School or not?

let me guess--did the school tell you that by any chance???

well she's right in that you need college, business school, trade school something after high school

but for a bakery business, culinary school is optional--

to do cakes in particular--unless you have the big giant bucks and/or want to make a car payment for the next 25 years--you don't really need culinary school for the cake making part of it

the industry has been made very easy to learn for those who want to work hard--you tube, books, dvds, and here on cc--we share lots and lots of information

culinary school would be great at a nominally priced community college for culinary basics--pastry courses are geared toward restaurant pastry chefs/chefing

and 'open a bakery' is a very broad statement--tons of different directions to go

so yes you need school but for the business end of a cake business, culinary school is basically for restaurant pastry chef and you come out of school able to make the same wage available before you went in

it's a heartbreaker industry

it looks like fun on tv but for every episode of Duff there was way over a hundred hours of work

so you really gotta love it ;)

and sure school would be a blast but you don't necessarily get the bang for the buck

dang it i keep trying to end an a good note

so you really gotta love it ;)

I think there's always value in taking a business course, even if you don't end up opening your own business you will at least be qualified to manage someone else's. You'll also find it much easier to get loans etc for your business if you've got some relevant schooling behind you. 

I'm probably going to take a pastry course at my local community college but mainly for the non-baking part of the course, things like inventory management etc. 

A bakery job would give you some experience and a business class would be of benefit. But culinary school is not a necessity. Many fine pastry chefs, restaurateurs, and business owners do not have culinary degrees.Think about what you need to learn and research nearby schools that offer adult ed classes.