Are you considering starting a bakery from your home? Gathering ideas and information can be so overwhelming. That's why you're going to love this list of 5 ideas that actually work! These systems are tested and proven successful by home bakers who are making money running their home bakery businesses.
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Do you feel like you have what it takes to open a home bakery? Maybe you’re gathering ideas to see if running a home bakery is a good fit for you? You’ve come to the right place!
I’m Allyson and I help home bakers just like you create profitable, income-generating businesses right from their homes. In this article, I’m going to share some of the methods bakers are using to make a unique and individualized home baking business for themselves.
Sharing the Most Successful Home Bakery Ideas
What I love about baking from home is how much flexibility you have.
A busy mom with young kids?
You can create a business that works on your terms.
Looking for a better work/life balance?
Have quality time with family and friends and open your dream baking business too!
Here are some of the ways I see bakers making it work in 2021.
Starting a Bakery as an Online Bakery
With an online bakery, you are using your website, Instagram, or Facebook page to advertise your products, and then taking pre-orders for a set date. The pre-orders are prepaid and you make only what your customers order from you.
You’ll need a platform for your business like an Instagram account, Facebook page, or an e-commerce website. For a full tutorial on creating a free Weebly website that allows customers to order your products online, check out my tutorial here.
Starting a Bakery with Virtual Cooking Classes
Maybe selling your baked goods isn’t quite right for you but you still love to bake. Consider sharing that with the world! You can gather a following of interested bakers who want to learn from you and charge money for your cooking classes.
To make money conducting virtual cooking classes you will need to build an email list of followers. You’ll need to send our regular emails announcing upcoming classes and then sell admission to your virtual cooking class via Zoom.
Starting a Bakery with Pop-Ups
With home bakery pop-up shops, the customer shops in person or online and picks up their order directly from your home. Bakers who use this home bakery pop-up method often have semi-permanent fixtures and spaces at their homes that are dedicated to product display and pick up.
Of all the methods I’m listing here today, this is the most popular. It offers a lot of flexibility. You can host pop-ups regularly or just focus on the holidays.
Starting a Farmers Market Bakery
Farmer’s markets are a great way to get in front of new customers each week and have plenty of foot traffic for your baked goods. You’ll need to do promotions on social media and cultivate a following, and not rely strictly on the traffic at the market. It can be hard to predict how much to bake each time, but when you get the hang of it, farmer’s markets are very rewarding.
Here’s a more in-depth article I wrote recently about selling baked goods at the farmer’s market.
You Can Start a Subscription Bakery
A subscription-based home bakery works by pre-selling sampler boxes of your treats. You can offer multiple different sizes so your customers are buying only what they need. Each month you can feature a different theme in the boxes and be creative with how you fill them. You’ll need a good customer email list and weekly or monthly newsletters announcing your offerings. Consider customizing this so it works for you: maybe offering a discount for referrals or repeat business.
Taking Payments for Your Home-Based Bakery
As soon as you decide to open your home bakery you’ll need to accept payments for your products. If you haven’t already done so, decide how you want to get paid from the options below or any other method you like.
Forms of payment
- Venmo-a quick easy mobile app owned by Paypal
- Messenger Pay App- use inside Facebook Messenger
- CashApp- mobile payment app owned by Square
- Square- A payment processing service that allows you to accept credit cards
Which form of payment is right for you?
Which one you choose will depend on what your customers prefer. You may start with Venmo or Messenger, but decide to add Square once you’re more established. While accepting credit cards does involve a fee on each transaction, it offers many conveniences and is especially helpful for onsite pop-ups.
Summing it up
There are so many different ways to start your dream bakery business. Find a good fit for your lifestyle and you’ll set yourself up for success. When you’re ready to take the plunge and get started, I’ll be here ready to support you along the way. You can check out my Start Here Guide for more resources. So now that you've seen all five methods, I'm curious . . .which is the best fit for you? Let me know in the comments.
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