fine baking and decorating... it can be hard delivering large cakes like wedding cakes. I think I'll look for a strong, dependable teenager to help carry the big ones... if I can stand the thought of trusting a kid with a cake. Yikes! :)

I live in a state that does not allow a home kitchen.  We were required to build a separate building and then the commercial kitchen could only occupy 1/4 of the total space.  Here is a link to the destruction of the old building and then the reestablished building with my kitchen.

 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Lindas-Just-Desserts/150583508353552

 

  I enjoy being able to walk across the yard and work on my cakes and go back to the house if I need to throw some laundry in the washer.  Also, if I don't want to work, I mark the days on the calendar and off I go to do with what I want.  Storefronts require a routine and hours that are consistent to build a client base.